Mixed results in stress cases

A former Post Office manager, backed by the CWU communications union has been awarded £175,000 compensation for stress in an out-of-court settlement. He had suffered panic attacks and been diagnosed with depression, before being medically retired in June 1995, after more than 30 years' service with the Post Office. He claimed that the introduction of a new business development plan, which meant that he was given new managerial tasks, had greatly increased the pressure he was under.

However, in another case, Rorrison v West Lothian College and Lothian Regional Council, reported in Incomes Data Services (IDS) Brief 655, February 2000, a nurse who claimed she had suffered stress-related illness as a result of being bullied by her line manager at the college was unsuccessful in her attempt to win damages from her employer.

The Court of Session in Scotland ruled that employees who suffer from stress-related illness are only entitled to damages if they have a recognised psychiatric disorder. It also said that the duty on employers to safeguard employees against psychiatric injury only arises where it is reasonably foreseeable that stress or anxiety is being suffered to such an extent that it is likely to lead to a psychiatric disorder.