Making a stress claim against an employer: We recover £60,000 for victim
We were consulted by a woman who had been badly treated at work. She had became unwell and asked to go home. But the way in which this was dealt with by the senior member of staff she reported her illness to was both shocking and inappropriate. It left our client feeling humiliated and bullied. This incident had a profound effect on her and she felt unable to return to work. When we looked into it we could see that the woman had been very poorly treated and this was having a significant and direct impact on her mental health.
We agreed to take on her case and pursue a stress claim against the employer on a no win, no fee basis.
The woman’s employers accepted they had been at fault for the incident. This meant that the woman would be entitled to receive compensation. We arranged for the employer to fund a course of private treatment to address our client’s ongoing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Once this treatment had been finalised, we instructed a specialist psychologist to assess her condition and prepare a report commenting on the effect this incident had had on her health. In the report, our expert made recommendations for further treatment to improve our client’s symptoms.
We asked the woman’s employers to make an ‘interim payment’ to fund this further treatment, but this was refused. We thought this was unreasonable so we issued court proceedings to allow us to make an application to the court for an Order compelling the funding to be provided.
As is so often the case, once the employers saw that we were serious they backed down and gave us the interim payment we were seeking.
They then went on to make several offers to settle the stress claim. We felt these were too low and that our client could achieve a more favourable outcome by pressing on with the case.
Following further negotiations we were able to persuade them to significantly increase their offer to £60,000 the evening before they were due in court. Our client was very happy with the compensation package and the claim was concluded on this basis.
If you require advice on a making a stress claim against an employer then call our FREE legal helpline for an assessment of your case and the availability of No Win, No Fee funding.