Stress At Work Claims

Stress at work claims

In truth, work-related stress is something no employee should have to endure. However, many do so in silence because they’re unaware of their work related stress rights or they feel uncomfortable doing anything about it. At The Compensation Experts, we work together with personal injury lawyers who have specialist knowledge in work-related stress claims and compensation law.

In short, we can help you recover from a highly stressful event and move on with your life. For instance, you may have a pre-existing mental health condition your employer hasn’t made sufficient provision to support, or you may have suffered from work-related stress prior to your current role.

Regardless of your circumstances, you can rely on our friendly agents to provide a sympathetic ear, and together with expert help, we’ll take you through the process of making a stress at work claim.

What is a stress at work claim?

Stress at work claims, in general, are rarely a straightforward process. Unfortunately, psychiatric damage is harder to prove than physical harm as the injury is usually not visibly displayed to those around them. However, that’s not to say it doesn’t manifest itself physically. Many symptoms of work-related stress, stress-related illnesses, and factors that can help lead to compensation for stress caused in the workplace can include the following:

• Feeling irrationally irritable or close to tears for long periods
• Hair and weight loss
• Headaches or consistent migraines
• Insomnia
• Nausea
• Panic attacks

These are just a few symptoms, and work related stress can manifest itself in many other ways. But on top of these, there are also several more common causes of people making work related stress compensation claims outside of psychiatric damage. These might include:

• Poor relationships with colleagues
• An unreasonably heavy workload
• Unrealistic deadlines
• Constant scrutiny, monitoring, and micromanagement
• Inadequate training for the job
• Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse by colleagues or customers alongside anything else that could constitute workplace bullying

In a workplace, no matter if it’s an office or a construction site, it’s the duty of an employer to protect you and your work related stress rights. They must comply at all times with the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974. This law states, in short, that any and all employers must:

take reasonable steps to ensure the working environment is safe.

Further legislation now dictates that employers are required by law to carry out appropriate risk assessments for their working environment. In addition, they must make reasonable adjustments to provide for employees who suffer regularly from stress, while ensuring they protect those who have any underlying conditions which makes them more susceptible to occupational stress than others. Failure to do any of the above can be treated as a violation of your work related stress rights.

Work related stress legal cases

While a stress at work claim can sometimes be more difficult to follow through on than a physical work related injury claim, there are plenty of examples out there of people making stress at work claims and winning compensation for stress.

One of the best examples for work related stress legal cases comes from as far back as 2006. In this example, a retail manager working a 90 hour week had their request for an assistant denied. As a result, they suffered a stress-related breakdown and were unable to return to work, instead taking early retirement. In response, the retail manager’s employer was found to be liable for the breakdown caused and was forced to provide a sizable bill for work related stress pay as compensation.

In this case, the retailer could have reasonably foreseen that working such long hours was unsustainable and would lead to physical and mental health issues but chose to be negligent of the issue.

There are many other examples out there of work related stress legal cases succeeding, including claims against harassment and inadequate training, with people receiving suitable compensation for stress.

Stress at work compensation payouts

Stress at work compensation payouts can take many forms and it’s difficult to place an exact number on the amount of stress compensation you can receive. In general, it will depend on the level of stress caused, the length of time, the negligence of the employer, and a variety of other factors. That being said, you can expect to receive work related stress pay in the form of the following:

• Lost income due to stress related illness preventing you from working
• Medical costs in relation to stress related illness
• Travel expenses incurred for travelling to receive treatment for a stress related illness
• Future loss of earnings due to the long term impact of a stress related illness

There are a wide variety of other areas that can affect work related stress pay – our experts will be sure to listen to everything you have to say to firmly establish if you can receive compensation for stress caused in the workplace.

Claiming compensation for stress caused in the workplace

At The Compensation Experts, we work with personal injury solicitors experienced in successfully obtaining compensation for work-related stress and stress at work claims.

We appreciate that deciding to pursue compensation when you are already feeling stressed is not an easy decision to make. That’s why our team promises to do all we can to make the process as straightforward and pain-free as possible while accommodating the effects of the stress you’re experiencing. We’ll select lawyers who will keep you in the know without all the “legalese” leaving you confused. Moreover, we’ll fight on your behalf until your claim gets a resolution.

Work-related stress may be considered a psychiatric injury but the same principles as a physical injury apply to an application, which is proving that you have suffered an illness or injury and that your employer’s negligence or mistake caused it.

Contact The Compensation Experts today to see if you can make a stress-related claim and secure compensation. Be sure to ask about how our solicitors can help you with their no win no fee service.