Yesterday Ian Barratt of Mind Strengths Ltd published his “Seven Top Stress Management Tips for Employees”. Today I am publishing my “top tips” for employers hoping to avoid claims for stress at work from being commenced against them.
This is a preview of
Seven Ways for Employers to Avoid Stress at Work Claims
.
Read the full post (1140 words, 2 images, estimated 4:34 mins reading time)
Age Discrimination, Bullying & Harassment, Contracts of Employment, Equality, Personal Injury, Race Discrimination, Religion and Belief Discrimination, constructive dismissal, disability discrimination, stress at work
ACAS, bullying, constructive dismissal, discrimination, harassment, how do I cope with stress, HSA, HSE, Ian Barratt, Management Standards, MHSW, Mind Strengths, Personal Injury, Protection from Harassment Act 1997, stress at work, stress+management, TUC, victimisation
As promised last Monday, I am delighted today to welcome my first guest blogger, Ian Barratt (pictured, right) of Mind Strengths Ltd, to present his Seven Top Stress Management Tips on this third Monday of January, the allegedly most miserable day of the year. Ian is a qualified stress management consultant speaker and author. His book “The Phoenix Strategy”, co-authored with Amanda Robinson was published last October. Mind Strengths Ltd is a consultancy company offering workplace strress management , wellbeing and support services. Tomorrow I will look at how employers can minimise the risk of being sued for stress at work by employees.
Age Discrimination, Bullying & Harassment, Contracts of Employment, Equality, Personal Injury, Race Discrimination, Religion and Belief Discrimination, constructive dismissal, stress at work, unfair dismissal
constructive dismissal, discrimination, employees, how do I cope with stress, Ian Barratt, Mind Strengths, Miserable Monday, occupational illness, Personal Injury, Protection from Harassment Act 1997, stress at work, stress+management

Wot, no snowman?
I’m not referring to the five inches of snow outside as I write this, and the inevitable disruption caused to roads and railways for the next week, but instead I am considering what the main statutory changes affecting employment law issues in 2010 will be.
January
Not much will happen this month while everyone looks in astonishment at their credit card bills, but just a reminder that the Vento guidelines on awards to be made in cases of injury to feelings in discrimination cases look to have been increased late last year in the case of Da’Bell v NSPCC. The Court of Appeal case in Vento v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police in 2002 set three main bands for ETs to consider when making awards for injury to feelings;
I was watching “The Trouble with Working Women” on BBC2 last night. The newsreader Sophie Raworth and a bloke called Justin investigated why women don’t earn as much as men in the workplace. I don’t think it gave any precise answer as to why it occurs; it merely highlighted that the Equal Pay Act 1970 has done little, or nothing, to reduce the gender pay gap.
According to the statistics they presented, if I heard it properly whilst burning the supper, women in the City get paid 60% less than men. 60%! If this is correct it is incredible. I can fully accept that a pay gap exists between the sexes and that discrimination still occurs but the amount seems amazing.
This is something we will be hearing a lot more about over the next few months and years. At last the government has introduced legislation that seeks to rationalise the current miasma of anti-discrimination legislation and bring it all into one piece of legislation.
At the moment, in the workplace environment, six types of discrimination are outlawed – age, race, sex (gender), sexual orientation, religious belief and disability. Each piece of legislation behind each type is different in certain respects so a new Act that contains all the relevant definitions, duties and defences is to be welcomed. Whether, in practice, the Equality Act (if it gets that far) will be is another matter. Undoubtedly it will change as it goes through Parliament but here are the current headlines