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Family lawyers often talk about how Christmas gives rise to an upsurge in divorce work in the New Year. The same is probably also true of personal injury work, if to a lesser extent. Claims for personal injury usually involve
The numbers of road traffic accidents increases in the winter with poor light and icy conditions.
Banks are facing a rising tide of stress at work claims, according to Reuters yesterday. The report refers to anecdotal evidence by GQ Employment Lawyers to the effect that the number of “stress related lawsuits” is on the increase, but doesn’t say what type of lawsuits, nor give any statistics to back up the assertion.
Never mind, the Health & Safety Executive’s own statistics for 2010/11 state the following;
“The number of new cases of stress, depression or anxiety has fallen from an estimated 254,000 in 2001/02 to 211,000 [in 2010/11]” *
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A US railroad company, Metro-North, has been ordered to pay an employee damages in excess of $142,000. In addition, the company must promote him to a senior level as it was concluded that the worker was denied promotion because of a knee injury sustained whilst at work.
Metro-North railroad were found by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to have wrongly classified the injury as being completely unrelated to work, when in fact the injury took place whilst Mr Bill Ordner was on his lunch break.
Last week I read a brief summary about a case where personal injury and family law crashed together in the Court of Appeal . I’ve not read the full case itself and if anyone has the link to it I’d be very interested to read it. It’s a surprising case because one of the parties, Mr Mansfield had suffered serious personal injuries when hit by a car in an accident in 1992 and had been awarded £500,000 for the loss of a leg and serious spinal injuries. The couple got together five years after the award was made to him which, if the remnants of my knowledge of matrimonial law still holds good, means that it was property acquired before the marriage and thus not a matrimonial asset. I’d welcome any comments from any Family lawyers out there reading this who can explain it.
According to research by mental health charity Mind, workers fear that if they admit to being depressed or suffering from stress they will be selected for redundancy or “forced out of their jobs”.
Their statistics showed that 22% of those surveyed who had disclosed a mental health issue in a previous job had been fired. It’s a natural reaction and it undoubtedly happens, but proving that the selection for redundancy was because the employee said they were unwell is quite another matter. As the Mind website reveals, sometimes an employer can be very supportive. Sadly, that often isn’t the case.
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According to a piece from The Mirror last Wednesday it is. This is because the government is planning “savage spending cuts” at the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) which will reduce the number of
workplace inspections carried out, thus increasing the risk of personal injuries occurring. The article cites a very sad incident to one worker mortally injured on his last day at work.
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.
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.
Thanks to Annabel Kaye of Irenicon (@AnnabelKaye) for bringing the article in MailOnline to my attention, via Twitter. The full article can be found at www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articles-1201371/Bosses-risk-lawsuits-staff-swine-flu . Apparently, according to the Mail, employers need to be getting worried about the risk of being sued by employees who catch swine flu from doing their jobs . The article quotes lawyers and other commentators who point out the risk of increased litigation.