Case Studies - Workplace Bullying
A warning for Employers:
In Waters v Commissioner of the Metropolisthe employer was held to be liable for the mental illness and post traumatic stress disorder suffered by a female officer who was subjected to unfair treatment when she complained of sexual harassment to management.
Waters, a police officer, was required to live at a section house as part of the terms of her probationary engagement. She went for a walk with a male officer, T, who did not live at the section house. They returned to the house where Waters alleged that T sexually assaulted her. Neither was on duty at the time of the alleged assault. Waters reported the assault to her superiors but no action was taken against T. Waters alleged that she was then subjected to harassment, unfair treatment and victimisation by other police officers, which led to ill health, including mental illness and post-traumatic stress disorder. Waters brought a sex discrimination claim, claiming that she was victimised, due to her allegation of sexual assault, by having her name removed from a list of specially trained officers used in relation to important police searches. An employment tribunal dismissed the claim on the grounds that the complaint of sexual assault by T was not a protected act within the meaning of s.4(1)(d), in that the officer could not have been acting in the course of his employment when the alleged assault was committed, so the Commissioner could not be vicariously liable for this. The EAT dismissed an appeal.
Waters also brought a civil action for negligence and/or harassment, seeking damages against the Commissioner. This claim was struck out by the High Court on grounds that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action.
The Court of Appeal heard appeals against both decisions together. It dismissed both appeals. The decision dismissing the sex discrimination complaint was not appealed. The decision in the High Court claim was appealed to the House of Lords.
In Quigley v Complex Tooling & Moulding the Court held that there is a common law obligation on the employer “to prevent their employees from …mental injury i.e.…harassment and bullying in the workplace..”.
Mr. Quigley was awarded in excess of €75,000 for psychiatric injury suffered by him as a direct consequence of his employer’s breach of duty to prevent workplace bullying. Mr. Quigley claimed that he was subjected to a campaign of harassment, bullying, humiliation and victimisation. He gave evidence of having been subjected to excessive scrutiny and unfair and unreasonable treatment, by management. Mr. Quigley claimed that despite frequent complaints about this behaviour, the company failed, refused or neglected to take any reasonable steps to prevent or stop it.
In McGrath v Trintech Mr. McGrath claimed damages for personal injuries, which he alleged he suffered as a result of occupational stress. He argued that the defendant employer was in breach of its obligations pursuant to the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act. While the judge ultimately found against Mr. McGrath on this point, she had no difficulty with the argument that the Safety, Health & Welfare at Work Act covers psychiatric health and psychiatric injuries.
