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The UK employment law framework is constantly updated and developed by decisions in cases heard by the higher courts. A number of recent court decisions in hearings involving NHS staff and employers reflect some of the key employment matters which our members frequently raise
Work-related stress
The law states that an employer is liable for psychiatric injury caused by stress at work where a foreseeable injury has arisen from the employer's breach of duty. Foreseeability depends on what the employer knows or ought to know about the individual employee. This is an important aspect of the decision reached by the Court of Appeal in Hartman v South Essex Mental Health and Community Care NHS Trust.
The claimant was a nursing auxiliary at a home for children with learning difficulties. She had previously worked at the home on an agency basis. Before being taken on permanently she was screened by the Trust's occupational health department and completed a confidential questionnaire in which she disclosed that she had had a nervous breakdown the previous year and was receiving medication. On the basis of her record as an agency nurse the claimant was passed as fit for full-time employment. Her health continued to improve until the death of one of the children in the home, coupled with the extra hours she was required to work, caused her to have a relapse. The County Court judge held that the trust were liable because it was reasonably foreseeable that the claimant would suffer psychiatric injury if the trust did...