Face staff stress or pay the price

By Angela Frewin

Employers who fail to address stress in the work-place run the risk of paying hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation to staff who become ill, say legal experts.

The potentially high compensation cost was highlighted by solicitor Stefan Cross, one of several speakers on work-place stress at a conference this week for health, safety and food safety trainers.

In a recent study, Professor Cary Cooper, of Manchester University's Institute of Science and Technology, pinpointed hotels and restaurants as perfect breeding grounds for stress (Caterer, 19 June, page 6).

Cross said that hospitality staff were particularly vulnerable to stress due to the transitory nature of many jobs, plus low union density, which left many victims nowhere to turn.

But the Disability Discrimination Act, which came into force last year, makes employers "liable for a broken mind as much as a broken leg" and the financial consequences can be much greater, said Cross.

"It is much easier to fix a broken leg than a broken mind," he added, saying that employers could end up paying for the victim's remaining working life in cases of chronic psychological disability.

Many employers, Cross said, still did not realise that the requirement for occupational health monitoring included identifying and addressing work-related stress. They can be held legally liable for work-related mental illnesses if they allow stressful situations to persist or fail to make adjustments to allow sufferers to continue working.

The National Trainer's Conference, organised by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, took place on 12-13 November at the Stakis Metropole, Birmingham NEC.