¶ … legal aspects of job-related stress in Great Britain, with the view to helping businesses in Great Britain avoid stress claims. While the article addresses issues in Great Britain, it also illuminates another way of looking at stress. The first article looked at it from a personal level; the second from a group level; and this one purely from the company's point-of-view. In considering this article, readers might note its implied relationship to the article by Styhre et. al., because it demonstrates clearly that work-related stress occurs within a larger social unit (the employment setting). The article's main point is that employers should handle claims of stress both sensitively and carefully, especially as they relate to suspension and firing, to avoid lawsuits charging the company with causing psychiatric damage to the individual because of how the company handled the situation.
This article points out various causes of stress, all listed in the article from the American...
However, this article looks at what a company does in the face of such situations that might help resolve a problem, make it worse, or give the appearance of making it worse. The article recognizes that stress can cause real psychological injury and gives a compelling example: a childcare worker who was suspended after being accused of child abuse. Her suspension covered a significant (but unspecified) period of time. Eventually she was cleared but not after she had been under a cloud of suspicion for some time. She charged her employer with causing her clinical depression because they failed to investigate the circumstances promptly and effectively. She won her suit.
This sort of situation could be a concern for any childcare worker, health care provider, teacher, or any number of other occupations where the employee has…
