Harassment, stress & bullying

Everyone has experienced bullying and harassment of some kind at work, and people who are suffering from stress often don’t know where to turn. Ideally you want a lawyer to guide you through how to leave your job with a decent pay-off so you can avoid the extra stress of having to go to tribunal. But you probably can do it yourself with the right guidance.

Often the first time that the matter surfaces is when an employee goes on sick leave due to stress. Another way of doing it is to put in a written grievance before things get too bad. It is hard to judge how an employer will react in such circumstances, but if you have a meeting with your boss or with HR, it may be worth asking ‘without prejudice’, whether they will consider a compromise agreement to bring the employment to an end satisfactorily for both parties.

There is no one piece of legislation which protects employees from bullying and harrassment. Instead, the protection is found in a variety of laws. Employers are liable for the bullying or harassment if it is conducted by colleagues in the work place.

• Discrimination:- if the bullying or harassment is based on one of the types of discrimination, then you have a possible claim for discrimination.
• Negligence:- there is the common law of negligence, which is similar to a personal injury caused by a car crash or slipping and tripping.
• Breach of contract:- there is a duty of trust and confidence which the laws writes in to every employment situation, regardless of whether there’s actually a written contract or what it actually says.
• Unfair dismissal:- if you have one year’s continuous service and you are dismissed because of absence caused by work related stress, you could have a claim.
• Health & Safety / Protection for Harassment Act:- complicated legislation which you could claim under. You may be able to claim against the individual themselves as well as the employer. There can be criminal implications for the perpetrator.

You might want to get a rough idea of the value of your case by filling in the Compromise Calculator. Also think about getting some representation have a look at the Employee Experiences to see how others in your situation were helped on their journey.

If you want help combatting harassment & bullying or if you have any other compromise agreement query, including how to get representation at no up front cost, email us on info@compromiseagree.com, call us 0800 533 5134 or send a message in the box to the bottom right.