Mental Illness: Managing Factors In the Workplace

By CPD News

Psychological and illness claims have been identified by Comcare as a significant cause in the rise in stress-related claims, which have, over the past 10 years, jumped 44% to nearly $80million per year.

The increase in the number of individuals who feel they are suffering from stress as a result of work has been accompanied by a corresponding growth in the number of people taking their grievances to the courts.

There is a legislative duty to protect the health and safety of employees, but this duty has become an absolute duty, says Leah Charlson from Cutler, Hughes and Harris.

This article considers the issue of what employers now and how this effects tribunal decisions, what employer actions can influence mental health, what the foreseeable injuries are. It looks at verbal and physical abuse that can contribute to mental illness and the case where the problem was know but the employer solution was a poor one.

(CPD Workplace Intelligence. July 2003)