Brachers wins five-figure settlement for a victim of psychiatric injury at work

Brachers Personal Injury and Industrial Disease team has recently settled a stress at work claim against the prison service.

Background to this psychiatric Injury claim

Our client was experienced in their field, having worked as an Offender Manager/Probation Officer within the prison service for around 10 years when she was transferred to a new team. The atmosphere of the new team was boisterous and our client found they were the subject of many personal and childish remarks.

One particular individual’s behaviour escalated, becoming unacceptable and bullying in nature. The individual began to mock her religious beliefs and forced her to watch inappropriate video footage stored on his phone.

When our client complained about the individual’s behaviour, she had hoped it would make the behaviour stop. Unfortunately, however it led to our client being excluded from the team and suffering further harassment designed to humiliate her.

As a result of experiencing this persistent and inappropriate behaviour, our client was forced to take time off work with a psychiatric injury.

How our Personal Injury team progressed the psychiatric claim

A claim was brought on two factors.

Firstly, the employer is vicariously liable for the behaviour of their employees and therefore are accountable for the behaviour of the individuals subjecting our client to harassment. Secondly, the employer was aware of the behaviour our client was experiencing and did not take any steps to address the behaviour or prevent it from continuing.

Our client’s employer initially denied liability for the injuries and court proceedings were issued.

We obtained medical evidence to establish the extent of the psychological injury before approaching the defendant to enter into settlement negotiations, despite their denial of liability.

Securing settlement of the psychiatric injury claim for our client

The defendant conceded that their lack of action caused our client to suffer psychiatric harm and the claim was successfully negotiated with a five figure settlement sum agreed, much to the satisfaction of our client.

At Brachers we are highly experienced in obtaining compensation and treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) claims and other psychiatric injury claims.

If you believe you or a loved one has suffered post-traumatic stress disorder or some other psychiatric injury due to the fault of another, please contact us to discuss the details of your claim. Our experienced team of lawyers will always deal with you in a sensitive and supportive manner.

To get started you can book a free 30 minute appointment with one of our friendly team. Alternatively, call us on 01622 690691 or fill out our online contact form.

This content is correct at time of publication