Category: Sickness absence and disability · Reviewed by Tim Roche, Director · PI & Commercial · Last reviewed 2026-06-10
A stress claim against an employer is a claim in tort (negligence) — and increasingly, alternatively, under the Equality Act 2010 — alleging that the employer’s breach of its duty of care has caused or materially contributed to psychiatric injury. The leading authority is Hatton v Sutherland [2002] EWCA Civ 76 and the House of Lords decision in Barber v Somerset County Council [2004] UKHL 13, which established that liability turns on the foreseeability of psychiatric harm given what the employer knew or ought to have known.
Category: Sickness absence and disability Also known as: Stress at work claim, work-related stress claim Leading case: Hatton v Sutherland [2002] EWCA Civ 76 Related concepts: Mental health absence, Health and Safety Executive HSE, Reasonable adjustments Equality Act 2010
Stress is a category of mental harm rather than a distinct legal claim. Recovery requires the claimant to establish: (i) duty of care (uncontroversial in employment); (ii) breach (the employer fell below the standard of a reasonable employer); (iii) reasonable foreseeability of psychiatric injury; and (iv) causation (the breach caused the harm). The Court of Appeal in Hatton set out 16 propositions including the requirement that signs of impending breakdown must be plain enough that any reasonable employer would realise action was needed.
Common law negligence (the duty arises from the contract of employment and from the general tort of negligence). The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/3242) imposes a statutory duty to risk-assess workplace risks including psychological risks. The HSE Management Standards for work-related stress provide guidance against which employer conduct is assessed. Stress can also found a claim under section 13 (direct discrimination), s.15 (discrimination arising from disability) or s.21 (failure to make reasonable adjustments) of the Equality Act 2010 where the employee meets the s.6 disability test.
Stress claims are insured under Employers’ Liability insurance to the extent the claim falls within EL policy cover (typically work-related injury claims). Damages awards have historically been modest, though recent cases have seen larger awards where the employer’s negligence was clear and the consequent injury severe.
An employee is given an unmanageable workload over 18 months despite repeated requests for help, and ultimately suffers a depressive breakdown. After a period of absence the employee resigns and sues the employer for stress-induced psychiatric injury. Liability turns on whether the employer had clear notice of the employee’s impending difficulties and whether reasonable employer steps (workload reallocation, hiring additional staff, OH referral) would have prevented the harm. The claim is covered under the employer’s EL policy.
This entry is part of the Apex Insurance Wiki. Last reviewed by Matt Bartlett on 2026-06-10. Next review: 2026-12-10.
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