For some years now the courts have recognised that the number of claims for damages on account of stress at work is multiplying, as our knowledge of psychiatric illness and the nature and extent of occupational stress develops.

Clearly, many employees feel that admitting they are suffering from a stress-related illness could damage their position at work. Employers, on the other hand, may feel that they cannot deal with a problem if they are not told that it exists.

A stress claim may take the form of a personal injury/negligence claim for damages in the court or it could be a claim for constructive dismissal or disability discrimination before an employment tribunal.

In 2002, the Court of Appeal set out guidance in connection with stress claims in the courts generally. Points to note include that liability for psychiatric injury caused by stress at work is in general no different in principle from liability for a physical injury. The employer is only in breach of duty if he or she has failed to take reasonable steps in the circumstances to prevent the stress occurring. It is foreseeable injury arising from the employer's breach of duty that gives rise to the liability and foreseeability depends on what the employer knows (or ought reasonably to know) about an individual employee. It does not automatically follow that because someone suffers stress at work and the employer is in some way responsible for allowing that to occur, that the claimant will be able to establish a claim for negligence.

This guidance is still current but contains general principles only. No two cases are the same and each case will be decided on the particular facts under consideration. For example, cases where employees have suffered ongoing stress in their day-to-day work differ in nature from those where stress arises as a result of a specific trauma.