What practical steps can employers take to help eliminate any occurrence of work rage and what are the key legal points employers should consider as they shape relevant HR policies? Law firm Beachcroft Wansbroughs urges employers to take note of the following advice.
New HSE statistics show that episodes of ‘work rage’ continue to afflict the UK workplace but how can employers protect themselves and their employees against what could prove to be a costly and stressful problem?
Employers should be aware of:
- Minding their Ps and Qs: city broker, Steven Horkulak, was awarded £1 million in damages last August after he successfully claimed he had been subjected to foul language and abusive behaviour by his boss.
- Their duty: there is an implied duty of trust and confidence between employer and employee. If an employer is abusive, they may be breaking that implied duty. This may provide the employee – assuming they have accrued sufficient service – with the right to leave and claim constructive dismissal.
- New joiners: an employer may still be liable even if an employee with less than one year’s service leaves and claims unfair dismissal (if that employee can demonstrate that they walked out for a health and safety related reason).
- Safety in the workplace: section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 obliges employers to operate safe systems and places of work, so far as is reasonably practicable. A failure to do so can carry both civil and criminal penalties. Allegations of breaches of the 1974 Act have been used in claims for damages for stress. This is relevant to employers for two reasons; either in claims for stress made by victims of workplace violence, or where stress is the cause of an incident of workplace rage.
- Cost implications: if an employee is being threatened or bullied, or subjected to violence at work, this may lead to absence for ill health, with all the cost and difficulties that it implies for the employer.
- Employee-on-employee violence: recent case law has widened the definitions of ‘vicarious liability’, making it clear that the employer will be liable for this type of incident. A recent Pertemps survey suggested that half of the UK’s office workers have nearly punched a colleague.
- Discrimination: violence that is motivated by racial hostility, religious intolerance or prejudice towards people because of their sexual orientation could leave an employer exposed to potentially high levels of damages in discrimination claims, regardless of how long the victims have been employed.
– Operate ‘zero tolerance’ policies, both in relation to violence by service-users against employees and between employees themselves.
– Clearly state in disciplinary and grievance policies that violent behaviour of any kind will not be tolerated, and will be considered to be gross misconduct.
– Ensure that whistle-blowing and anti-harassment/bullying policies are up to date, practical and properly disseminated.
– Offer training (where appropriate) in dealing with aggressive individuals. This is particularly relevant for public facing organisations such as health workers.
– Address the root cause of the problem to help minimise further problems. What factors have led to the incident? What could reduce the employee’s stress? What steps could provide early warnings of problems in the future?
– Offer confidential counselling or medical assistance to help fend off any stress claims.
“With ‘work rage’ at a considerably high level, employers need to ensure they have the systems in place to identify issues and deal with any complaints immediately,” said Ron Simms, as Associate within Beachcroft Wansbroughs’ national Employment practice.
“At the root of most work rage cases, lies the issue of employee stress. With stress being increasingly recognised in constructive dismissal and personal injury claims, employers need to ensure they are doing everything in their power to tackle the issue, before it causes any further problems”, he added.
