Employers could be liable for an employee's stress even if life outside work is the major driving force behind it, an employment law expert warns.
Ashurst head of employment law Caroline Carter said that employers had to give employees with stressful lives "appropriate" levels of work.
"People can have stress in their life outside of work and that stress can compound pressure at work and result in exacerbated stress," she said.
"As an employer you're not liable for causing that stress. However if you are aware of difficult personal issues that the employee is dealing with and you ignore the impact this could have on their ability to deal with pressures at work, then this can result in liability for employers."
Speaking at wellbeing seminar Who Cares, Wins, Carter said when it came to ill-health employers were "treading on eggshells" because of a variety of legislation including duty of care, contractual obligations and laws against disability discrimination and harassment.
Stress cases were much more common than when she first started practising twenty years ago, she observed.
"Over recent years we have seen the types of issues escalate and go from the shop floor right to main board level. We're talking about people at all levels who are now prepared to say: ‘Listen, I'm stressed'."
