Title: Stress Now Deemed A Work Place Hazard
Description: one company has been fined.
smiley - April 13, 2005 01:17 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
A Nelson company has become the first company to be convicted under legislation making stress a work-related hazard.
Nalder and Biddle has been convicted of failing to provide a safe working environment.
OSH charged the company after one of its employees was diagnosed with depression and hypertension as a result of work-related stress.
The company was today fined $8,000 and ordered to pay reparations of $1,300.
OSH national operations manager Mike Cosman says the employee's conditions were a direct result of work pressures. |
http://xtramsn.co.nz/business/0,,5108-4284987,00.htmlDepression is not a work hazard in my opinion.
Depression arises for several other reasons which are either inherited or are based on factors in one's life. As not many details have been given in this article it is hard to assess the situation. The person could have dealt with things out of court through counselling services or talking to their employer.
Suing is taking things a bit too far. Are we becoming like the USA when it comes to suing? I certainly hope not, and hope this is a one off incident.
Jaded Mandarin - April 13, 2005 01:34 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (smiley @ Apr 14 2005, 01:17 AM) |
| As not many details have been given in this article it is hard to assess the situation. |
Shit, how about NO details have been given. It's impossible to assess the situation based on that article.
smiley - April 13, 2005 01:39 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (smiley @ Apr 14 2005, 01:17 AM) |
OSH national operations manager Mike Cosman says the employee's conditions were a direct result of work pressures.
|
Details were given.
It is seriously wrong to sue for depression. :frustrated:
Jaded Mandarin - April 13, 2005 01:40 PM (GMT)
smiley - April 13, 2005 01:45 PM (GMT)
the details that were given in this article were:
The Nelson Company was sued because an employee suffered depression as a result of work related stresses. Legislaton now classes depression as a work related hazard.
It is NOT a work related hazard and this ruling was rediculous, and a waste of court time.
Yes I call it detail. Not much but it is still detail, enough to form an opinon.
Jaded Mandarin - April 13, 2005 01:57 PM (GMT)
You can sue for "hurt feelings". I don't see how this goes far from that. I would rather know what happened in detail before striking it down. It does sound out of it but believe it or not, judges more often than not have good reasoning.
The stress came as a direct result from working in an unsafe environment...
smiley - April 13, 2005 02:00 PM (GMT)
The article never once said "an unsafe environment", you took that as implied.
It is out of it, good to see that you are in agreement.
The judges possibly did have their reasoning but I would like to know what the reasoning is.
Toby Turner - April 13, 2005 07:56 PM (GMT)
i imagine the judges had their reasoning. in actual fact, its their job to reason.
deprecated() - April 14, 2005 03:10 AM (GMT)
shyt i should start sue-ing too
Synopsis - April 14, 2005 03:27 AM (GMT)
Bah, stress itself isn't unhealthy. But it can lead to a poor lifestyle which can be unhealthy. Suing the company won't do anything to relieve this employees depression, only changing their lifestyle (and some counselling) will.
Fez - April 14, 2005 05:11 AM (GMT)
Theres a lady I work partime with who works full time during the day.
Her boss sounds like an abosulte jerk and she always comes to work at night stressed out and ready to break something.
Tell me that isnt something she shouldnt be able to sue over.
(incidentally shes looking to take it up with the Labour dept)
Synopsis - April 14, 2005 05:35 AM (GMT)
It's not. If her boss is a jerk then she should complain about him, not the company she works for. It's not their fault he's an asshole.
smiley - April 14, 2005 06:41 AM (GMT)
exactly synopsis, its all about communication with your employer. many employees are too afraid to speak up, which in this case, led to major depression and the company paying out money.
People will always get stressed, it is about how you handle the stress that matters.
deprecated() - April 14, 2005 09:19 AM (GMT)
well, if there are rules/ processes in place then I dont see why employees need to sue employers.
smiley - April 14, 2005 09:24 AM (GMT)
The article gives the impression that there weren't.
Jaded Mandarin - April 14, 2005 11:11 AM (GMT)
It seems the employer neglected the employee's cries for help.
Dr_Steve - April 14, 2005 12:45 PM (GMT)
This is dangerous ground that they're treading. Obviously a place of employment should not give its employees more than a reasonable amount of stress, but just what constitutes reasonable?
Unless there are clear guidelines, I think that this could be open to abuse.
Does anyone know if people are able to take sickness benefits because work is too stressful?
smiley - April 14, 2005 01:50 PM (GMT)
yeah you can get the sickness benefit due to work pressures and not being able to cope.