Stress At Work: To Tell or Not to Tell?

Abstract

In 'Koehler v Cerebos (Aust) Ltd' (2005) 79 ALJR 845, the plaintiff sued her defendant employer on the ground that the workload required of her under her contract of employment was excessive and resulted in her suffering a depressive psychiatric illness. A unanimous High Court of Australia rejected her claim on the basis that the psychiatric injury she suffered was not a reasonably foreseeable consequence of the employer's conduct. Although such a result is defensible on the facts, the law relating to the liability of an employer for an employee's psychiatric injury remains somewhat uncertain.