Keith Patten investigates the complex area of law surrounding statutory employment & common law negligence
The vexed issue of the boundary between statutory employment protection law and employment related personal injury law tends to come into focus most clearly in circumstances where the claimant alleges that they have suffered some form of psychological injury as a result of the conduct of the employers at or around the time of the termination of employment. The question will then arise as to whether these two areas of law operate entirely independently of each other so that the claimant can pursue a remedy under either or both, or whether the circumstances will limit the claimant to one or other of those causes of action.
The fact that this boundary line remains an issue is illustrated by the recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Monk v Cann Hall Primary School [2013] EWCA Civ 826, [2013] All ER (D) 129 (Jul).
Re-organisation
The claimant was employed by the defendant as an administrative assistant. Following a staffing re-organisation
