Head teacher awarded £387,779 damages for work-related stress
In Connor v Surrey County Council, the High Court upheld a head teacher’s negligence claim and awarded £387,778 in damages. With there having been two years of worry and low morale at the school, the Council should have considered that its head teacher was at risk of psychiatric injury from stress and had been negligent in not taking action to prevent the nervous trauma she had suffered.
New Monument Primary School is multicultural, but the majority of the pupils are Muslim. Two members of the school’s governing body (GB), Mr Martin and Mr Saleem, embarked on a sustained campaign against the head teacher, Mrs Connor which put her under considerable strain. They tried to monopolise meetings in an attempt to increase the role for the Islamic faith in the school. Mr Saleem launched a number of offensive verbal attacks, followed by numerous requests for information. Mr Martin made various informal and formal complaints of racism and “‘Islamophobia” and sought to stir up disaffection in the local community by circulating a petition criticising Mrs Connor, which the Judge in this case described as “a highly offensive document, itself racist”.
After suffering nervous depression, Mrs Connor brought a claim against Surrey County Council for personal injury, i.e. work-related psychiatric injury resulting from the Council’s negligence. A detailed analysis of the position of the school by the High Court showed that for two years, the actions of Mr Martin and Mr Salim had led to a state of anxiety and low morale for the school. The Council should have recognised that Mrs Connor was at risk of psychiatric injury from stress and put a stop to it. The Council had the power to issue a warning notice, appoint additional governors and to replace the existing GB with an interim executive board, but it had not done so showing a disregard for Mrs Connor’s health. Her claim of negligence was well founded and she was awarded £387,778.
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