Personal damages claim

[Teacher71]

Hi, I am seeking advice. Long story short. I left my previous employment at the end of May after 4 years of harassment and bullying in the workplace. I have gathered a large file of evidence including internal emails, letters from the people concerned and extensive documentation from my Counsellor, GP and consultant as to the effect it had and continues to have on my health and wellbeing. I have strong evidence that this bullying and harassment was ignored by Senior Leadership who failed to whistleblow and failed in their duty of care to the students.

I feel that now is the time to start to bring a case of personal injury, any advice please as I want to be giving the correct information to any solicitor I might employ. Thank you.

Unfortunately your opportunity to take it to an employment tribunal has passed back in August. The last discriminatory act must be with 3 months of you lodging your claim. They don't tend to make exceptions.

As much medical information as possible about the psychological impact, and the impact on your finances and future ability to earn.

If t would be unusual to be worthwhile pursuing personal injury for bullying but take all that to a personal point injury specialist solicitor and see what they say about the strength of your case.

(Don’t know where the “point” came from!)

As daisychain01 says, if you want to take action for discrimination you are too late. Whilst out of time claims are occasionally allowed I can't see any justification for doing so in your case.

Personal injury is another matter. You have 3 years to bring a claim. However, you appear to be referring to psychological injuries rather than physical injuries. To claim, you have to show that your psychological injuries were caused by a traumatic incident, i.e. an accident of some kind. That does not appear to be the case from your description.

You should get proper legal advice if you want to pursue this. However, my view, based on the information you have posted, is that you don't have a personal injury claim. You may have had a claim under employment law, but it is now too late to take action.

Don't know what you mean about his the SLT "failed to whistleblow", that's not a claim you can make because in order to make a protected disclosure an individual must have a genuinely held belief of certain things and you cannot know what their genuinely held beliefs were.

But it's also a bit of an odd question overall. If you are seeing a solicitor about a personal injury claim and you have evidence, obviously take the evidence to the solicitor. What else can anyone suggest to you?

You have six years to bring a personal injury claim.

I have gathered a large file of evidence including internal emails, letters from the people concerned and extensive documentation from my Counsellor, GP and consultant as to the effect it had and continues to have on my health and wellbeing.

Even if you pursue this action as a personal injury claim, it isn't clear from what you've stated that all the extensive documentation you have on file has been shared formally with your employer (via their internal grievance route) at the time you were in post, to enable them to address their wrong-doing. Any Court will want to see evidence that you took reasonable steps to highlight the specifics of the harm exacted on you by your former employer, in documented form and for them to have responded to you as part of their due process, either upholding or rejecting your grievance.

I know this all sounds onerous, harsh and painful to have had to do all that at a time you were suffering from MH issues such as anxiety, or other manifestations of distress, but without that evidence it could end up being your word against their's.

As I always say with these cases, the employers does not need to do anything until they need to do something. They'll just lawyer-up at no personal expense to themselves, meanwhile you have to finance everything from your own budget. If you have legal insurance through your household policy, that could be a starting point for them to assess your case and score the %likelihood of success. At least it tells you if you stand any chance of winning the case and you can make your decisions accordingly.

@VanGoghsDog

Don't know what you mean about his the SLT "failed to whistleblow", that's not a claim you can make because in order to make a protected disclosure an individual must have a genuinely held belief of certain things and you cannot know what their genuinely held beliefs were.

But it's also a bit of an odd question overall. If you are seeing a solicitor about a personal injury claim and you have evidence, obviously take the evidence to the solicitor. What else can anyone suggest to you?

You have six years to bring a personal injury claim.

The limitation period is 3 years for personal injury.