Employer liability for work related stress after "Walker"

Given the increasing prevalence of stress and mental breakdown, it is perhaps surprising that it took the courts until 1995 to really get to grips with workplace induced mental illness in the now famous case of Walker versus Northumberland County Council (1995) IRLR 35. It was not until the Walker case that the courts finally awarded damages against an employer for damage negligently caused to an employee's mental health. The case is an important one for employers and, before discussing its implications in detail, the author recounts the facts of the case.