01 March 2012
Insufficient link between chronic fatigue syndrome & work-related stress
There was an insufficient causal link between an employee’s development of chronic fatigue syndrome and the stress she suffered at work, and her illness was not foreseeable, the High Court has held in MacLennan v Hartford Europe Ltd [2012] EWHC 346 (QB), [2012] All ER (D) 175 (Feb).
Mr Justice Hickinbottom sets out an interesting discussion of the medical evidence in his judgment. He found the claimant to be an unreliable witness, although prior to developing her illness she had been a “diligent, hard-working and competent HR manager, popular and professionally esteemed”.
