- Harassment
- Stress, mental (chronic)
The worker, a police officer, claimed that he was subjected to workplace harassment, involving a series of incidents between November 2020 and January 2021, which resulted in his developing a mental stress condition. The worker claimed entitlement to Chronic Mental Stress (CMS).
The Panel allowed the appeal.The Panel found that the individual who was perpetrating the incidents against the worker went out of their way to access the worker's locked desk, tamper with his police-issued winter jacket, and place items around his work area (including leaving garbage, used Kleenex tissues and an empty water bottle). This occurred during a period of time in which there was still a heightened concern, and lockdown measures in place, to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus. In this context, the incidents that occurred from November 2020 to January 2021 were even more egregious than they might have been in different circumstances. The incidents the worker was subjected to during this time period amounted to vexatious abusive conduct and, as such, was workplace harassment. These incidents went beyond interpersonal conflict. It was vexatious conduct that was known or should have been known to be unwanted. The medical evidence supported that the worker developed anxiety and insomnia, diagnosed by his family doctor, as a result of the workplace harassment, both of which are DSM diagnoses.