The Labor Code unequivocally states that an employee’s health disorder caused by mobbing is the basis for claiming an appropriate amount from the employer as monetary compensation for the harm suffered. But how do you know how much this amount can be and what it depends on?
This problem was raised in the judgment of the Chamber of Labor, Social Security and Public Affairs (I PK 206/16) of the Supreme Court of 8 August 2017.
In the said case, the superior punished the employee severely for minor offenses at work – he moved him to a lower position. It is worth adding that other employees were not punished for the same offense at all. He also received reprimands for minor offenses, felt humiliated and mistreated at work. The employer did not respond to these situations, despite the fact that it is his statutory duty.
The plaintiff began using psychological counseling, which he reported because of difficulties in the workplace related to interpersonal relations with his supervisor (with behavioral disorders, in strong situational stress, with sleep and concentration disorders). The plaintiff was then found to have acute symptoms of situational stress, manifested in psychosomatic, depressive and sleep problems.
The claim of a mobbing victim for compensation is only updated if the injured person has proven the effect of mobbing in the form of a qualified health disorder in medical categories. The Supreme Court agreed that the amount of PLN 10,000 (representing three times the average salary in the country) is appropriate in this case. The experts assessed the damage to health at 8%. The plaintiff had been released from a psychiatrist for about two months. The court stated that in this situation the award of PLN 20,000 would not be justified because the plaintiff was able to work. The Supreme Court found that the financial compensation awarded to the plaintiff constitutes an economically perceptible value as corresponding to almost four times his previous monthly remuneration.
The Supreme Court emphasized that compensation should be a measurable economic compensation for the harm revealed in the form of psychological suffering suffered as a result of mobbing by the respondent employer. The justified, appropriate amount of due compensation depends not only on the size of the harm suffered, requiring an assessment of the degree of psychological or physical suffering caused, its intensity, duration or irreversibility of the consequences of the harm suffered, but also other circumstances accompanying the revealed harm, covered by the notion of so-called overall case.
The Supreme Court noted that the culpable failure to counteract mobbing by mobber superiors, which affects the disclosed health disorder caused by mobbing, should be assessed as an event that increases or enhances the sense of harm of an employee subjected to mobbing, which requires compensation by awarding one adequate financial compensation. The attitude of the defendant employer is not without significance for the amount of compensation that is to bring the injured to measurable satisfaction. As is clear from the facts of this case, the defendant on several occasions ignored the signals of incorrect behavior of the plaintiff’s superior, bearing evident signs of mobbing, which was a serious violation of the employer’s obligation to counteract mobbing.
The amount of compensation should not be affected by the employer’s financial status.
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