What You Need to Know About Suing an Employer for Emotional Distress
Emotional distress is a common and valid reason to sue an employer. Here’s everything you need to know about suing an employer for emotional distress.
What is Emotional Distress?
Emotional distress is mental suffering or trauma response to a particular event in terms of the law. An employer can inflict emotional distress onto an employee through intentional or negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Intentional infliction of emotional distress is when an employer intentionally acts outrageously to cause the employee harm purposefully. Threats of harm fall under deliberate infliction of emotional distress.
Negligent infliction of emotional distress is when an employer is purposefully negligent, resulting in the employee’s emotional distress in contact with the employer’s negligence.
Related: How to Sue an Employer for Breach of Confidentiality
How to Sue for Emotional Distress
Emotional distress claims fall under personal injury cases and are non-economic damages. It may become difficult to calculate precisely how much economic damages the plaintiff may recover, as their suffering is not physical.
To sue for emotional distress, one must first discern the employer’s emotional distress on the victim.
For intentional infliction of emotional distress (IED), the plaintiff must prove all four of the following:
- The employer acted recklessly or intentionally
- The employer acted outrageously
- The reckless and outrageous actions caused the employee mental distress
- Emotional distress was severe
IEDs are often more difficult to prove because no clear guideline to what constitutes “severe” and “outrageous” conduct exists. Insults or petty behavior do not establish an emotional distress claim. An example of outrageous behavior is when an employer finds personal photos or information about an employee and issues the information around the office.
Related: How to Sue an Employer for Misclassification
For negligent infliction of emotional distress (NED), the plaintiff must prove the following:
- Defendant engaged in negligent behavior of a statutory duty
- Due to those actions, the plaintiff suffered emotional distress
The Plaintiff’s Burden of Proof When Suing for Emotional Distress
The plaintiff must prove the defendant had a legal duty to protect the plaintiff’s emotional wellbeing and purposefully chose not to. One can file a “negligent infliction of emotional distress” NIED claim as long as the plaintiff was in the “zone of danger.” For example, if an employee gets hurt on the job, someone in a different office section cannot file for an NIED. However, a supportive bystander may witness part of the affected employee’s NIED claim.
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