Ms Gomes won her claim for compensation for her employer’s breach of the Working Time Regulations (WTR). She hadn’t been provided with the necessary rest breaks. But did that also entitle her to damages for injury to feelings, usually claimed in discrimination cases?
Ms Gomes won her claim for compensation for her employer’s breach of the Working Time Regulations (WTR). She hadn’t been provided with the necessary rest breaks. But did that also entitle her to damages for injury to feelings, usually claimed in discrimination cases?
No, said the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Injury to feelings compensation isn’t available in cases like this. Where there is an element of discrimination involved in a failure to allow rest breaks then, yes, injury to feelings may become relevant. But otherwise, it doesn’t apply.
Note, though, that if an employee’s health had gone downhill as a consequence of their employer’s WTR breach, that could be the basis of a compensation claim (damage to health, as opposed to injury to feelings).
