£800,000 damages award for bullying

Aug 01 2006 by Brian Amble Print This Article

Another huge damages award against a City bank has underlined the risks that employers in Britain now run if they fail to tackle workplace cultures that tolerate bullying or harassment.

Helen Green, 36, has won an estimated £800,000 ($1.5 million) in damages for bullying after she sued her former employer, Deutsche Bank, claiming harassment by colleagues and lack of support from her bosses.

She claimed that she was subjected to "offensive, abusive, intimidating, denigrating, bullying, humiliating, patronizing, infantile and insulting words and behaviour" from her former colleagues.

The judge, Mr Justice Owen, said the behaviour amounted to "a deliberate and concerted campaign of bullying" and that she was "subjected to a relentless campaign of mean and spiteful behaviour designed to cause her distress."

Deutsche Bank said it had not breached its duties and denied that she was bullied, saying she had had a predisposition to mental illness.

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