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Can you sue for emotional distress due to workplace issues?

On Behalf of | Oct 7, 2021 | Workplace Harassment

If you believe that you have been the target of workplace discrimination, retaliation or harassment, you know that it can be miserable. You may have suffered a number of related consequences, such as a demotion, failure to get a deserved pay raise, a shrinking of your responsibilities, lowering of your stature in the organization or humiliation.

Maybe you are enduring more than one of these setbacks or difficulties and are overwhelmed. It can feel like the walls are closing in and you are fighting all of it alone.

There is yet another unfortunate result that sometimes happens to people when they find themselves in such unsettling, uncomfortable circumstances at work. They may be coping with emotional distress. You may suffer from insomnia, depression and anxiety.

Substantiating your emotional problems and linking them to your workplace

It’s one thing to assert that you are being harassed or discriminated against and have suffered psychological or emotional effects as a result. It’s another thing to prove it. There are at least two ways this can be achieved:

  • A physician or a trained expert in mental disorders backs up your claim of notable job-connected emotional effects.
  • Individuals close to you, like family members or longtime friends, validate what you are saying.

If medicine was given to relieve the emotional issue, that can also be a persuasive fact.

There can be a downside to seeking damages for emotional distress

Your boss might try to indicate that your mental status was not solely or primarily the result of what allegedly occurred in the workplace but arose from non-related situations in your personal life. Having that information dredged up could be the basis for more significant unhappiness. However you choose to proceed, it’s wise to have experienced legal guidance on your side.