Mental health | Worker spends nearly one year off sick with stress - HR could've stepped in sooner

The sacking of a worker who spent nearly a year off sick, due to stress and mental health, has put the issue of workplace wellbeing support firmly in the spotlight.

Reported by Wales Online, prison worker Mark Edwards was dismissed from his admin post at HMP Cardiff after he spent 330 days on sick leave, after several grievances against managers were not investigated. Edwards has now won £135,000 in compensation after an employment tribunal judge ruled that his sacking amounted to unfair dismissal.

Edward’s primary complaint was that one manager, Brian Ward, told him he could not use his mother's cancer diagnosis as an excuse for being late to work on an occasion in 2016.

Edwards submitted claims to an employment tribunal, and soon thereafter was signed off sick. An occupational health report found that the workplace grievances were the main factor behind his stress and ill health, the tribunal was told.