Hampshire County Council v Wyatt [2016]

The Employment Tribunal in this case found that the Claimant’s suspension was not an unlawful act but was the most proximate cause of her depression and triggered that depression.

The Respondent appealed against an award for personal injury on the basis that the Employment Tribunal was wrong to make such an award in the absence of expert medical evidence, which was necessary to establish both causation and quantum of this claim which are difficult issues to disentangle.  The Respondent argued that in a low-value case, cost and proportionality issues may drive parties and tribunals to deal with such issues without medical evidence but in all other cases medical evidence must be obtained