Exposure to Toxic Substances at Work – Guideline Court of Appeal Ruling

Exposure to toxic substances at work is often cited as a possible cause of diseases developed later in life. However, as an important Court of Appeal ruling made plain, establishing the plausibility of such causal links may not, by itself, be enough to succeed in an occupational injury…

Nov 29, 2023

Pexels pixabay 209230 1024x685

Exposure to toxic substances at work is often cited as a possible cause of diseases developed later in life. However, as an important Court of Appeal ruling made plain, establishing the plausibility of such causal links may not, by itself, be enough to succeed in an occupational injury claim.

The case concerned a man who developed Parkinson’s disease after working for an industrial employer for almost 40 years. After he launched a personal injury claim, a judge found that he had been exposed on the shop floor to significant levels of an organic solvent, trichloroethylene (TCE), which was used to clean and degrease engineering components.

Before the judge, it was not the man’s case that such exposure merely increased the risk of him developing Parkinson’s disease. Rather, he asserted that TCE did, in fact, cause or materially contribute to his condition. The judge upheld his claim, finding his former employer liable to compensate him for all the consequences of the disease.

Ruling on the employer’s challenge to that outcome, the Court noted that there is no doubt that TCE is neurotoxic. It is also now recognised as a carcinogen. The man was not required to show that a causal link between TCE and Parkinson’s disease had been scientifically proved. It was sufficient for him to establish that such a link was more likely than not.

Upholding the appeal, however, the Court observed that the causation of Parkinson’s disease is poorly understood. A wide range of genetic and environmental factors had been postulated, exposure to TCE amongst them. TCE is one of many compounds that have been suggested to be capable of causing the disease. However, a number of controlled, high-quality studies had, to date, not produced consistent results or substantiated such a cause-effect relationship.

The evidence of such a causal link, as summarised by the judge, was weak. It did no more than establish that TCE is a risk factor for Parkinson’s disease and that there is a plausible mechanism, based on studies involving rodents, for a finding that TCE may cause or materially contribute to the development of Parkinson’s disease. Overall, the evidence did not justify a conclusion that, on the balance of probabilities, such wrongful exposure to TCE as the man experienced made a material contribution to the onset of the disease.

Financial Consultant Who Failed to Disclose Bankruptcy Fairly Dismissed

You would generally be right to think that what goes on in your life away from your workplace is nobody’s business but your own. In one case, however, a financial consultant’s failure to disclose his bankruptcy to his employer was ruled by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) to be a sufficient ground for dismissal. The man, who worked for an estate agency, was suffering financial difficulties after prolonged periods on sick leave and was declared bankrupt at his own behest. His bankruptcy came…

How to Conduct a Fair Redundancy Exercise – Guideline EAT Ruling

A redundancy process in which a decision to dismiss is effectively taken in advance of consulting an affected employee will almost never be fair. The point was made by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in the case of a nurse who was selected for redundancy solely because her fixed-term contract was shortly due to expire. The nurse worked in a research unit that was losing money and needed to shed staff. She was selected for redundancy for no other reason than that her contract was coming up…

Severe Menopausal Symptoms Can Amount to a Disability, ET Rules

The word ‘disability’ may summon images of people suffering from grave physical incapacity but, in employment law terms, it has a much broader meaning than that. In an employment case on point, a woman who was suffering from the ill effects of the menopause met the statutory definition of disability. The woman, who was in her 50s, suffered physical symptoms including hot flushes, night sweats, headaches, joint pain and tingling extremities. Mentally, she endured anxiety, panic attacks,…