Tort In The Workplace

“A tort is a civil wrong for which the remedy is an action for unliquidated damages and which is not exclusively the breach of a contract, or the breach of a trust, or the breach of other merely equitable obligation”- Salmond

The words ‘tort’ has originated from the Medieval Latin word ‘tortum’ which literally means injustice. But to be more specific, torts law is a vast branch of law which deals with civil wrongs like negligence (of different sorts), battery, harassment and trespass among others. In common parlance, torts may be described as the wing under which all claims pertaining to civil rights are brought and monetary compensation is awarded to right the people who have been hurt or their property damaged. Entering a property without

A corporate office, a school, a coal mine, a street being cleaned by a municipal worker: all are workplaces. Almost everything we see around ourselves can be in some parts contributed to the efforts of some employee in a workplace. They keep all the cogs in every machinery running and that is why upholding the rights of an employee and fostering a healthy workplace for him is essentially a matter of utmost importance. A workplace is a predominantly economic sphere and the very reason people are there is to make money. Thus, the very concept of punishing the hindrance of the sanctity of this sphere by imposing monetary punishment has a sense of poetic justice and fairness to it. The other facet of such a legal action also acts as a deterrent to possible offenders and thus goes a long way into creating an efficient workplace where every employee can contribute their best efforts into their jobs. And that probably explains why the usage of tort law to further augment employee rights has seen a massive surge in the recent legal history in the last

Prevalent in many forms ranging from bullying, mistreatment, emotional abuse to molestation and coercing sexual relationships, it has a potential to severely cripple the productivity of a workplace. Lowered morale, increased stress, low self-esteem and dysfunctional personal relationships among the employees are all direct products of harassment and are all points of departure from the real purpose of workplaces.

During my study of newspaper articles on the subject, I came across a range of reports greatly varying on the circumstances of the tort, the manner of harassment and the course of action after the report. For first impressions, as opposed to the common perception of workplace harassment being a class specific and limited occurrence, harassment can in fact be seen very frequently in every section and class of the professional society. 1.2 WRONGFUL