Driver Awarded 25,000 Euro for Workplace Stress

In a rare example of a workplace injury claim not involving an actual physical injuries, a Securicor driver has been awarded €25,000 in damages for robbery of his van that included the “Tiger” kidnapping of a colleague’s wife. The security van driver, James Eakins, had sued Securicor Security Services Limited, his former employer, for post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.  While not personally threatened, Eakins claimed that he was stressed by an incident when he handed over over €1 million to a work colleague whose wife had been taken hostage.  The 2007 incident happened while delivering cash to an ATM at a service station in County Carlow.   The president of the High Court, Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns,  ruled James Eakins was entitled to compensation.