What is the legal test for damages for mental distress in an employment contract?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Fitzsimmons v. School District No. 26 (North Thompson), 1996 CanLII 3448 (BC SC):
Fitzsimmons claims damages for mental distress based either on the parties having contemplated it at the time the employment contract was entered into or because the acts complained of giving rise to mental distress are independently actionable and arise out of the wrongful dismissal itself and thereby aggravating the damages incurred as a result of the dismissal (See Vorvis v. ICBC 1989 CanLII 93 (SCC), 58 D.L.R. (4th) 193 (S.C.C.). There are other cases where damages for mental distress have been awarded without an analysis of the approach taken in Vorvis. Those cases were cited by Fitzsimmons counsel, but I have concluded that the factual circumstances of each are far more serious in their impact on the plaintiffs in those cases than in the case before me.
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