Tedeschi v Franklins Limited

In *Tedeschi v Franklins Limited*, the New South Wales Court of Appeal considered a dispute between a former employee, Mr Tedeschi, and his former employer, Franklins Limited. Mr Tedeschi alleged that Franklins Limited had breached its duty of care to him by failing to take reasonable steps to prevent him from suffering psychiatric injury arising from his employment.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether Franklins Limited owed Mr Tedeschi a duty of care to protect him from psychiatric injury, and if so, whether that duty had been breached. This involved determining the scope of an employer's duty of care in relation to the mental well-being of its employees, particularly in circumstances where the employee's work involved exposure to stressful situations.

The Court of Appeal affirmed the established principle that an employer owes a duty of care to its employees to take reasonable steps to avoid psychiatric injury. However, it found that the employer's duty of care is not absolute and is limited by what is reasonably foreseeable. In this instance, the Court concluded that the psychiatric injury suffered by Mr Tedeschi was not reasonably foreseeable by Franklins Limited, and therefore, the employer had not breached its duty of care. The Court emphasised that an employer is not expected to guard against every possible risk of harm, but only those that are reasonably foreseeable and preventable by reasonable precautions.