The case clearly represents one of the many cases where bosses are unfair to their team members. Chris was a good worker from the beginning but unfortunately, he developed a bipolar disorder. He started behaving differently because of the bipolar disorder and usually people understood his problem except for his boss. His boss was rude and did not treat him the same as every other worker in the office. The behaviour of his boss was very discouraging to him and finally led him to quit his job.
Bipolar disorder is a mental health problem which causes extreme mood swings. It mostly happens when someone is in a great deal of stress. Many times the reason for bipolar disorder is the high stress at work. Everyone feels mood swings once in a while but for bipolar people it’s very extreme and they can be happy, angry or sad in a very short period of time. It can actually interfere a lot with their work. The people suffering from bipolar disorder need special accommodations at work to be able to do their job. According to the related employment laws, the patients of bipolar disorder should report their illness to their employer and it is the employer’s duty to make accommodations for their employee.
Two of the main laws that were violated by Bill’s actions were, “The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act”. “Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 all employers have a duty of reasonable care for their employees. This includes the mental well-being of an individual. Employers must assess all health and safety risks, take preventative action and carry out health and safety training in the workplace” (MDF, 2012). The definition of disability under the Disability Discrimination Act is “The Act provides protection to those persons who have a ‘disability’. It states “a person has a disability if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”(Directgov, 2012).
There are many legal issues in the case. One of the laws violated in this case was the Disability and the Equality Act 2010. The equality act 2010 protects the people with certain disabilities to be discriminated against at the work place. It is illegal to treat a worker differently because they have a dis order or harass them because they have certain disability and they are different from everyone else. According to the definition of disability mentioned in The Disability Discrimination act 1995 “A disability can arise from a wide range of impairments which can be: mental health conditions and mental illnesses, such as depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, bipolar affective disorders, obsessive compulsive disorders, as well as personality disorders and some self-harming behaviour” (Directgov, 2012) Bill, the boss of Chris was clearly discriminating against Bill because of his illness and was also harassing him because of his disability.
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) covers people who cannot perform day to day tasks like normal people because of their mental health problem. People with bipolar disorder care covered under this act because their mental problem might interfere with their daily activities. People are protected against disability under DDA in circumstances such as employment, education and the provision of goods and services (Directgov, 2012). There are four types of sections to define the disabilities to be considered under this act; General, Substantial, Long Term and Normal day to day activities. Bipolar disorder clearly falls into many of these four categories.
Two of the main laws that were violated by Bill’s actions were, “The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act”. “Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 all employers have a duty of reasonable care for their employees. This includes the mental well-being of an individual. Employers must assess all health and safety risks, take preventative action and carry out health and safety training in the workplace” (MDF, 2012). The definition of disability under the disability Discrimination Act is “The Act provides protection to those persons who have a ‘disability’. It states “a person has a disability if he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”(Directgov, 2012).
In the case, Chris was a good worker for eight years and performed his duties well. In his line of work he was supposed to interact with people during market inspection and also may be during waste enforcement. He received good annual reviews and was very good at his job. He was also a loyal and honest worker because he informed the human resource department about his condition. He was already struggling with the dis order and was taking strong drugs to be able to do his job. Bill, his boss was very mean towards him and made fun of his dis order by calling him “looney – tunes” while talking to Chris’s co-workers. It made the matters worse and Chris got so much affected by it that he could not do his job well. He might have had a lot of mood swings and was not able to perform well at his job. He finally had to quit his job because he could not take the pressure anymore because of his newly developed bipolar disorder. It might have been a very bad experience for Chris to not be able to perform well at a job that he was good at, for the past eight years. How a boss treats their employees really makes a difference and in Chris’s case it was all the more important because he had special needs because of his bipolar dis order. Instead of being a supportive boss, Bill proved to be worst of the bosses that drove Chris to leave the job. He also acted in a way that might result in a law suit for the organisation because he discriminated against one of the team members because of a disability that was protected under various acts of law.
MDF, the bipolar organisation, has a lot of information about the employees and employers dealing with the dis order. In 2006, mental health disorders accounted for 41% of those on incapacity benefit in England. Alongside stress, mental health problems are now the leading cause of absence from work and it is estimated that at least 35% of all GP consultations involve a mental health problem (MDF, 2012). According to the data by MDF, one in hundred people might develop the bipolar disorder which is also called manic depression. There are a lot of instances where the employees are not treated sympathetically and get their rightful place at work because of a mental illness such as bipolar disorder. Many bosses treat their subordinates like Bill treated Chris, which is clearly unethical and also illegal. When Chris reported his ci-polar disorder to the Human Resources Department, he declared his illness to his employer and was rightfully expecting accommodations to be able to do his job. What Bill did to Chris can be called an act of bullying. He was the boss and he was supposed to help Chris adjust his disorder and still perform his duties but the exact opposite happened in this case and Bill actually became the reason Chris quit his job.
According to MDF.org.uk, the most common reasons why an employee with bipolar disorder might find it hard to do their job is harassment at work, bullying and less security. Chris was definitely feeling a lack of confidence because of bullying and harassment at his office.
Chris should have taken the matters to his Human Resources Department and reported his manager’s behaviour to them. Human Resources Department is there to take care of the employees and act as a mediator in case the relationship between the boss and a team member is in trouble. He should have also talked to his boss directly and told him how his behaviour was affecting his work and he was already fighting with a mental problem. Also, when he asked his boss to leave early one of the days to be able to attend that meeting regarding his mental health and the boss said no, he should have explained to his boss how important the meeting was and it would really harm him if he missed any of the meetings. Chris could have also tried to educate his boss on bipolar disorder by may be giving pamphlets to read or have a conversation with him about it. Chris should have discussed his special needs with his boss and the HR department and told them how much small things like making little adjustments would help him do his job. I also believe that he should have discussed a leave of absence to get better instead of quitting the job. He might also have requested a change of team or department so that he gets a different boss. Bill had put Chris on a disciplinary because he left the job to attend his mental health meeting, which was unfair and he should have told the HR department. Ultimately Chris also had a right to sue the organisation in the court of law because Bill’s actions violated many disability laws.
“The employer’s responsibility is to recognise that the individual is attempting to manage their illness and to put simple policies in place to prevent unnecessary stress or anxiety for all their employees” (MDF, 2012). As I mentioned before, Bipolar is covered under the Disability Discrimination Act and Equality Act. In this case Bill had discriminated against Bill which falls into the category of “Disability related discrimination”. Disability Discrimination Act clearly identifies Bill’s behaviour has discriminating. “Disability related discrimination: by treating a disabled person less favourably for a reason related to their disability. An example would be an employer dismissing an employee if they took three months sick leave after a relapse of bipolar. They are dismissed not because of their illness but for a reason related to their bipolar” (Directgov, 2012)
Bill’s actions against Chris cannot be justified under any circumstances because they are clearly discriminating against Chris for not being able to perform his job due to his bipolar disorder. He should not have put Chris on disciplinary because he left early to attend his mental health meeting. He should not have been a participant in the joke of calling Chris “looney-tunes”. As far as judgment is concerned in this case, Chris should have reported Bill to the HR department, and the HR department should have taken disciplinary actions against Bill for discriminating against Chris. The organisation that Chris was working with should also be really concerned about the lawsuit that might prove to be really expensive.
In conclusion, I would like to say that Bill’s behaviour towards Chris was not right at all and Chris’s decision to leave the job without bringing the situation to anyone’s attention was not right either. Bill should have treated Chris with sympathy and taken care of his special needs while Chris should have talked to Bill and his HR department to make accommodations because of his disability. If it no one helped Chris, he should have taken the step of filing a law suit because he was protected against his disability under the law.
Reference list
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Equality Human Rights [online]. (2012) [Accessed 15 March 2012]. Available from:
Bipolar aware [online]. (2001) [Accessed 15 March 2012]. Available from:
Web MD [online]. (2012) [Accessed 15 March 2012]. Available from:
APA [online]. (2006) [Accessed 15 March 2012]. Available from:
APA [online]. (2012) [Accessed 15 March 2012]. Available from:
