Telling someone at work that they are having a breakdown counts as harassment under UK employment law, a tribunal has ruled.

The new ruling comes after a recruitment manager was sacked for hanging up the phone on her boss when she was told she was ‘not about to have a breakdown, you are IN a breakdown’.

Georgina Sowden has now won £87,000 in compensation after winning a disability discrimination and harassment case.

‘Nobody wants to be told that they are in the middle of a mental breakdown’, Employment Judge Rebecca Eeley said as she found that it is not helpful to make such a remark.

Mrs Sowden, 56, had suffered a ‘massive panic attack’ while carrying out her role and her dignity had also been ‘violated’, it was found.

Ms Sowden worked as a senior recruitment consultant at Optimal Recruitment Solutions Limited in Halifax, West Yorks.

She was put in charge of training up a new employee – Sharna McWilliams – who was the managing director’s daughter-in-law.

When she returned to work in-person after the Covid-19 pandemic in November 2021, she agreed to work two days a week from home.

On occasions when she had to work at home – for reasons including taking her daughter to the hospital – the company docked her pay.

Issues began when they demanded that she came in on her agreed upon work from home days.

Ms Sowden was judged to be disabled because of her anxiety and depression – a fact which her employer knew – and it was found that she could manage her symptoms better at home.

The tribunal heard that in August 2022 she became unwell and went off work sick.

This was down to her daughter’s health struggles, issues in her domestic life, and breakdowns in her relationships at work.

In one email exchange with her bosses, she was told that they were ‘shocked’ and ‘disappointed’ with her claims on commission payments.

She later had a call with her managing director, Melanie Stead, who ‘immediately spoke and over me’ and stated ‘Georgie, I am telling you now you are not about to have a breakdown, you are IN a breakdown’.

She was later asked what medication she was taking and was told that her previous trainee had left because she ‘spoke to him like he was a piece of s***’.

This accusation made her start crying and struggling to breathe.

Ms Stead later said that ‘it is not me doing this Georgie, you are doing this all by yourself’ – leading to Ms Sowden hanging up the phone due to a ‘massive panic attack’.

She sent Ms Stead a follow-up email after a call stating how ‘devastated’ she was. She later said she would not be able to come into work due to her health.

In September 2022 her contract was terminated due to her absences from management meetings and health appointments – despite attending the last one on the phone.

After being sacked, Ms Sowden successfully took claims of disability discrimination, disability harassment and a breach of duty to make reasonable adjustments to an employment tribunal in Manchester.

At the Manchester hearing Employment Judge Rebecca Eeley said that her dignity had been ‘violated’ by her employers and granted her £87,212.

Optimal Recruitment Solutions Limited filed for insolvency in October 2024.

Judge Eeley said it was an ‘illogical’ decision to sack Ms Sowden.

Judge Eeley also said the comment about her having a ‘breakdown’ was harassment.

‘That comment was evidently unwanted’, the judge said.

‘Nobody wants to be told that they are in the middle of a mental breakdown. The comment was not supportive or designed to help.

‘It seems to be an accusation or a disparaging remark. It certainly does not seem to be constructive.

‘Further, if it is looked at in the context of the conversation, it is not relevant to the topic of the conversation.

‘In reality that sort of comment ‘torpedoes’ the conversation from the start.

‘Given the surrounding circumstances, the evident souring of relationships between the parties, and the factual content of the comment, we are satisfied that this comment did have the effect of violating (Ms Sowden’s) dignity and creating a hostile, degrading, offensive or intimidating environment for her.’

Following the case, Mrs Sowden, a mother-of-two, said: ‘It seems like something of a hollow win. I won’t get a penny because they’ve gone into insolvency. That doesn’t seem fair.’

Mrs Sowden, from Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, said she had been unable to work since being sacked more than three years ago, adding: ‘I’m still struggling to even think about working. My mental health has really suffered through all of this.’