What can I do if my company’s negligence has caused me emotional harm?
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What can I do if my company’s negligence has caused me emotional harm?
I work for a retail chain and they have a security company called I Verify which monitors our stores from a separate location. I’ve been robbed twice in 5 months there, both times I hit the panic button but both times they failed to notify police. The first time they took 10 minutes to respond to the panic button. The second time, they called my store manager and told her someone was being held on the ground before notifying police. Due to this I feel unsafe working there and feel as though they didn’t help and don’t help keep me safe either. I’m pretty sure I have PTSD from this too. I was just wondering if I have a case here?
Asked on November 3, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, New Mexico
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
No, there is no compensation for emotional harm due to negligent security. Emotional harm is something you only get compensation for in the law if 1) it is the result of *deliberate* actions intended to cause emotional/mental harm (e.g. stalking, harassment, cyberbullying, etc.); 2) is the result of and accompanies certain kinds of physical injuries; or 3) comes from the trauma of watching a person violently (including by a violent accident) killed in front of you. The law does this because otherwise, *everyone* would claim emotional trauma in every dispute or case, to get more money, since emotional harm is essentially impossible to disprove; therefore, the law limits the availability of compensation for it to certain cases where certain specific, provable things also occur.
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