The High Court awarded €68,636.14 to a shop worker who was assaulted by a customer, finding that her employer had breached its statutory and common law duties by failing to provide adequate training on dealing with aggressive customers.
In a judgment delivered on 8 April 2019, Mr Justice Bernard J. Barton found that the customer struck the worker with a bicycle lock chain during a dispute over a refund at a Limerick shop on 21 September 2011. The customer had pleaded guilty to a criminal assault charge. The worker had brought a trespass claim against him in these proceedings, but did not proceed against him at trial.
The employer disputed the assault in an amended defence and argued that the worker had contributed to what happened. It said she had grabbed the chain and escalated the confrontation. The judge rejected that account, accepting the worker’s evidence and that of a colleague who witnessed the incident.
The judgment noted that the CCTV footage was recorded at three frames per second and failed to capture at least half of what happened. The judge relied on the footage alongside witness evidence and other material in finding that the customer assaulted the worker. He also found that the employer had no written risk assessment or safety statement at the time, as required by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. The employer was not found in breach of security regulations because the store detective was entitled to work in plain clothes.
The judge found that the worker and her colleague had not received training or instructions on dealing with aggressive customers, and that the employee handbook did not provide adequate guidance. Given the foreseeable risk of an aggressive customer, the employer should have provided appropriate training. The court found the employer liable in negligence and for breach of statutory duty. It rejected the employer’s contributory negligence argument, finding it would be wrong to hold the worker responsible when she had received no relevant training.
The judge found that the worker suffered relatively minor physical injuries, including a small permanent scar hidden within her hairline. He assessed her psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress and depressive disorders, as the principal consequences of the assault. The court did not accept the employer’s submission that her lost earnings should be limited because she had stopped taking prescribed medication.
The award comprised €40,000 for pain and suffering to date, €10,000 for future pain and suffering, and €18,636.14 for pecuniary loss, including agreed expenses. The court ordered the total sum of €68,636.14.