An employer's supervisor who is on actual notice of escalating workplace disharmony and an employee's deteriorating mental health must take reasonably practicable steps including invoking formal dispute resolution mechanisms; passive management in such circumstances constitutes negligence. Entry into a contract of employment does not absolve the employer from the tortious duty to exercise reasonable care to prevent psychiatric injury from workplace stress. An investigation report commissioned by an employer to address workplace complaints is not excluded under s 69(3)(a) of the Evidence Act merely because a workers' compensation claim has been lodged, where the report was prepared for the purpose of the employer conducting its affairs in proper order.
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