A woman who had an affair with her social worker has failed in a court bid to claim damages from the charity employing the social worker, reports STV.
Helen Shields had apparently been referred to the charity after struggling to cope with the care of her husband and son, who both had medical problems. Social worker Philip Bennett was assigned to her case, and the couple had a brief affair. It ended when Mr Bennett stated that he did not intend to leave his wife and resigned from the charity.
Ms Shields raised a complaint about his behaviour and, after an investigation by the Scottish Social Services Council, Mr Bennett was found guilty of misconduct and lost his registration as a social worker.
Ms Shields then lodged a damages claim for £100,000 against the charity, Crossroads Orkney, claiming that she had suffered mentally and financially as a result of the affair. She stated that the charity owed a duty of care to service users like herself to protect them from the actions of their employees.
The Court of Session ruled that Mr Bennett had been acting out with the scope of his employment when he had the affair, which had been fully consensual, and that it would not be reasonable to impose a duty of care on either the charity or Mr Bennett, reports STV.
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