Commonwealth Bank lost a protracted legal battle over a compensation claim with a former senior employee who attempted suicide due to workplace stress. The former manager of the Commonwealth Bank's Mount Hawthorn branch, Mark Reeve, secured a win in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal after the Commonwealth Bank reversed an earlier decision to accept his stress claim. Lillian Makind, a workers compensation lawyer with Slater & Gordon, said Reeve had been placed under a lot of pressure to achieve unrealistic goals which was amplified by a lack of consultation and support.She added that the pressure from the bank, "made him suffer extreme anxiety, depression and ultimately a nervous breakdown." The tribunal found that Reeve's major depressive disorder "was contributed to, to a significant degree, by his employment." The tribunal forced the Commonwealth Bank to pay Reeve his entitlements, which include 12 months back pay and ongoing compensation until he is fit for work again.  The bank ceased Reeve's payments in October 2009. He is no longer an employee of the CBA."It appears to be a terrible case of the bank seeking to maximise their profits over the mental health and well being of one of its employees," Makinda said. Reeve said he encouraged other workers who felt stressed at work to seek assistance early. Makinda told Banking Day that the Financial Services Union was very aware of the issues at Commonwealth Bank raised by Reeve's case and had received a number of related complaints from members.At the Tribunal hearing Reeve was critical of the bank's method of measuring branch performance. His stress and suicide attempt was prompted by a customer experience survey (CES) where results were poor. Under the Bank's system, if randomly-selected customers ranked the branch below nine on a scale of one to 10, their rank was classed as a zero, he said. The pressure of reporting "zero" scores in a public forum was "extremely stressful", embarrassing and humiliating. According to the worker's psychiatrist, a teleconference with his boss and performance assessment of the branch were "significant factors in his suicide attempt". The tribunal concurred that a restructure, staffing changes, teleconference and CES scores contributed to a major depressive disorder.