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The High Court has granted an employee special leave to appeal a ruling that found an employer couldn't have reasonably foreseen his "extraordinary" psychiatric response to being dismissed.

The Vision Australia adaptive technology consultant was sacked in May 2015 for "aggressive and intimidating" behaviour while on a work trip, and five years later he sought damages for employment contract and duty of care breaches, claiming he'd been "very badly psychologically affected" by his dismissal.

The Victorian Supreme Court subsequently found the employer had breached his employment contract in failing to follow its own disciplinary procedures, and that the risk of the employee suffering a psychiatric injury was reasonably foreseeable. It concluded the employee was entitled to $1,442,405 in general damages and economic loss...