Employee requests stress leave from work: What you need to know

Work-related stress is widespread in today’s fast-paced world, which is likely something you can attest to personally — as 94% of workers report feeling stress at work.

Dealing with the occasional stressful situation is expected in nearly any position. However, too much workplace stress can negatively affect an employee’s physical and mental health.

Elevated stress levels can lead to severe health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and gastrointestinal issues, to name a few.

Burnout is also a severe issue, with 63% of US workers reporting that they’re ready to quit their jobs to avoid experiencing more workplace stress.

Sources of stress may vary, such as excessive workloads, financial issues, trouble at home, and complex coworkers/managers. Perhaps you’ve tried addressing stress with a mental health day. Maybe you’ve even seen a therapist or talked with your employer.

If these efforts haven’t helped, you should be able to take the next step. Likewise, it is time to take action if you have good employees who can’t shake the stress.

What’s that?

Stress leave from work is one option for an employee to recover & return to their usual self.

If the condition is severe enough, the FMLA (the Family and Medical Leave Act) is an employment law allowing employees to take protected unpaid leave to deal with excessive stress. While it’s not paid sick leave, the employer must keep the position open during the leave of absence.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about taking a stress leave from work, including how to qualify for protected leave.

Why do employees go on stress leave?

There are many reasons why an employee may need to take off work due to severe symptoms of stress.

The APA (American Psychological Association) recently released a report covering the compounding pressure and workplace stressors employees have been experiencing since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here’s a quick summary of their findings:

• For every three in five employees, stress has negatively affected their work performance.

• 50% say lack of involvement in decisions contributes to their stress.

• Low salaries (56%), long hours (54%), and a lack of growth opportunities are the most commonly reported workplace stressors.

• 41% of employees in positions requiring manual labor report feelings of emotional and physical exhaustion.

It’s clear that workplace stress is not only abundant, but it also causes employees to become far less productive.

When stress reaches the point of causing physical and mental fatigue, employees may need to go on stress leave to get themselves back to 100%. This will benefit the company, too, as stressed employees often resort to absenteeism.

Whenever the employee returns refreshed and replenished, their quality of work and productivity will drastically improve.

Reasons to go on a stressful leave

Other commonly reported reasons to go on stress leave from work include:

• Work environment issues. If someone works in an especially noisy, hot/cold, or physically demanding work environment — their stress levels may elevate to the point where they must request stress leave to regain their sanity.

• Job-related stress. Does a job require working nights and weekends regularly? If so, that’s a surefire recipe for burnout. Other job-related issues requiring stress leave include long commutes (driving an hour or more one-way), unexpected challenges, and stringent demands.

• Work-life balance issues. Having to deal with a sick parent while contending with the demands of a full-time position can be incredibly stressful. Family emergencies can also get in the way, such as the death of a spouse or loved one. Troubles maintaining a healthy work-life balance can also cause mental and physical health problems, such as not being able to see family enough when working 80-hour workweeks.

• Problems with management. The adage ‘people don’t leave companies; they leave managers’ rings true here. Unfair treatment, unclear expectations, rudeness, and a lack of communication can wreak havoc on an employee’s life, causing them to pine for some stress-free (and manager-free) vacation time.

• Financial problems. Getting a restful night’s sleep is challenging when one is unsure how to pay the bills. While a low salary was a notable stressor reported from the ADA study, taking unpaid leave may not be the best remedy for an employee with financial stress.

These are all reasons why someone may feel the need to request to go on a stress leave to escape from work and recover their mental health.

Signs that you’re too stressed out

How do you know if someone needs to go on stress leave?

Realizing that an employee’s stress has gotten out of control can be challenging, as it’s common to experience workplace stress in any position. Similarly, it can be difficult to identify when one’s stress has reached such a point.

A few physical and mental symptoms of stress can affect someone’s day-to-day life.

• Feeling sad or tearing up all the time. If someone has become especially emotionally sensitive lately, it could indicate that your workplace stress is affecting them.

• Being more irritable and angry than usual. Does every little thing suddenly get on an employee’s nerves and cause them to lash out? If so, workplace stressors are likely the culprit.

• Restlessness. Can you not seem to sit still and engage with a TV show or novel like you used to? That’s a sign that you’re anxious and preoccupied with stress from work.

• Insomnia. Not being able to fall asleep is a physical manifestation of stress that has a compounding effect. That’s because the less you’re able to get quality sleep, the more depressed, anxious, and stressed you’ll become.

• Frequent headaches. If you’re always reaching for the Excedrin, your head likely aches so much due to the pressure/stress you’re under.

• Digestive issues. Elevated stress levels will increase gut motility and fluid secretion, which causes digestive issues like heartburn, indigestion, nausea, constipation, abdominal pain, and nausea and vomiting.

Self-care is essential, so if any of these symptoms show up, it’s crucial to take them seriously and take action.

Qualifying for stress leave

There is no official regulation specifically for stress leave. As such, an employee must meet a few qualifications under FMLA to request stress leave formally.

First, they must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months or 1,250 hours to qualify. So if they just started the job 6 months ago, they won’t be able to take stress leave from work.

Next, your company must have at least 50 employees, or you don’t have to provide FMLA legally. This rule doesn’t apply to government agencies or schools, regardless of the number of employees they have.

If an employee doesn’t qualify for FMLA leave, that may not end it. There may be state laws or programs in the area that provide weeks of unpaid leave for stress management, and there are always other options (more on this in a bit). Likewise, an employee with chronic anxiety or a related problem could find protection under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

How long is an FMLA stress leave?

Employees can take up to 12 weeks off within 12 months. This is not paid leave, but the employee’s position must be maintained while they’re away.

They must meet with a licensed healthcare provider to provide a medical certificate (or doctor’s note) documenting the stress-related health condition.

FMLA defines a serious health condition as an illness, impairment, or injury that requires:

• Inpatient care

• Hospice care

• Continued treatment

• Residential medical care

They’ll need proof of these to qualify for protected time off. There are a few other stipulations involved, including the following:

• At least twice a year, they’ll need to visit a healthcare provider for treatment.

• The condition continues over an extended period.

• The condition may be episodic, but it doesn’t require them to be fully incapacitated.

As long as they can check all these boxes, they can take stressful leave without worrying about losing their job.

What an employer must do under FMLA

Under a formal stress leave, you won’t be able to terminate the employee for their leave of absence. (However, the employee could be let go for downsizing if you discover they were engaged in inappropriate behavior like theft.)

The employee can be given a different job than before; however, you must provide a position at the same location with the same work hours and pay. That way, once the stress leave is over, the employee can return to their standard of living.

You CANNOT change an employee to part-time if they were a full-time employee before taking leave. You also can’t terminate an employee’s health insurance plan during such leave, ensuring they have access to the insurance policy the entire time off.

That can be a real lifesaver, especially for visiting clinics and healthcare providers for treatment.

3 Tips for taking a stress leave from work

Now that you know about qualifying for stress leave, you must ensure the proper notification process happens. You want to ensure an employee has enough time to recover. Otherwise, you’ll still have a stressed employee.

Under FMLA, employees have up to 12 weeks to take if needed and could take time as intermittent FMLA leave instead of one chunk.

Tip #1: Understand an employee’s rights

First, you should be able to familiarize yourself with the FMLA and an employee’s rights regarding the types of leave they can take.

Also, in addition to learning the requirements set by FMLA, you should consult your company policy on sick days and stress leave. If you aren’t sure, you can visit your HR department and ask them.

You may discover that your company already has a policy for stress leave, which you can follow. If you still need to, you must ensure that FMLA covers the employee before proceeding.

Tip #2: Speak with a Healthcare Professional

As stated before, a doctor’s note will be needed before an employee can take leave.

If an employee has yet to consult with a healthcare professional, you should ask that they do so to verify the need and determine a proper amount of time off.

For instance, if their stress has caused significant gastrointestinal issues (such as GERD), they may need more time off than just a couple of days.

Tip #3: Speaking with an employee

Ultimately, you’ll need to talk about this with the employee and the human resources department (if there is one).

During this time, you can discuss any workplace issues that caused the employee’s stress to get out of control. An employee requesting stress leave may indicate deeper workplace issues.

Consequently, other employees might also experience stress. Use this to learn about those issues and look for ways to address them.

Returning to work

Once an employee’s stress leave is complete, you should work with them to devise a return-to-work plan. Avoid immediately returning an employee to a stressful situation. Instead, ease them back into work. This gradual approach will be more beneficial.

Consider initially having an employee start with a reduced workload or less demanding responsibilities. This will help them get back into the swing of things without being overloaded.

What if an employee doesn’t qualify for stress leave?

If employees aren’t protected under FMLA and your state doesn’t have medical leave laws, there are still options for giving them a much-needed mental health break.

First, they can use their sick days or vacation time to take a few mental health days. Sometimes, it takes a few days away from a stressful situation to regain their zest for life.

They might also be able to take unpaid personal leave from your company. While it won’t be formally protected time off under FMLA, it can still provide the time you need to rest & recharge.

It’s essential to consider this: after all, would you rather let a good employee take a few days off or lose them permanently because of stress?

Lastly, you can let the employee take a leave of absence. Once again, this type of leave isn’t protected under any act, so you’re not required to keep the employee’s job open.

However, if you can do so, having an employee return will be much easier than trying to hire and onboard a new one.

Concluding thoughts: Stress leave from work

Employees experiencing physical or mental health issues should seek help from a healthcare professional. No job is worth stressing yourself into a health condition, and employers should want to avoid highly stressed employees.

Not only do they do worse work, but it can increase turnover and create an unhealthy work environment.

If employees need to take stress leave, it’s good first to assess whether there’s a problem within your organization or if the employee has personal issues causing the stress.

Either way, letting employees take the time to recover will show that you care as an employer and help you keep good employees on staff.

More resources:
How to deal with stress at work: Tips for maintaining your well-being
Top 10 causes of stress at work (and what you can do about them)
PTO request policy: A comprehensive guide for employers