You can, and sometimes taking a stress leave is the right thing to do. In a 2021 Gallup survey, some 44% of employees experienced a lot of daily stress the day before. You may not see your situation strictly as needing a “stress” leave, but you may see it as experiencing burnout, anxiety, or depression. You need to apply for a leave of absence for any of these reasons in a similar way. Here’s how you should approach making the request for a stress leave from work.
Determine Whether You Are Eligible for FMLA
The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) applies to companies with 50 or more employees within a 75-mile radius of the workplace. For FMLA eligibility, you must have been employed by your company for at least a year and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the past 12 months. If you meet these qualifications, it’s possible that you are eligible for legal protection for your stress leave. Go to your Human Resources department and let them know you would like to take an FMLA-approved absence for stress leave. They will provide you with the necessary paperwork that you must take to your doctor. Just saying you are too stressed out to work is not sufficient—your doctor will need to recommend that you take a stress leave. WebMD says “Stress seems to worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma.” Stress is not something you should ignore. Your doctor will fill out the paperwork. To qualify for the stress leave, you must be suffering from a serious medical condition. Not all stress causes an FMLA-eligible condition. But, if your doctor agrees that you are suffering from a severe condition and that you are unable to work during this time period, you will be eligible for protected leave.
What Does a Stress Leave Look Like?
This will depend on what your doctor instructs you to do. It’s vital that you follow her instructions and don’t just treat this as a vacation. Even though you won’t go into the office, you are not on vacation. If your leave is approved under FMLA, then you cannot do any work during the time you are off of work. Other than answering a quick question, you should not check your work email, participate in phone calls or meetings, or do any work. You should focus on your health and alleviating the stress which caused you to take the stress leave.
Can You Take Intermittent FMLA for Stress Leave?
Yes, you can. If your doctor feels that a shortened workweek or other accommodation is vital to help you with your serious stress condition, intermittent FMLA is possible. FMLA allows eligible employees to take up to 12 workweeks off per year, and you do not have to take the days off consecutively. FMLA leave may be taken in increments of weeks, days, or hours.
What If You Are Not Eligible?
If your company isn’t large enough, or you haven’t worked there long enough, or your doctor doesn’t consider your condition severe enough to leave work, you won’t have a protected leave of absence. This doesn’t mean that your company cannot approve a stress leave, it’s just that they don’t have to guarantee you a position when you return. Certainly, do ask about taking time off as an unpaid personal leave of absence to get the rest and treatment you need. Many companies will offer you unpaid time off even without the FMLA time off. Your state or region may also have different requirements for employers so ask your HR department.
