According to the CIPD, 79% of employers reported stress-related absence in their organisation in 2022. Employers will often receive fit notes simply saying “stress at work” and want to know their legal obligations. Employers are also well aware that employees with disabilities have legal protections under the Equality Act and that they may need to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees. So, can stress be a disability? B P Collins’ employment team comments below.
To be a disability, “stress” needs to be an impairment which has an adverse effect on the employee’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities and that adverse effect needs to be both substantial and long-term.
In many stress cases, there is no question of the stress being long-term. Typically, employees are signed off for a short period of time to allow them to rest and recover and then return to work and there is no likelihood of the absence becoming entrenched.
In the rare cases where an employee is signed off with stress for a significant period of time (or is likely to be), that doesn’t automatically mean they are disabled. Employers should be aware that Tribunals have drawn a distinction between stress caused by “adverse life events” – which might include an issue at work – and stress related to mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.
In “adverse life event” cases the employee may be genuinely stressed: stress is, after all, a natural consequence of a workplace dispute. However, the Employment Tribunal is far less likely to find that there is a disability because there is no impairment (a component of the definition of disability). In the words of one judge:
“…unhappiness with a decision or a colleague, a tendency to nurse grievances, or a refusal to compromise (if these or similar findings are made by an Employment Tribunal) are not of themselves mental impairments: they may simply reflect a person’s character or personality.”
Where the stress is related to a mental health condition, however, then it is more likely that a tribunal will find the employee will be disabled. The employee will still need to prove that the condition has a substantial, long-term, adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities and tribunals. That might require the employee to produce, for example, medical evidence about their condition and how it affects them.
So, yes, stress can be a disability – but employers should note that in many cases, it will not be.
If you’d like to discuss the issues raised in this article or any other employment matter, please contact B P Collins’ employment team at enquiries@bpcollins.co.uk or call 01753 889995.
