How to access stress leave and your rights

Stress leave, also known as a mental health day, is the time taken off work due to being overwhelmed by work and or life circumstances. Depending on the severity of your stress, stress leave can fall under paid sick leave or annual leave according to Fair Work Australia.

The requirements for stress leave can vary from company to company. Before requesting stress leave from work, you should read through your company policies surrounding leave. Whilst some companies may accept paid sick leave without a medical certificate from a doctor, others may require a medical certificate certifying that you cannot work.

Generally accepted reasons for stress leave include:

• Indications of depression and or anxiety observed by a doctor
• Worsening diagnosed depression or anxiety
• Inability to work effectively due to stress
• Inability to disconnect from work during personal time
• Worsening mental health from prolonged stress

Step 1 - Review Your Leave Requirements

If your company has leave policies available to you, read through them to ensure you understand what they might require of you for annual, sick, carers and unpaid leave.

Step 2 - Getting Evidence if Required

If your company requires a medical certificate from a doctor in order to be granted stress leave, you may need to speak to a doctor online or in person. A medical certificate is a certification from a registered health professional that they believe you are unfit for your work commitments for a time period decided by them. If you need a short time (1-2 days) off an online medical certificate consultation can be appropriate. If you believe you need longer off in order to recover, it may be best to speak to your doctor in person, particularly if you are experiencing worsening mental health.

Step 3 - Communicate Your Intention with Your Manager or HR

Working with your manager or HR can help your employer ensure minimum impact from your time away, further increasing the likelihood of approval. Present your medical certificate if your company requires one and discuss when and how long you will be on leave. You should be upfront about the reasons for the leave if they are work-related so they can be addressed if possible.

If you have paid sick leave available and you have received a medical certificate from a doctor, stress leave can be taken under paid sick and carers leave.

If you do not get sick leave for your work or you have run out, you may need to request paid annual leave or unpaid leave.

Fair Work Australia states that an employee is entitled to paid sick leave when they cannot work due to personal illness or injury including stress and pregnancy-related illnesses. They go on to say employers can ask employees to provide evidence for as little as 1 day or less off work. This evidence can be provided before or after the period of leave has begun.

A doctor can grant a medical certificate for stress leave if they believe you are genuinely unable to work due to worsened mental health. It is important to discuss what symptoms you are experiencing with the doctor so they can not only provide a certificate but also advice for better long-term mental health if required.

For a doctor to grant you time off work, you must sufficiently be able to explain your situation and symptoms and how these make you unable to fulfil your work responsibilities for the time period you are requesting.

The decision for how long the medical certificate grants leave is up to the doctor and the severity of the stress. Whilst a doctor may decide to reject the request if they feel the request is not genuine, reasonable requests in genuine cases are granted commonly in practice.

Online consultations may be suitable for short-term stress leave requests, whilst long-term stress leave requests should be handled by your regular physician for a long-term mental health plan.

If you have provided evidence such as a medical certificate from a doctor and you have complied with your company's policy for the type of evidence required, there should not be grounds for rejecting your sick leave.

Fair Work Australia specifically states that they do not consider it reasonable for an employer to attend the doctor's consultation or contact an employee's doctor to gain further information, rather the certificate itself is sufficient evidence.