EU lawmakers on the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee have backed recommendations calling on the European Commission to draft a new law to protect workers from psychosocial risks such as stress and burnout.
The committee agreed a series of proposals for an EU bill setting minimum requirements to prevent, eliminate or reduce work-related psychosocial risks that can lead to stress, burnout, and mental and physical disorders, the European Parliament informed on Wednesday.
MEPs also called for binding obligations on employers to protect workers’ mental and physical health and to ensure safe and dignified working conditions.
The legislative initiative request was adopted by 41 votes in favour, 12 against and four abstentions.
More than 840,000 people die each year from health conditions linked to psychosocial risks — factors such as chronic work stress, bullying or harassment — the International Labour Organisation estimates.
Harassment policies, risk checks and the ‘right to disconnect’
MEPs said employers should adopt and implement policies that define and prohibit violence, harassment, bullying and discriminatory behaviour that undermine workers’ dignity or health, and set up early detection and prevention protocols including for third-party violence.
They also recommended regular psychosocial risk assessments looking at issues such as excessive workload and high work intensity, alongside action plans with concrete measures.
Significant workplace changes — including teleworking arrangements, automated decision-making or automated monitoring systems — should be subject to a prior psychosocial risk assessment carried out with workers and their representatives.
MEPs said employers should ensure algorithmic systems do not impose excessive burden or monitoring on workers and that human oversight is always in place, and reiterated that workers have a right to disconnect from work.
The committee also backed a recommendation that workers absent due to work-related psychosocial risks should have a right to a supported return to work, including individual plans that could adjust working time, work organisation, tasks or workload.
Parliament is expected to vote on the legislative initiative during its October I 2026 plenary session, and the Commission will then have three months to respond.
