MEPs Want Employers Held Responsible for Workers’ Mental, Physical Health

The European Parliament voted Tuesday to urge the European Commission to propose new EU rules aimed at preventing, eliminating or reducing workplace risks that can cause stress, burnout, and mental and physical disorders.

Lawmakers adopted the non-binding legislative initiative report by a vote of 413-210, with 29 abstentions. They said any proposal should be preceded by an impact assessment that includes a review of existing legislation.

Members want employers to be obligated to protect workers’ mental and physical health and ensure safe, dignified working conditions. They also want the Commission and EU countries to explicitly recognize that work-related psychosocial risks can cause occupational diseases.

Violence and harassment

Employers should adopt and carry out policies that define and prohibit violence, harassment, bullying and discriminatory behavior that undermines workers’ dignity or health, lawmakers said. They also called for early detection mechanisms and risk-based prevention protocols for violence by third parties, along with timely support for affected workers.

Risk assessments

Lawmakers recommended that employers regularly assess psychosocial risks, such as excessive workload and high work intensity, and adopt action plans with concrete measures.

They said major restructuring should be subject to a prior risk assessment conducted with workers and their representatives. Examples include teleworking arrangements and the introduction of automated decision-making and monitoring systems.

Employers should ensure that algorithmic management systems do not impose excessive burdens or monitoring on workers, and human oversight must always be maintained, lawmakers said. They also reiterated that workers have a right to disconnect from work.

Returning to work

Workers who have been absent because of psychosocial risks should have a right to a supported and sustainable return, according to the report. Lawmakers recommended that employers create individual return-to-work plans that could include adjustments to working time or work organization and changes to a worker’s tasks or workload.

“Europe must move away from a ‘burnout society’ and help create healthy workplaces where everyone can thrive, especially as the use of digital technologies and AI in the workplace continues to grow,” said Estelle Ceulemans, a Belgian lawmaker with the S&D group who wrote the report. She said the issue also affects public finances “as the cost to society is skyrocketing.”

The Commission has three months to respond. It must either tell Parliament what steps it plans to take or explain why it is refusing to propose legislation along the lines Parliament requested.