Hello - I reside in Los Angeles, CA - and have a few questions about stress leave. My job is extremely stressful and having to deal directly with an abrupt, condescending boss that everyone here tries to avoid is about 95% of my stress. The other part of the stress is that we have recently acquired a new Pres. & CEO - who has come into the company and promises that before any big moves take place...he will let us know.

Well... the only time he let's us know of a change is when we get an email about one of his "friends" who he has newly hired...and one of us that has been here for years (17) is let go. There is so much secrecy here...doors closing everywhere....the accounting dept. is being moved to another state...which means that the entire department will loose their job in June. So on top of all of the job duties...the boss thing....the re-structuring thing... there is also a discrimination issue.

Sorry... I'll get to my question... just wanted to give some background as to why I have the stress. Now... I recently put in a request to take a week off because I have been so stressed here and several of my co-workers have seen that and suggested that I do. However, I recently found out about stress leave and wanted to know if I should take the leave on their time instead of my time because it's due to my work place?

Also, if I am out on stress leave - Are there restrictions? For instance, would I not be able to go to the gym (that's my way of relieving some stress) - would I have to stay home?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I believe that what you are talking about is filing a claim of stress through your workers compensation program. Keep in mind that there is a waiting period before benefits kick in. I'm not sure of California's waiting period but it is usually a week. You can read more about California's workers compensation requirements at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/DWC/dwc_home_page.htm

For such a quick response as well as for the link. But could you tell me if you know about restrictions while on this sort of leave? I visited that site last night as well and was seeking answers to those questions and could not find any.

Thank you again. ;)

There are a couple of sources of information regarding stress...

The following brochure was pepared for the information of employers trying to reduce stresss: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh%5Fpublications/stress.pdf It doesn't give information on a stress claim, specifically. However, it does provide information on some of the factors being considered.

As I understand it, California is now looking that at least 50% of the person's life activities have been severely and negatively impacted by stress. The stress must be directly caused by work conditions, rather than aggravated by the work conditions.

The workers compensation physician will need to be able to definitively attribute the mental and physical conditions to work, rather than it being attributable to personal conditions. To be able to answer the question of the extent to which work conditions caused the stress, the physician will need to have a detailed understanding of all aspects of the person's life, from work responsiblity to personal conditions. As may be imagined, it will be difficult to get a physician to participate in the endeavors needed to meet the California standards. That is why the number of stress claims have dropped in the state.

Thank you very much for the information and your time.