On Tuesday 6 October 2026, during the plenary session in Strasbourg, France, the European Parliament voted by a wide majority in favour of a resolution asking the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, to prepare binding EU legislation against psychosocial risks at work, such as chronic work-related stress, burnout, bullying and harassment. 413 Members of the European Parliament voted in favour, 210 voted against, and 29 abstained.
European Parliament votes for mandatory EU rules
This is a so-called own-initiative report: it allows Parliament to formally ask the Commission to prepare legislation, although the Commission remains free to decide whether or not to follow up on that request. The rapporteur for the report is Belgian MEP Estelle Ceulemans, of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D). Ahead of the plenary vote, Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs had already approved the proposal, with 41 votes in favour, 12 against and 4 abstentions. According to The Brussels Times, the Commission now has three months to respond following the plenary vote.
What the resolution demands from employers
The text asks the Commission to set minimum requirements for preventing, eliminating or reducing psychosocial risks, with binding obligations for employers. Specifically, the report calls for, among other things: recognition of conditions such as burnout as an occupational disease, mandatory and regular risk assessments (for example of workload and working hours), early detection of bullying, harassment and violence by colleagues or third parties, a right to be unreachable after working hours, and a reversal of the burden of proof: employers would have to demonstrate that an occupational disease was not caused by work, once an employee shows exposure and related health damage. Parliament also calls for attention to digitalisation and algorithmic management: major changes such as telework or automated monitoring and decision-making should be preceded by a psychosocial risk assessment, carried out together with employees and their representatives. Algorithmic systems must not place excessive strain on or exert excessive control over employees and must always remain under human oversight. Telework should remain voluntary, and employees who have been absent for a long time should be able to return with proper support. Stronger labour inspectorates should oversee compliance.
According to figures from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), 29% of workers in the EU said in 2025 that their work had caused or worsened stress, depression or anxiety; among 25- to 39-year-olds, that share was even higher, at 32%. The problem also exists outside Europe: in an April 2026 report, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that more than 840,000 people die worldwide each year from conditions linked to psychosocial risks, such as long working hours, job insecurity and workplace bullying. These deaths are mainly due to cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions, including suicide.
Context
The current EU Framework Directive 89/391/EEC of 1989, the basis of European occupational safety policy, does not name psychosocial risks or work-related stress specifically, although it does require employers to adapt work and the workplace to the worker and to pursue a coherent prevention policy. As a result, member states take widely differing approaches to the issue. According to OSHwiki, the knowledge base of EU-OSHA, some member states, such as Luxembourg and Spain, do not even mention the subject explicitly in their legislation, while others, such as Belgium, Germany and Italy, already require a psychosocial risk assessment. Internationally, a voluntary standard, ISO 45003 of 2021, already exists to help organisations assess and manage psychosocial risks within their occupational health and safety management systems, but without a certification option and without binding force.
Next steps
The 6 October vote puts the issue back on the European agenda, after Parliament had already called for a legislative initiative in a resolution of 5 July 2022 on mental health in the digital world of work. Whether the Commission will actually come forward with a legislative proposal, and in what form, remains to be seen. Far-right groups voted against, arguing that the approach goes too far. Spanish MEP Margarita de la Pisa Carrión (Patriots for Europe) argued for a balance between decent working conditions and employers’ right to run their business.
Source: Le Parlement européen adopte sa demande de légiférer sur les RPS, 7 October 2026
Also researched: Euronews — Burnout at work: MEPs call for stronger EU protections, The Brussels Times — EU lawmakers push for worker protections against stress, burnout and harassment, OSHwiki — Policy, law and guidance on psychosocial issues at the workplace: an EU perspective
