Revealed: the link between workplace stress and the employment tribunal backlog

Revealed: the link between workplace stress and the employment tribunal backlog

A study of recent employment tribunal cases that reached a final judgment by a law firm has shown how 12% related to stress and burnout. In particular, cases involved issues around stress leading to poor performance and claims of unfair dismissal.

Workplace stress is seen as being a significant factor in the challenges being faced by the employment tribunals system. The number of cases between July and September 2025 were up a third on the same time the previous year. The backlog has now gone past the 500,000 mark.

Is stress a disability?

While stress in itself is not automatically considered a disability under the Equality Act, it can be considered to be a symptom of clinical conditions like depression and anxiety which are.

Employers have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments when there is clear evidence of how the individual employee’s day-to-day ability to do their job has been affected. This can include changing their working hours or other routines, how they are managed or supported by colleagues.

Use EAP data

EAPA UK chair, Karl Bennett said: “This is another example of how important data on usage trends from EAPs can be. HR and EAP partners need to be working together to identify what’s really happening in different areas of an organisation and among groups and types of employee: where are the stress points and what might be the underlying causes?

“As the research indicates, when problems with stress remain undiagnosed and ignored they can accumulate and result in even more disruptive and costly disputes and tribunals.”