Stress leave in New Zealand: what it is, your rights and how to raise it with your employer

Written by Henry Smith · Reviewed by Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931) · Updated 2026-09-09 · Reviewed annually, or sooner if the rules it describes change.

Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.

Stress leave is not a separate legal entitlement in New Zealand. If work-related stress is making you mentally or physically unwell, you can use your ordinary paid sick leave, the same 10 days a year every qualifying employee gets, exactly as you would for a physical illness (Employment New Zealand, retrieved 9 September 2026). Some employers offer additional stress leave in their own policies, but nothing in New Zealand law requires it.

Where stress leave actually sits in New Zealand law

There is no Holidays Act category called "stress leave." What exists instead is your ordinary sick leave entitlement, and a separate legal duty on your employer to manage the workplace risks that cause stress in the first place. The table below separates the two.

Stress itself is treated as a health and safety risk to be managed, and being unwell from it is treated as an illness like any other, and the table below shows where each piece of law applies.

What you're asking about	Where it sits in law
Time off because stress has made you unwell	Ordinary sick leave, Holidays Act 2003, 10 days a year after 6 months' service
Your employer's duty to prevent or reduce workplace stress	Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, psychosocial risk management
Extra paid leave beyond your 10 sick days, specifically for stress	Only if your employer's own policy or employment agreement offers it
Raising a concern if your employer isn't managing workplace stress	WorkSafe, via a mentally healthy work concern

(Employment New Zealand: Taking sick leave; WorkSafe: Work-related stress, retrieved 9 September 2026.)

Is stress leave a legal entitlement in NZ?

No. There is no separate "stress leave" category listed among the leave types Employment New Zealand sets out under the Holidays Act 2003, such as annual, sick, bereavement and family violence leave (Employment New Zealand: Other types of leave, retrieved 9 September 2026). What is a legal entitlement is your ordinary sick leave, which applies to stress-related illness the same way it applies to any other illness, unless your own employer's policy or employment agreement creates a separate stress leave allowance on top of that.

Can I take sick leave for stress or a mental health condition in NZ?

Yes. If stress is making you mentally or physically unwell, you can use sick leave exactly as you would for any illness or injury, once you have worked for your employer for 6 months and meet the usual qualifying test (Employment New Zealand, retrieved 9 September 2026). Our sick leave entitlement guide covers the full 10-day entitlement and how it carries over.

Do I need a doctor's note to take stress leave?

The same rule applies as for any sick leave: your employer can ask for proof, usually a medical certificate, if you are away for 3 or more consecutive days, or from the first day if they tell you in advance and offer to meet the reasonable cost of getting one (Employment New Zealand, retrieved 9 September 2026). Our medical certificate guide covers exactly when a certificate can be required and what it needs to say.

Can my employer fire me for taking stress leave?

Dismissing someone simply for taking legitimate sick leave, including for a stress-related illness, is very unlikely to meet the "fair and reasonable employer" test under section 103A of the Employment Relations Act 2000 and would typically give grounds for an unjustified dismissal personal grievance (Employment New Zealand: Good reason, retrieved 9 September 2026). A separate situation is long-term "medical incapacity," where an employer is not required to hold a role open indefinitely if an employee genuinely cannot return to work, but even then a fair, reasonable and supportive process must be followed first (Employment New Zealand: Health issues, retrieved 9 September 2026).

What are my rights if work is causing me stress?

Your employer has a legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to identify, assess and manage the risks in the workplace that cause stress, known as psychosocial risks, things like an unmanageable workload, low control over your work, bullying or harassment (WorkSafe: Work-related stress, retrieved 9 September 2026). That duty exists separately from, and in addition to, your right to take sick leave if the stress has already made you unwell.

How do I raise a stress or mental health issue with my employer?

WorkSafe recommends raising it directly with an appropriate person first, a manager, a Health and Safety Representative, a union representative, or HR, and being as specific as possible about what is causing the stress and its impact (WorkSafe: Raise a mentally healthy work concern, retrieved 9 September 2026). Our guide to telling your employer you are sick in New Zealand covers how to raise a health issue more generally.

What if my employer isn't managing workplace stress properly?

You can raise a mentally healthy work concern directly with WorkSafe if the business is not meeting its legal obligations and you have already raised it internally first (WorkSafe: Raise a mentally healthy work concern, retrieved 9 September 2026). You can ask WorkSafe not to share your name with the business when they follow up, if you are concerned about identifying yourself.

WorkSafe defines the causes as "psychosocial risks": things such as high workload, low control over the work you do, dangerous work, a poor physical environment, or social factors like bullying and harassment (WorkSafe, retrieved 9 September 2026). Stress itself is not classed as an illness; it is what people experience from exposure to these risks, and can contribute to conditions such as cardiovascular disease, anxiety and slowed recovery from physical injuries.

Where can I get immediate mental health support if I need it now?

Call 111 if you or someone else is in immediate danger. For mental health and wellbeing support, you can call or text 1737 at any time to speak with a trained counsellor, free of charge (WorkSafe, retrieved 9 September 2026). This is separate from, and does not require, raising anything with your employer first.

Does stress leave run out separately from my normal sick leave?

No, unless your employer's own policy specifically creates a separate stress leave allowance. By default there is only one sick leave balance, 10 days a year, carrying over to a maximum of 20, and stress-related absences are drawn from the same balance as any other illness (Employment New Zealand, retrieved 9 September 2026).

What happens once my sick leave for stress runs out?

The same rules apply as running out of sick leave for any other reason: you can ask your employer to use annual leave, or to agree to unpaid leave, and if the underlying condition is longer-term, the medical incapacity process may eventually apply. Our guides to how long you can be off work sick in New Zealand and financial help when sick in New Zealand cover what happens next and what income support may be available.

How does my employer have to manage stress risks under the law?

WorkSafe sets out a hierarchy: identify the risks first, then eliminate them where possible, and where they cannot be eliminated, minimise their impact, for example by managing shift work with adequate rest, addressing bullying and harassment, and making sure workloads and staffing levels are realistic (WorkSafe: Work-related stress, retrieved 9 September 2026). This is an ongoing duty, not a one-off assessment.

The table below sets out WorkSafe's approach to managing stress risk, from identifying the problem through to minimising what cannot be removed entirely.

Step	What it involves
Identify the risks	Work out what at, or about, the job is creating stress
Eliminate the risks	Remove the risk at the source where possible
Minimise what can't be eliminated	Manage shift work and rest, workload, staffing and behaviour such as bullying

(WorkSafe: Work-related stress, retrieved 9 September 2026.)

What this page does not cover

This page is about your leave and safety rights while stressed at work. It does not cover the financial or medical side of a longer absence, which the table below points to.

What you need	Where it is covered
Your basic sick leave entitlement	Sick leave entitlement NZ
Whether you need a doctor's note	Medical certificate NZ
How to tell your employer you're unwell	Telling your employer you are sick in NZ
Income support if you can't work long-term	Financial help when sick in NZ
Going back to work after time off	Returning to work after illness in NZ

QuoteHub built this page because mental health-related time off is exactly the kind of illness income protection insurance is designed to cover once ordinary sick leave and any employer support run out, and our guide to insurance and mental health in New Zealand covers how insurers actually treat a mental health claim or a pre-existing condition. Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name. If you would like a licensed adviser to review your cover, start a free comparison.

The rest of the off-work-sick cluster

If stress has you off work right now, sick leave entitlement in New Zealand and telling your employer you are sick are the two most immediately useful pages. If your absence is likely to run longer, how long can you be off work sick in New Zealand, ACC vs a sickness benefit and financial help when sick in New Zealand cover the money side once sick leave itself runs out. When you're ready to return, returning to work after illness in New Zealand sets out what a phased return can look like, and the off-work-sick hub puts every page in this cluster in order.

Adviser's view

QuoteHub's read is that the phrase 'stress leave' causes more confusion than it solves. There is no separate category to apply for. What actually protects you is your ordinary sick leave entitlement, plus your employer's legal duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to manage the psychosocial risks causing the stress in the first place, not just give you time off from them.

Henry Smith, Financial Adviser (FSP1010699). General information, not personalised financial advice.

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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Stress Leave NZ: Your Rights and How It Works. www.quotehub.co.nz/guides/off-work-sick/stress-leave-mental-health-nz. Updated 2026-09-09.