Reconocimiento del Síndrome de Burnout como enfermedad profesional en la legislación ecuatoriana.

Abstract

Strip it down to the basics and burnout is just the body and mind hitting a wall after being slammed by work stress for way too long. For a long time, people looked at this through a tiny medical lens, basically treating it like some personal failing or a private health glitch that an individual had to fix on their own. That way of thinking is pretty much dead now. We have to look at the bigger picture. Today, the workplace needs a serious legal overhaul because safety isn't just about making sure someone doesn't slip on a wet floor or get hit by a falling crate. Protecting people means addressing the invisible stuff too. If you ignore the psychological side of things, you're missing the point. Mental strain can wreck a person's well-being just as fast as a physical injury, and when people are struggling mentally, productivity inevitably takes a nosedive. Down in Ecuador, this isn't just a suggestion. It's baked into the system. Between the Constitution, the Labor Code, and the specific mandates from the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute, the duty to keep workers safe and healthy is a clear, legal requirement. The problem is that this recognition has not translated into an express treatment of burnout within the legal framework of occupational diseases. This research sets out to determine exactly that: whether the Ecuadorian legal system offers sufficient protection against this phenomenon, or whether a regulatory reform is needed to strengthen it.