Laws protecting employees with mental health conditions have been on the books for decades, but over the last few years, legal matters involving employees with mental health conditions are on the rise.
Factors such as isolation from remote work, increased public awareness and the lessening of stigma surrounding mental health concerns are contributing to a growing number of employment matters involving mental health conditions in the workplace. Employees are increasingly willing to disclose mental health needs and request accommodations from their employers, who must be equipped to handle these legal matters.
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Federal and state laws protect employees who have serious health conditions, including mental illnesses. Those laws, including the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rhode Island Fair Employment Practices Act, provide that if an employee discloses a serious health condition, or if the condition is obvious to the employer, then the employer has an obligation to engage in an interactive discussion with the employee to determine several issues, including whether the employee is still qualified to perform the job, whether accommodations can be made, and whether those accommodations pose an undue hardship.
How should an employer respond to an employee’s mental health concern?
This interactive process is often not easy. It requires a frank discussion between the employer and the employee. The employer generally has the right to ask for medical evidence that the employee has a serious mental health condition and needs an accommodation. A medical provider should also confirm the employee is not a safety threat. An employer always has an obligation to maintain a safe work environment for everyone. The employer must also ultimately evaluate whether the employee’s condition renders them incapable of performing the job.
For example, imagine a law firm has an attorney who discloses to the firm’s managing partner that she is suffering from insomnia and an anxiety disorder. A medical report confirms this diagnosis. But the lack of sleep and anxiety prevent the attorney from performing necessary litigation tasks such as attending hearings, trials and depositions that trigger her anxiety and increase her insomnia. Must the law firm accommodate the attorney when she is incapable of performing these tasks?
The answer is not always black and white. If stressful litigation work is essential to the attorney’s job, the firm may determine she is no longer qualified. But if nonlitigation work is an option, such as real estate closings or drafting wills or other documents, an accommodation may be possible.
The evaluation of whether an employee with a serious mental health condition is qualified for a job and/or must be reasonably accommodated is a highly factually intensive evaluation and is not a simple “one-size-fits-all” situation. Each case requires an individualized analysis of qualifications, reasonable accommodations and employer hardship.
Confidentiality is crucial.
Importantly, employers also have a duty to maintain the confidentiality of all employees’ confidential medical information, including mental health conditions. Employers may only ask about mental health conditions in specific situations, such as when the employee’s performance is obviously being affected by the condition; when an employee discloses the condition; when an employee requests an accommodation; or when an employee takes extended leave due to a medical condition. And, of course, state and federal leave laws must be followed in those instances.
Dealing with mental health conditions presents legal, confidentiality, leave and benefit-related challenges for employers. The best practice is to treat each situation carefully with a thorough fact-find, interactive discussions with the employee and seeking help from a legal professional before risky decisions are made that cause legal liability.
Joshua A. Hawks-Ladds is co-chair of the labor, employment law and employee benefits department at the law firm Pullman & Comley LLC. He leads the firm’s South Kingstown office.
