Mental Health Conditions in the Workplace: A Primer for Employers

Disability discrimination charges accounted for 31.9% (or approximately 27,000) of the individual charges received by the EEOC in fiscal year 2017. Among the most common impairments alleged in these charges included anxiety disorder, depression, manic depressive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and "other psychological disorders." Every day, employers hear from advocates, lawyers, and pundits alike who proclaim the importance of accommodating employees with disabilities. But what happens when a disability is, for all intents and purposes, invisible? How should employers determine whether or not a disabled employee can be reasonably accommodated, and what information can employers seek in making that determination? And what happens when an employee's psychological disability affects their conduct and/or job performance? Being able to counsel employers and HR professionals on how to timely and properly address these issues as they arise is critical to reducing the likelihood of expensive, protracted litigation.

This course, presented by Goldberg Segalla employment and labor attorneys Allison E. Ianni, Esq. and Michael S. Katzen, Esq., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, offers a primer for both outside and in-house legal counsel on how to analyze and address mental health conditions in the workplace with the goal of both avoiding litigation and putting an employer in a strong position to defend a lawsuit in the event litigation is inevitable.

1. Examine how mental disabilities are treated under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA Amendments Act, and similar state and local laws
2. Manage the process of receiving, analyzing and responding to employee accommodation requests
3. Know the rules for when an employer can require a medical examination and what information an employer may obtain from an employee's health care provider
4. Review how an employer's obligation to accommodate an employee's disability affects the employee's obligation to meet the employer's performance standards and follow the employer's rules of conduct
5. Compare how the ADA interacts with other laws, policies and benefits, including but not limited to, the FMLA, local paid sick leave ordinances, paid time off and COBRA
6. Receive practical pointers from employment lawyers who regularly counsel employers on day-to-day accommodation issues on how to not only follow the law, but also reduce the likelihood of a lawsuit