This week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a resource document that provides employees with mental health conditions an explanation of their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The publication (available here), offers answers to a series of questions relating to workplace discrimination and harassment, privacy rights, and rights to reasonable accommodations, including the following:
-
Is my employer allowed to fire me because I have a mental health condition?
-
Am I allowed to keep my condition private?
-
What if my mental health condition could affect my job performance?
-
How can I get a reasonable accommodation?
-
What will happen after I ask for a reasonable accommodation?
-
What if there's no way I can do my regular job, even with an accommodation?
-
What if I am being harassed because of my condition?
-
What should I do if I think that my rights have been violated?
In a related press release, EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang is quoted as stating: “Employers, job applicants, and employees should know that mental health conditions are no different than physical health conditions under the law. In our recent outreach to veterans who have returned home with service-connected disabilities, we have seen the need to raise awareness about these issues.”
Underscoring the need for increased attention on mental health, the agency noted that discrimination charges based on mental health conditions are on the rise, with preliminary data showing that the EEOC resolved nearly 5,000 such charges in 2016 alone. According to the EEOC, those resolutions yielded approximately $20 million for individuals with mental health conditions who were unlawfully denied employment and reasonable accommodations.
