According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults - nearly 60 million people - will experience a mental health disorder this year. Will some of those people be your employees? The answer is probably “yes.” Are you ready? The answer is probably “no.” The question of how to accommodate employees with mental health impairments is a growing challenge for employers, and most are not prepared to meet that challenge. Not only are requests for accommodations increasingly being made to employers for mental health disabilities, but employees are taking action to enforce their legal rights more and more frequently. More than ever before, EEOC Charges and lawsuits are being filed under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) involving mental disabilities. This article briefly reviews the current state of the law and offers some suggestions to employers to comply with their legal obligations.

Republished with permission.