Workplace Accommodations for Mental Health Conditions - It’s the Law!

Numerous studies and articles have touted the economic benefit for businesses that invest in the mental health of their employees. But prioritizing employees’ mental health isn’t just good business, it’s the law. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act (CFEPA) require covered employers to provide reasonable accommodation to a qualified individual with a disability. Mental health conditions are considered disabilities under both the ADA and CFEPA. The ADA is a federal law that applies to employers with 15 or more employees while CFEPA is a state law that applies to employers with only 1 or more employees. Employers meeting the criteria for both are subject to both.

Qualifying Disabilities

For purposes of the ADA, a worker with a mental health condition is considered to have a disability if they have a mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities. Examples of major life activities include performing manual tasks, speaking, learning, reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working. 

For purposes of CFEPA, a worker with a mental health condition is considered to have a disability if they have a mental disorder as defined in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

Examples of qualifying disabilities include major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. It is important to note that both of these definitions were designed to be broad in order to cover and protect as many workers as possible.

Reasonable Accommodation Obligations

Both the ADA and CFEPA require employers to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities, unless doing so would cause an undue hardship. This requirement applies to both applicants and employees. 

A reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to participate in the application process, perform the essential functions of their job, or enjoy benefits and privileges of employment. Examples of possible accommodations include:

• Telework

• Unpaid leave

• Music to block out distractions

• Private office

• Modified training materials

• Communication of assignments and instructions in the employee's preferred learning style

What constitutes a reasonable accommodation will vary based on the individual and their job. Employers must work with applicants and employees to identify the precise limitations resulting from the disability and potential reasonable accommodations that could overcome those limitations. 

Employers are not necessarily required to provide the specific reasonable accommodation requested by the individual. An employer may offer alternative suggestions so long as the suggested accommodations are effective. When there are multiple possible accommodations, the employer may choose between them.

Undue Hardship

Employers are not required to provide a reasonable accommodation that would impose an undue hardship on their business. An undue hardship means significant difficulty or expense. Whether an undue hardship exists is determined on a case-by-case basis and is based on several factors, including the overall financial resources of the employer and the number of employees. For example, an employee’s request to modify their work schedule may create an undue hardship for an employer with only 10 employees but may not for a company that has a workforce of 1,000. 

Navigating reasonable accommodation requests can seem daunting. Levene Legal can help. We assist organizations with:

• Drafting policies and procedures related to reasonable accommodations

• Providing advice as to specific requests made by employees

• Developing and delivering employee training on reasonable accommodations