10th Circuit Court of Appeals (whose rulings apply to all Kansas employers), an employer must have notice of an employee’s disability and the employee must request an accommodation before a duty to accommodate arises. The signs of mental illness often aren’t readily apparent to employers. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), more than 18 percent of adults may be affected by a mental illness in a given year, and more than four percent may be affected by a serious mental illness. Nonetheless, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) regulations make it clear that the following conditions will normally be considered disabilities because they substantially limit brain function and may also substantially limit other major life activities: autism spectrum disorder, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. The particular label applied to an illness is generally not conclusive in the determination of whether the employee is disabled.
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Major life activities sometimes affected by mental impairments include sleeping, reading, thinking, communicating, interacting with others, and working.Īlthough the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is helpful in identifying and diagnosing mental impairments, not all conditions identified in the DSM qualify as disabilities under the ADA. Mental or psychiatric disabilities are, of course, protected by the ADA if they substantially limit one or more of the individual’s major life activities. Tyler refused to take the antipsychotic medication his psychiatrist prescribed, claiming it was “for people who were seeing things.” Although he disputed his diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, he sued his employer for refusing to accommodate him under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). He asked for a transfer back to his original work location so he could confront the employees who had accused him of computer theft and for permission to park in a reserved lot. He then began to believe that his new coworkers were also threatening him and had even removed the lug nuts on his car, causing a wheel to fall off on his way home from work. When Tyler returned to work 11 months later, the company assigned him to a different location so he would have no contact with the employees he previously accused of threatening him. The psychiatrist prescribed medication and recommended that Tyler be placed on indefinite leave. Soon after, the psychiatrist diagnosed him with delusional disorder, persecutory type. Tyler’s doctor restricted him to the day shift and referred him to a psychiatrist for treatment of his psychological stress. The employer couldn’t substantiate any of Tyler’s other allegations. The company investigated and was able to substantiate only that he had been wrongly accused of computer theft. Several months ago, he claimed that coworkers had sabotaged his work, falsely accused him of stealing a computer, and threatened to burn down his house and poison him. Kenneth Tyler has worked for the company for several years.
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