The ADA and Accommodating Mental Illness

By Jenny Haykin, MA, CRC

Integrated Leaves & Accommodations Program Manager
Puget Sound Energy

Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in emotion, thinking, and/or behavior that can cause distress and/or problems functioning in social, work, or family activities.¹ When an employee’s thinking and/or behavior is substantially limited, this individual is disabled under the ADA. If an employer can provide a reasonable accommodation enabling the employee to perform the job properly and with acceptable behavior, a legal obligation to do so may exist. In some cases, however, it is a challenge to determine if the employee can be accommodated.

An employer must first have knowledge that the disability exists; there is no obligation to accommodate otherwise. Once the disability is known, the employee and employer need to work together in the accommodation process. If an employee does not participate, the employer’s obligation ends.

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