Editor’s note: This story contains mentions of suicide. For more information, see the NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Dive Brief:
- A former employee accused disability employment staffing firm Peak Performers of disability discrimination, alleging that managers denied her requests for unpaid leave to attend depression and anxiety treatments twice a week, and later, several weeks of unpaid time off for outpatient treatment, per a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit filed Sept. 24.
- Despite asking for two days off per week to attend treatment appointments, the employee was only granted permission to leave once a week, per the complaint. Some time later, she attempted suicide and was hospitalized. She communicated details of her outpatient program to her manager, and requested four to six weeks of unpaid leave.
- Management allegedly did not “engage in any communications [...] in an attempt to determine any additional facts concerning her disabilities or her request for medical leave/time off” and fired her, in violation of the American with Disabilities Act, the complaint said.
Dive Insight:
Ultimately, the plaintiff in EEOC v. St. Vincent de Paul Rehabilitation Services of Texas Inc. d/b/a Peak Performers completed her outpatient program after three weeks and would have been able to return to work, EEOC said, alleging her termination ran afoul of the ADA.
The agency alleged the employer also failed to provide a reasonable accommodation as the law requires, “including but not limited to the provision of a brief, unpaid leave of absence to receive medical treatment for her disabilities.” Often, compliance experts recommend that employers engage in an interactive process of trying to find and create reasonable accommodations.
This isn’t the first time a disability-focused organization has been accused of disability discrimination. EEOC and Didlake, a nonprofit government contractor employing people with disabilities, agreed to resolve a lawsuit last summer for more than $1 million; it involved deaf and hard of hearing workers who were denied accommodations and other employees with disabilities were denied Family and Medical Leave Act time off.
While the EEOC’s fact sheet for the ADA doesn’t outline mental health guidance, the DOL has outlined some parameters regarding reasonable mental health accommodations under the FMLA. Mental health conditions requiring inpatient care, outpatient rehabilitation counseling and behavioral therapy are a part of the continuing care provision of the DOL’s fact sheet on mental health accommodations.
