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Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a detailed enforcement guidance on employers’ obligations to employees with psychiatric disabilities. The guidance discusses what constitutes a psychiatric disability under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), whether an employer may ask about an individual’s psychiatric disability, and what types of reasonable accommodations may be required for such employees under the ADA.

Under the ADA, “disability” includes a “mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of the major life activities of [an] individual.” The guidance explains that while traits or behaviors such as irritability, chronic lateness and poor judgment are not mental impairments, they may be linked to mental impairments, which include such conditions as major depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorders.

If a mental impairment “prevents an individual from performing a major life activity” (such as concentrating, interacting with others, caring for oneself, or working), or “significantly restricts the condition, manner, or duration under which an individual can perform a major life activity, as compared to the average person in the general population,” it is a disability for purposes of the ADA. The EEOC guidance discusses in detail when and how an employer may inquire about mental disabilities. In general, employers may ask specific questions about an employee’s or applicant’s mental disability only when put on notice that the individual may need a reasonable accommodation, or when a disability-related inquiry or medical examination is “job related and consistent with business necessity.” All psychiatric information obtained by the employer must be kept confidential.

According to the guidance, if an employee or his/her family member, friend, health professional or other representative requests a reasonable accommodation for an individual who is otherwise qualified to perform the job, the employer must provide one unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship. While the EEOC states that reasonable accommodations must be determined on a case-by-case basis “because workplaces and jobs vary, as do people with disabilities,” the Commission suggests arrangements such as time off from work, modified work schedules, simple physical changes to the workplace, adjusting supervisory methods or providing job coaches. Furthermore, the employer must consider reassigning the disabled employee to another position if accommodation in the present job would cause undue hardship or would not be possible.