ADA & Depression

tem · January 2002

We have an employee who asked for a leave of absence last spring for severe depression. The employee's supervisor made a boo-boo when the employee was having problems with workloads and handling herself emotionally at work by asking what was wrong with her, and the employee answered "I'm depressed." Opened the door to ADA so we accommodated by reducing her workload and allowing the leave of absence when requested by her physician.

The employee is now showing signs again that she is suffering in her workload and dealing with other co-workers and such. What can we do legally to address this situation. Is she still covered under the ADA? Or can we address the problems with her performance and ignore the previous depression problem? Her review is due and as the HR department we want to make sure everything is documented properly.

Gar · January 2002

I'd want to know if she is taking medication for the depression. If so, she should be functioning normally unless her medication needs adjustment or changing. I'd send her back to her doctor for another medical evaluation since the most recent eval was last spring. Find out what the doctor reports before jumping to disciplinary action. Also, in reducing her workload, were the essential functions of the job impacted?

Hatchetman · January 2002

You may be assuming something that didn't occur. I'm not sure.

The mere fact that the empoyee went on leave for a serious health condition, even if it is depression, doesn't necessarily mean that you regarded the employee as disabled under ADA last year. The fact that the employee said I'm depressed and you made a change in her working conditions didn't mean you considered her disabled if you would make a change like that based upon any reasonable explanation. "I need a different workload because I have an ill chld and I need to take care of her"; or, "I need different hours because I have to go to school every other worknight."

So, you may still be back at square one.

The employee is currently performing poorly. When you have talked to her about it, has she given any explanation for the current poor performance, or are you assumng it's related to a psycholgoical condition? Ask her why she thinks he si having these problems and se what she says. If she doesn't raise a psycnological conditon reason, then don't go down the ADA line. You have no obligation, to approach this on an ADA basis once the employee either rejects the concept of a psychological condition being involved or doens't offer that up as an explanation.

Gar is right about he medication aspect of the issue. Remember, if she is taking medication that mitigates a psycholgoical condition to the extent that it no longer significantly impairs one or more major life activities, then she is not considered disabled under ADA (unless the medication itself significantly impairs one or more major life activities).

Finally, whatever the situaiton, an employee is always expected to meet the essential demands of the job; that includes both the disabled and non-disabled emplyee. The only thing that ADA does is to provide a mechanism as for the qualified disabled employee to ensure that he or she is given a fair opportunity to meet those demands without the impact of the disability. While yo don't say what her work relation is with the other employees, she can't avoid evade meeting the requirements of acceptable work relationship if you have spelled that out to her.

System · January 2002

I'm with Hatchetman -- focus on performance and don't mention ADA or depression unless she does. If she doesn't ask for an accommodation, I don't think you have to offer one unless she's obviously disabled and obviously needs an accommodation.

James Sokolowski
Senior Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Magestry · February 2002

What about if you have an employee that you know (fact) that has a depression situation, and is under medication, how would you handle it. For example, we have an employee that takes medication for depression, and in the morning came to the supervisor to ask if she could make an appointment for the doctor in the afternoon. The supervisor simply said yes. That afternoon, she left and five minutes later she came back to the office to pick up her check from another employee. The other employee was not allowed to be giving out check, but she gave it to her anyhow. The supervisor walked in and said to the employee that gave out the check, "Since When?". The employee with the depression problem started to throw a temper tantraum and crying. At the point the supervisor kept insisting to the employee that she needed to go to the doctor, but now the employee did not want to leave.

How should she have handled that situation, and how should we proceed from now on with her?

ADA & Depression

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