Workplaces Quit Quietly Ignoring Mental Illness

Workplaces Quit Quietly Ignoring Mental Illness

Continued

Coverage lags

But companies' mental health coverage often lags behind coverage for physical ailments. Health plans may restrict the number of times an employee can see a mental health provider, for example. Americans battling depression with limited access to mental health care could face bills of $18,000 annually to cover health-related expenses due to their condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Those with limited access were four times as likely to quit their jobs.

In recent years, famous business and entertainment leaders have given a public face to mental health issues. 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace and newspaper humorist Art Buchwald shared that they've fought depression. Actress Brooke Shields documented her postpartum depression. Actress Ashley Judd revealed she went to a treatment facility for depression and other emotional problems.

But despite the attention, some employees with mental health issues say they still struggle with how to tell managers what's going on.

Sara Kobiela, 26, of Livonia, Mich., has a master's degree in social work but has struggled to keep jobs because of a depression so severe it left her unable to care for herself or do little more than sleep. She has held a variety of jobs, such as file clerk at a medical office and waitress.

At her waitress job, she says her supervisor was very supportive and allowed her to take some time off and return after a depressive episode. But she has just started a new job as an intake counselor at a mental health outpatient center and has so far told only one other person about her struggle. She is on anti-depressants and other medication to help with depressive episodes. She is waiting for insurance to kick in so she can seek out a mental health practitioner.

"You don't want to tell employers, but you need that support at work," says Kobiela, who lives on her own with three cats. "I get very overwhelmed and frustrated at work, but I can put on this front. But I think it's a huge stigma in the workplace."

She says she fears breaking down at work. "When I get depressed, going through the motions of my day, I hate my life, but work is the one thing I can do. You can't be friendly with co-workers (so you worry) they think, 'What's wrong with her, why is she so unfriendly?' ... You don't want to get a label."

'The working wounded'

Like Kobiela, many of those with mental illnesses are younger: Mental illness is highest among those 15 to 44, says Joseph Calabrese, a psychiatry professor at Case Western Reserve University and director of the mood disorders program at the University of Cleveland. Depression ranks at the top. Mental health problems can erode work performance and lead to absenteeism.

"These people go to work, but they're the working wounded," Calabrese says.

In many cases, those with mood disorders qualify for employment protections under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which means employers must make accommodations to help with work.

In order for a mood disorder to be a disability, it must limit a major life activity, such as an employee's ability to sleep or take care of himself or herself. Some types of accommodations have included allowing employees to work from home, modifying supervisory methods, reassigning them or changing a work schedule.

But employers can ask for documentation of mental illness to be sure a disorder is legitimate, and they can argue whether that disorder is truly a disability under the ADA. Traits such as irritability or chronic lateness are considered behaviors, not mental impairments requiring accommodations. Employers don't have to make accommodations if doing so would impose an undue hardship, and they cannot retain an employee if that worker poses a direct threat.

Lucinda DuToit, director of human resources at Digineer, a technology consulting firm in Minneapolis, says the shift from ignoring to acknowledging mental illness has come as employers become more aware of the link between personal and professional lives.

She also says employers stand to gain valued loyalty from these workers if they make the necessary accommodations.

"There's much more of an understanding of mental illness. In the past, it was just, "We'll see you, bye,' " DuToit says. "Now it's, 'We'll get you help.' "

But some employees also have filed lawsuits saying that it's the workplace that caused, or added to, their mental health stress.

The workplace itself

Southwest Airlines employees sometimes pull pranks on co-workers once they've passed their probationary period. But customer-service agent Marcie Fuerschbach says this joke went too far.

At the end of her probation at her job in Albuquerque, co-workers got police officers to handcuff her in a mock arrest. By the time she was in on the joke, she was crying and scared, according to the lawsuit she filed. Later that day, found crying in the bathroom, Fuerschbach was sent home. She says she had to see a psychologist and was treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. She settled her case out of court with police. She lost her case against Southwest.

Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart says, "It was so unfortunate it was taken the way it was, because that was not the intent. Everybody learned from it."

But Fuerschbach, who still has the same job, says she is taking Lexapro, which is used for treating depression and anxiety.

"I figured it was real. I thought for sure it wasn't a joke," says Fuerschbach, 48.

"It was torture. I was shaking and crying. I was just shocked, handcuffed behind my back. I couldn't work after that."

Last updated: 08/06

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Workplaces Quit Quietly Ignoring Mental Illness