One unfortunate problem is how easy it is for employees and employers alike to contrive a situation, with respect to mental illness, to force a desired outcome.
For the employee, good luck proving that management was complicit or negligent in the formation and continuation of a hostile working environment. At-will employment means it's your word against theirs in a wrongful termination suit, assuming someone mentally ill even has the resources and conviction to pursue a legal remedy. And ADA-related laws and protections, even if they can apply to someone with an "invisible disability", are difficult to invoke without social fallout. It's a catch-22.
For employers, how can you discern and remove a truly disgruntled, incompetent, malingering or indolent employee (from management's perspective) in an efficient manner, when perhaps the first-principle reason for those employee's shortcomings are related to mental illness?
ADA ought not to be intertwined with employment, rather there needs to be a more sophisticated social safety net and support programs for people with mental illness, instead of burdening employers with some of the responsibility which they have no business-rational reason to respectfully abide by.
For the employee, good luck proving that management was complicit or negligent in the formation and continuation of a hostile working environment. At-will employment means it's your word against theirs in a wrongful termination suit, assuming someone mentally ill even has the resources and conviction to pursue a legal remedy. And ADA-related laws and protections, even if they can apply to someone with an "invisible disability", are difficult to invoke without social fallout. It's a catch-22.
For employers, how can you discern and remove a truly disgruntled, incompetent, malingering or indolent employee (from management's perspective) in an efficient manner, when perhaps the first-principle reason for those employee's shortcomings are related to mental illness?
ADA ought not to be intertwined with employment, rather there needs to be a more sophisticated social safety net and support programs for people with mental illness, instead of burdening employers with some of the responsibility which they have no business-rational reason to respectfully abide by.