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Overview

Coping with Mood Disorders, Depression, and Anxiety: HR Strategies to Manage Performance and Handle Leaves and Accommodation (without becoming anxious yourselves)

California employers are increasingly coping with a variety of workplace concerns for employees with both chronic and acute mental health conditions. These range from mood disorders (anxiety, panic attacks, depression) to adjustment disorders, bipolar or manic episodes and post-traumatic stress. The impacts in the workplace are widespread: non-dependable attendance, poor performance, flawed decision-making,  or erratic behavior. The number of requests for medical leave have dramatically increased and there are myriad triggers for interactive process requirements. Identifying and implementing effective accommodations has become a major challenge and the risks for legal missteps has skyrocketed.  Policy enforcement lapses are a source of frustration for HR and risk control specialists.  This completely updated webinar will help public entities in appropriately handling communications, accommodations, leaves, confidentiality, attendance and performance problems and erratic behaviors related to employee mood disorders and mental health issues. We will cover:

1. Strategies for identifying & adjusting accommodations during treatment and recovery:
2. Recognizing the intersection of FEHA-ADA, FMLA-CFRA during treatment & recovery;

3. The variety of challenges with intermittent leave for individuals with episodic  mental health disorders -- Practical tips for communicating with front line leaders (who are sometimes frustrated by intermittent leave and distractions in the workplace).

4. How to recognize triggers for the duty to engage in a timely, good faith interactive process and develop defensible documentation; 

5.  How to lawfully obtain relevant work restrictions and statements of functional limitations with mental health conditions;

6. When to  send an employee for a mental health fitness for duty evaluation based on objective and legally supportable factors;

7. Evaluating when you can invoke imminent threat to safety of the employee or others to deny an accommodation;  

8. Why undue hardship us especially difficult to establish with mental disorders

9. Coping with side effects of medication adjustments for  bipolar or severe depression  when employees are at work; 
10.  Reasonable accommodation strategies for employees receiving treatment who experience temporary cognitive and memory limitations; 

11. The range of reasonable accommodations for employees who regularly interface it's the public;

12. Balancing confidentiality and privacy concerns with other workers’ sincere concern for their colleagues – what you can and cannot share. 

Need More Info or Help?
We hope you can join us. Feel free to contact Doug McGill for more details.

Phone: 916-850-7300
Email: dmcgill@csac-eia.org