Mental health benefits are growing more popular. Of the new options arriving on the marketplace, employees say mental health days are among the most powerful. But what happens when someone needs more than a day — and possibly weeks or months — to recuperate?
A growing number of employees are accessing mental health leave through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). In fact, mental health was the second-most cited reason for which employees requested leave last year, according to AbsenceSoft’s State of Leave and Accommodations report.
The influx of mental health-related requests leaves HR with a complicated, time consuming, and significant job, especially as requests overall swell in number. In this blog post, we’ll explain how the FMLA addresses mental health, and how leave managers can leverage technology to handle requests with ease.
What Does the FMLA Say About Mental Health?
Employees who work for a covered employer and qualify for FMLA leave can use their 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to deal with their own serious health condition or to care for a seriously ill family member. The FMLA defines a serious health condition as any illness, injury, or impairment that involves either inpatient care or continuing treatment by a health care provider.
As the United States Department of Labor (DOL) points out in guidance, “a serious health condition can include a mental health condition.”
When determining whether a mental health issue rises to the level of a serious health condition, it’s important to go back to the DOL’s definition: the condition must require either inpatient care or continuing treatment from a health care provider.
Inpatient Care
Let’s consider inpatient care first. According to the DOL, inpatient care includes an overnight stay in a medical care facility, like a hospital or treatment center.
Employees can take FMLA leave to receive inpatient care for their own mental health condition. They can also take FMLA leave to care for a spouse, child, or parent who needs inpatient or home care.
Examples:
Lou is a nurse practitioner who was admitted to the hospital for an eating disorder. The hospital transferred Lou to another facility, where he will receive 10 weeks of intensive care. HR approves Lou’s request for FMLA leave, as his eating disorder requires inpatient care and qualifies as a serious health condition.
Gemma is an elementary teacher whose teenage daughter is participating in a 60-day inpatient drug rehabilitation treatment program. Gemma uses one day of FMLA leave to travel to the rehabilitation center and learn how to help her daughter acclimate to post-program life.
Continuing Treatment
A mental health problem can also qualify as a serious health condition when it incapacitates someone for more than three consecutive days and requires continuing treatment.
Ongoing medical treatment can take the form of multiple appointments with a healthcare provider — a psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, or clinical social worker, for example. Ongoing medical treatment can also look like a single appointment with follow-up care, including prescription medication, outpatient rehabilitation counseling, or behavioral therapy.
Examples:
Lizzie is a supervisor at an ad agency who sees a therapist because of her major depressive disorder. The therapist encourages Lizzie to take three weeks off of work to receive treatment through an outpatient program. HR approves her request for FMLA leave; her depression qualifies as a serious health condition, as it requires Lizzie to receive ongoing care from a therapist.
Roberto is a physical therapist whose 23-year-old son has begun to suffer from acute mental health symptoms. For a week, his son has skipped work, meals, and showers. Roberto used a vacation day to take his son to see a psychiatrist, who gave him a prescription for medication and ordered a string of follow-up appointments. Roberto requests to take FMLA leave for at least two weeks to accompany his son to appointments and assist in his daily care. HR approves his request, as his son is dealing with a serious health condition that not only substantially limits his major life activities but has also required an appointment with follow-up care.
Intermittent FMLA Leave
Mental health issues can be chronic conditions. Intermittent FMLA leave is available for employees whose symptoms periodically intensify, so long as the condition requires treatment by a healthcare provider at least twice a year.
Example:
Chan is a pharmacist who has dealt with a dissociative disorder for several years. His regular meetings with a psychiatrist have helped him lead a normal life. But occasionally, his symptoms worsen, and he needs some time off work to recover. Because Chan’s chronic condition is treated by a provider more than twice per year, his HR team is able to approve his intermittent use of FMLA leave.
Managing Mental Health Leave Requests Under the FMLA
Mental health conditions complicate leave management. When employees or their loved ones are in crisis, coordinating with their HR department is likely low on their list of priorities. Employers that use leave technology like AbsenceSoft gain a self-service portal that makes requesting leave easier and more discreet for distressed employees.
The portal simplifies the process for managers and HR, too. HR may have no idea an employee’s mental state is deteriorating until they’re calling out of work. That leaves HR fielding notices and navigating absences last-minute. A platform allows leave managers and other stakeholders to track leaves of absence from the moment an employee requests one. It also positions leave managers to begin the FMLA certification process with immediacy.
Mental Health and the ADA
The FMLA isn’t the only federal law that protects employees with mental health concerns. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires employers to provide workplace accommodations that allow employees with disabilities to perform the essential functions of their jobs.
To understand the nuances of managing mental health-related accommodations requests, watch AbsenceSoft’s webinar with the Job Accommodation Network.
To qualify for an accommodation, an employee’s mental illness must align with the ADA’s definition of disability. According to the ADA, a disability is “a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity.”
Accommodations for mental health disorders can take many forms: remote work arrangements, modified break schedules, or rest areas are all possibilities.
Leave is one of the most common accommodations for employees with mental health conditions. The ADA can obligate employers to offer FMLA leave as an accommodation — even when employees have used up their 12 weeks.
Example:
Alex designs clothes for a menswear brand. He took 12 weeks of FMLA leave to receive treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While his condition has greatly improved, he still needs occasional time off work, especially after experiencing stress on the job. Alex’s HR team approves his request for extra FMLA leave as an accommodation for PTSD.
The overlap between the ADA and the FMLA can be confusing. It’s an intersection leave managers can’t neglect, however, especially as mental health conditions are a top driver of accommodation requests, according to AbsenceSoft data.
The AbsenceSoft platform helps HR pros navigate the ADA and the FMLA as separate statutes and as an overlapping unit. By calculating eligibility and tracking leave down to the minute, HR teams can ensure they treat employment laws with accuracy and employees with compassion.
Mental Health and the PWFA
The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees with limitations related to pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions. Its coverage includes mental conditions, and unlike the ADA, it does not require conditions to rise to a specific severity threshold.
Example:
Amara manages a group of engineers at an automotive company. Earlier in the year, she took advantage of her company’s maternity leave policy to recover from the birth of her first child. Amara returned to work as planned, but she struggled with severe postpartum depression. Amara’s HR team approved her request to take several weeks of FMLA leave to rest and recover. HR also greenlighted a PWFA-protected accommodation of working from home twice per week — an arrangement that allows Amara to attend twice weekly therapy appointments.
How Technology Can Help Manage FMLA, ADA, and PWFA Requests for Mental Health
Mental health-related leave and accommodation requests may overwhelm HR. But technology can eliminate the administrative burden and secure compliance, allowing HR to focus on what really matters: the well-being of their employees.
Learn how the AbsenceSoft platform makes mental health requests easier to manage:
- Its self-service portal makes it easy for employees to submit a request, even when they’re in crisis.
- It instantly notifies managers, supervisors, and other stakeholders when a leave request arrives, kicking off the search for absence coverage.
- It accurately tracks intermittent leave — down to 0.001 of a minute.
- It centralizes documentation so leave managers can seamlessly handle cases related to the FMLA, ADA, PWFA, and company policies.
To learn how AbsenceSoft can help your team manage requests related to mental health and more, book a demo today.