August 30, 2010
1:30 p.m. (Eastern)
12:30 p.m. (Central)
11:30 a.m. (Mountain)
10:30 a.m. (Pacific)
REGISTER HERE
An Interactive Webinar with
Practical Compliance Strategies
All jobs today have stress; how do you know when stress has reached the level of a disability? How can you (and should you) accommodate a mental illness? And what do you dare say to an employee when you "think" there's a problem? (Warning: The first question your employes's attorney will ask is: "Are you a trained psychologist?")
Mental health and stress claims are on the rise nationally, and your workplace isn't immune. Mental impairments are tricky to spot and very difficult to manage. Can you even ask someone if they have a mental problem? Just by asking aren't you "regarding" them as a person with a disability?
The ADA complicates every situation, and the FMLA and workers' comp aren't far behind. And, by the way, neither are the lawyers.
Nearly 60 million Americans experience a mental health impairment annually, according to the National Alliance on Mental Health, and a lot of those people work. Just as one example, since the mid-1990s, the number of individuals seeking treatment annually for depression in the United States has doubled to 27 million.
And employers have paid out millions for discrimination claims based on depression-related conditions, alcoholism, anxiety disorders, and other psychological disorders.
Mental disabilities, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, aren't always easy to spot; thus, employers with 15 or more employees nationwide have an increased burden concerning the interactive process under the ADA. And, with the expansion of the definition of "disability" in 2009, even more individuals with mental disabilities are covered by the ADA. Should you engage in the interactive process when you're not even sure that a mental condition constitutes a protected disability under the new Act?
Join us on August 30 for an in-depth, 90-minute, interactive webinar all about how to manage stress and mental disability-related claims. Our expert-a seasoned labor and employment attorney-will use case studies, hypotheticals, and checklists to provide you with the tools you need to identify, assess, and manage these tricky situations.
You'll Learn:
- The types of conditions that are currently leading to stress and mental disability claims
- How to approach an employee who might be suffering from a mental condition
- How to tell if a mental condition qualifies as a "serious health condition" under the FMLA
- How to tell if a leave of absence is a reasonable accommodation, including sample medical questionnaire language you can put into practice
- The difference between general stress and anxiety and an ADA-protected mental condition
- How to evaluate whether stress or pressure is part of an employee's essential job functions
- Practical steps you should take if stress appears to be the result of the work environment so you can minimize your organization's exposure to workers' comp claims
- The key questions a workers' comp judge is likely to ask to determine whether a worker's stress is a compensable work-related injury
1-800-7-ASK-BLR (1-800-727-5257), and mention webinar code: WBP12196.
Your Speaker
Patricia S. Eyres, Esq.,
is the Employment Law Partner at Stuart Baron & Associates, LLP, in Los Alamitos, California. She focuses on helping employers manage disability discrimination issues for both workers' comp and nonoccupational disabilities. As president of Litigation Management & Training Services and CEO/publisher of Proactive Law Press, LLC, Eyres trains managers and supervisors on how to recognize risks, prevent lawsuits, and maintain defensible documentation. She has earned a Certified Speaking Professional designation, the international measure of platform excellence for professional speakers.
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