Does Your Boss Have a Right to Know if You're Mentally Ill?

Howard Mavity was quoted on Bloomberg on March 30, 2015. The article “Does Your Boss Have a Right to Know if You're Mentally Ill?” discussed how news that the pilot of the Germanwings jet that crashed on Tuesday had been judged unfit for work by a doctor, citing an unspecified mental illness, raises tough questions about mental health in the workplace.

More employers need to recognize the risk of untreated depression and other mental illnesses, said Howard. "It’s really been 'don’t ask, don’t tell,' " he said.

That might change in industries such as transportation, construction, pipelines, or utilities, in which the costs when something goes wrong can be astronomical. Employers may decide that trying to reach out to workers they suspect are in crisis will be worth the risk of a discrimination suit if it prevents a larger catastrophe, Howard said.

Weighing the risk of a plane crash against the likelihood of "at worst a six-figure ADA claim," he said, "they’re going to be aggressive."

To read the full article, please visit Bloomberg.