Employee with suicidal ideations

[Anonymous]

I am a lawyer that advises employers on exactly these issues.

If you are a supervisor or manager, you have an obligation to take this to HR as your knowledge can be deemed to be the knowledge of the employer. The employer could later say that it was an implied request for accommodation or that it triggered the employers obligation to inform of FMLA and DC PFL rights.

You also have an obligation under the ADA to NOT share the information with anyone other than HR (or, if there is no HR, the appropriate person to handle such matters). And the ADA also prohibits you from making further inquiries, unless it’s part of the ADA interactive process for considering an accommodation request.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dear Employee-
We met this week where you shared some health issues you were dealing with. I following up with a recap of our conversation and have included links to information and resources.

As an employee of Widgets, Inc, you are eligible to seek the services of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) which helps employees deal with personal issues that might adversely impact their work performance, health and/or well-being. Here is the info…

If there is a need for accommodations in the workplace, you can reach out to HR Dept as they may be able to provide supports on reasonable accommodations in the workplace if that was needed to address your health concerns.

You may also want to reach out to HR Dept to discuss your leave options. Here is the link to information regarding your disability benefits here at Widget, Inc: If you have any questions, you may contact the Benefits & Leave Office at 555-5555.

You shared you were in the process of working with health care providers to support your personal health concerns.

Please keep me in the loop about your next steps and supports you might need. I do hope you feel better.

Regards,
Molly
Molly Manager

Please do not send this letter.

Why not? Explain what your role is and what’s wrong with it. It’s what HR advised me to send after a similar conversation with an employee. I work in a large public sector organization with a $3B budget.

DP. You are asking that they disclose confidential health information which is always a bad idea. If you are a $3B company, you certainly have a staff that deals with medical information rather than having it go to an employee’s manager.

The employee came to me, a manager, with health information and already disclosed it. The cat is out of the bag. They're entitled to benefits & leave. The letter points the employee to those people in HR who actually deal with medical information if they feel they need to access those benefits and can help them access them. Without accessing those benefits and accommodations, they have no protection. They could keep missing work and underperforming because of their health issue. A manager would have no recourse except discipline and performance documentation. But if the employee takes leave and/or gets accommodations, they can hopefully address their health issues without that recourse.

If you were a manager and an employee came to you disclosing suicidal ideations and mental health struggles. what would your response be, PP? Please share.

In my company, our managers would have known to stop the employee from disclosing and to refer to the correct department. We provide required annual training on these issues and you’d be a serious risk of losing your job if you violated privacy. And even if the cat is out of the bag, you are requiring further disclosures.

This right here.

I'm in senior management at my company and we must go through this training each year. I know it makes me seem unsympathetic to stop an employee from disclosing medical information to me, but my hands are tied. I cannot legally disclose anything that employee tells me to HR to get them the appropriate help/services needed.

The company put this policy in place after a lawsuit about 8 or so years ago. A manager shared with her team that a fellow coworker would be out for a week due to an emergency procedure & shared what it was with everyone. When the employee returned to work, she was irate that her medical information had been disclosed.

Yeah, if an employee starts mentioning mental health challenges, needing time off, or health, we’re supposed to stop them there and tell them it has to be addressed directly with certain people in HR.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer that advises employers on exactly these issues.

If you are a supervisor or manager, you have an obligation to take this to HR as your knowledge can be deemed to be the knowledge of the employer. The employer could later say that it was an implied request for accommodation or that it triggered the employers obligation to inform of FMLA and DC PFL rights.

You also have an obligation under the ADA to NOT share the information with anyone other than HR (or, if there is no HR, the appropriate person to handle such matters). And the ADA also prohibits you from making further inquiries, unless it’s part of the ADA interactive process for considering an accommodation request.

Also a lawyer and this is spot on.