Mental health and the world of work: a comparative analysis of the legal frameworks governing categories of mental health conditions

English: Mental health conditions such as depression are common in the world of work. Despite having been a significant concern for centuries already, these conditions are becoming particularly prevalent in modern society and workplaces across the globe. Although they affect the legal realm in many different areas, mental health conditions are often misunderstood and inappropriately dealt with from a legal perspective. Inevitably, this will give rise to concerns in the employment environment. Depression appears to be the most prevalent of all the categories of mental health conditions, with the most noteworthy impact on employment. Its symptoms are debilitating and impair sufferers’ ability to fulfil the inherent requirements of their jobs. In addition, the medication used to treat and manage mental health conditions, such as antidepressants, also leads to various debilitating side effects, which may further affect the person’s ability to function efficiently at work. The United Nations (UN) Disability Convention has set the international benchmark for all jurisdictions in addressing mental disabilities, discrimination based on mental health as well as reasonable accommodation for these conditions. The convention displays support for the social model of disability and a substantive approach to equality. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has in turn also played a significant role in offering guidance for domestic legal frameworks to address mental health concerns in the workplace. Against the backdrop of international instruments such as those of the UN and the ILO, this study takes an in-depth look at the approach to mental health conditions in employment in the jurisdictions of South Africa, the United States (USA) and the United Kingdom (UK). More specifically, the research analyses the various jurisdictions’ take on mental health conditions as disabilities under the law, the disputability of workplace discrimination based on mental health, and the procedures and measures to provide reasonable accommodation for employees with mental health conditions. Across the jurisdictions, depression in particular and mental health conditions in general may amount to legally recognisable disabilities if they can satisfy the elements of the specific disability definition used. In South Africa, the USA and the UK, these definitions and elements differ. These three jurisdictions’ legal frameworks do however acknowledge that in order for a mental health condition to attract disability status, the condition must be recognisable and must have a particular impact on the life or employment potential of the employee or job applicant within a particular timeline. Although the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, requires a substantive approach to equality and, thus, the consideration that mental health conditions such as depression may amount to legally recognisable disabilities, South African disability law has been slow to give effect to this, lagging slightly behind the USA and UK in this regard. Consequently, the South African legal position on mental disabilities is underdeveloped and ambiguous. Due to the significant stigma and prejudice associated with mental health conditions, they often form the basis for discrimination in both society and the workplace. Discrimination based on a person’s mental health status impairs the individual’s right to dignity, equality and non-discrimination, and may potentially even aggravate existing mental health conditions. In the USA, UK and South Africa, discrimination based on mental health may be challenged on the protected ground of disability, provided that the condition in question satisfies the legal requirements to constitute a mental disability. The UN Disability Convention along with disability-specific legislation in the USA and UK extensively governs this consideration. South Africa, on the other hand, does not have any legislation giving effect to the UN Disability Convention. Yet, the Constitution and the Employment Equity Act do enable victims to challenge discrimination based on mental health on either the protected ground of disability, or as an unlisted analogous or arbitrary ground of unfair discrimination. The latter does appear more viable in light of the disadvantage suffered by these persons because of their conditions. Under the South African legal framework, reasonable accommodation for mental health conditions is based on two primary foundations: Firstly, reasonable accommodation is available to people with mental disabilities as an affirmative action measure; secondly, reasonable accommodation may possibly also be available to persons with mental health conditions in general, since it essentially constitutes a nondiscrimination principle. Reasonable accommodation in the comparative jurisdictions of the USA and the UK, on the other hand, flows primarily from their respective disability-specific legislation. To provide effective reasonable accommodation on the basis of mental health, several factors need to be considered in an interactive process between employer and employee. These include occupational health and safety, the intersection between reasonable accommodation and incapacity, the disproportionate-burden threshold, and the various forms of reasonable accommodation that may best suit the mental health condition in question, given its specific symptoms and diagnostic features. This study emphasises the importance of adequate and effective consideration of mental health conditions under the legal frameworks of jurisdictions worldwide due to the global prevalence of these conditions, their devastating effects, and the disadvantage experienced by those who suffer from these conditions. Based on the comparison with the USA and the UK, it is concluded that the South African legal framework in relation to mental health conditions needs to be urgently developed in order to promote clarity and certainty regarding the official legal position on these conditions, as well as to safeguard the rights and interests of employees with mental health conditions in the workplace. As an added, more practical contribution, the study concludes with a proposed draft code of good practice on the handling of mental health conditions in the workplace, a draft set of interpretative guidelines for the South African judiciary, Department of Labour, employers and employees in dealing with these conditions in the world of work, as well as a draft workplace policy on mental health conditions for potential adoption by employers.