U.S. Govt Explaining Job Applicants With Mental Health Conditions Their Rights

In the U.S. the EEOC is out with a short q-and-a for job applicants and employees who have mental health conditions such as depression and PTSD.

The document explains that in most situations, applicants can keep their conditions private, and an employer can only ask mental (or physical, for that matter) health questions:

• When the individual asks for a reasonable accommodation
• After a job offer is made and before employment begins
• When it’s conducting affirmative action/tracking the disability status of applicants (and those health questions are still optional for applicants)

The commission says that “charges of discrimination based on mental health conditions are on the rise,” with almost 5,000 charges filed during the 2016 fiscal year and $20 million given to people who were “unlawfully denied employment and reasonable accommodations.”