Psychological issues cost the Canadian economy $51billion every year
One in five Canadians experience a psychological health problem in any given year, with psychological health problems being labeled the number one cause of disability in Canada.
When an employee is ill or suffering with a disability, it’s incumbent on HR to enquire and assess how best to help the situation along. However, sometimes we rely too much on the visual – expecting to see physical signs of a problem rather than looking deeper in the mental anguish.
A psychological injury may involve Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), chronic pain or concussion, to name a few. Often signs are not visible to onlookers meaning that employees are often left to suffer in silence.
So, how should organizations be accommodating these somewhat undetectable conditions? We spoke to Muneeza Sheikh, partner at Levitt LLP and speaker at our Employment Law Masterclass, who gave her thoughts on the topic at hand.
“From an employment standpoint, there really shouldn’t be any differentiator between a psychological injury and any other disability,” she prefaced.
“HR has to keep in mind that there’s no legal obligation for an employee to disclose what their diagnosis is. Only their prognosis. So, if their employee has some sort of psychological injury, there’s nothing in law that would demand they come forward and explain the exact nature of it.”
Psychological issues cost the Canadian economy $51billion every year, with over $20billion of that stemming from workplace occurrences. And yet, despite this evident pandemic, less than one quarter of employees are comfortable talking to their employers about these health issues.
“An employer is obligated to treat a psychological injury just like any other, which would be accommodating the employee to the point of undue hardship,” continued Sheikh.
“Make sure you don’t ask overly invasive questions about the injury, only enquire as to what it is about the resent condition that would prevent them from doing their job in a full capacity or requiring some time off.
“Is there really a nuanced difference between a psychological injury and any other disability from an accommodation standpoint? Not logistically.”
Muneeza is speaking at our upcoming Employment Law Masterclass in Toronto on September 10th. Book your place here.