Accommodating Employees with Mental Impairments: An Empirical Study of Employer Practices

Karen A. Patterson

Abstract

This paper discusses ADA workplace accommodations, particularly those for individuals with mental impairments, from the perspective of employers. Respondents from fourteen companies were asked to describe the firm’s accommodation process in response to hypothetical scenarios involving possible physical and mental disability issues in the workplace. Their responses were driven more by company culture, nature of the job and work environment, and the employee’s work history than by a desire to comply with legal mandates. Moreover, accommodations were frequently granted without regard to whether individuals met the legal definition of “disabled” under the recently amended ADA. In other words, most firms were at or “ahead” of what the law required, without being motivated by the law itself or fears of litigation. This research also supports and expands prior findings that small employers utilize an informal process to assess and grant accommodations; in this research, employers of varying sizes tended to use an informal process if disability benefits or Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) protection were not being sought.