Washington - QUESTION: One of our employees, a young
woman in her late 20s, attempted suicide and was hospitalised. After a paid
leave of absence and all the support we could offer organisationally and
individually, she came back to work after about six weeks. Many of us urged her
to take more time, but she is anxious about endangering her job and says being
at work feels better than being home alone while her husband works.
Yet she's not stable. She is able to do her job adequately,
but she leans heavily on one senior staffer - in and out of her office all day
crying - and that staffer is exhausted from the strain. Meanwhile, those of us
who best know the depressed colleague are worried about another suicide
attempt. Our boss feels under legal constraints to make no observations about
her health or suggestions, for fear of violating employment law.
This feels like a life-or-death matter, yet nobody knows
what we can or should be doing.
ANSWER: You are right to be worried for your co-worker.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2014, suicide
was the number 2 cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 34. And while your
collective supportiveness is laudable, you should also be concerned about the
ripple effect on you.
Your boss and HR department should immediately consult a
mental health expert, either through an employee assistance program or through
a suicide hotline, such as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at
800-273-TALK.
The exhausted staffer and other concerned co-workers also
should be directed to these resources, in part to learn how to compassionately
set protective personal boundaries.
Read also: Murder-suicide of 'loving' couple baffles families
While the Americans With Disabilities Act discourages
employers from speculating about or trying to diagnose employees' medical
conditions, it doesn't prohibit pointing out when workers' conduct is
disruptive to their performance or others'. Also, your boss is generally
permitted to make the employee's return to work contingent on a medical
evaluation, if there is a reasonable belief that her condition is impairing her
performance or poses a threat to herself or others. He or she could also turn
to the Labour Department's Job Accommodation Network for confidential
consultations about how to offer accommodations without violating your
co-worker's ADA rights.
All these resources should help your boss guide your
co-worker to support from qualified professionals while providing workplace
support. If she needs more time off for treatment, the Family and Medical Leave
Act requires up to 12 weeks of job-protected unpaid leave in a year, with some
states and employers offering even more.
Thanks to the
Society for Human Resource Management.