Normal Anxiety Or Mental Illness? A Guide For Employers

This blog is part one of a three-part blog series outlining the essential points of an employer's duty to accommodate employees with mental disabilities.

Employers have a duty to accommodate employees suffering from mental illnesses. But distinguishing mental illness from ordinary anxiety is no easy matter.

Under human rights legislation, the duty to accommodate is triggered when an employee has a "mental disability." But what exactly is a mental disability? Just like having a cold doesn't constitute a physical disability, having a non-physical health condition doesn't necessarily constitute a mental disability.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission ("CHRC") defines mental illness as being characterized by "alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour—or some combination thereof—associated with significant distress and impaired functioning." The range of symptoms can be broad, and differ from person to person.