Why the Return-to-Office Battle Is Turning into a Disability Dispute
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Hey, your money briefing listeners, this is J.R. Whelan. Here at YMB, we're all about bringing you important personal finance and career news to help you make better decisions about your money. But we want to learn more about you. What personal finance topics would you like to hear more about? If you're listening on Spotify, look for our poll under the episode description, or you can send us an email to ymb at wsj.com. That's ymb at wsj.com. Now, onto the show. Here's your Money Briefing for Thursday, November 9th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. As more companies ask workers to return to the office, some people are pushing back and filing mental health-related claims against their employers.
A lot of people asked for accommodations and were told, no, that's an undue burden on the employer and therefore we're going to reject that remote work request. But it's a mistake for employers and others to discount that people do actually suffer from a lot of these conditions and are more productive at home.
We'll talk to Wall Street Journal workplace reporter Lauren Weber after the break.
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More employees who want to continue working from home are filing complaints against their companies, alleging disability discrimination. Wall Street Journal reporter Lauren Weber joins me. So, Lauren, what symptoms are people listing when they file complaints?
Well, this story came about because I noticed that there were a lot more complaints being filed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for mental health conditions, what are often known as invisible disabilities, things like anxiety, depression, PTSD, among others. In one year from 2021 to 2022, the number of charges filed to the EEOC for those three conditions, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, Each rose by more than 16 percent, which is a huge jump in one year. And I'm really curious to see what that jump is going to be into 2023. This, of course, coincides with a lot of companies mandating that their employees return to work. And that's not a coincidence.
Shouldn't the worker in the company be able to work this out before it rises to the level of the worker filing a complaint?
Absolutely. And that is the point of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It has a provision that an employee brings to their employer, basically a statement saying, I can do the essential functions of the job that's required, but I need certain accommodations in order to do those essential functions. The employer is required to engage in what's known as the interactive process. So it's a legal requirement that employers basically negotiate. Now, it doesn't mean that an employee will get the first thing that they ask for. Let's say they want to work from home accommodation. Maybe they have ADHD and they can't handle the distractions of an office. An employer can say, instead of working from home, how about if we set you up in this quiet office over here where you'll have fewer distractions?
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