Should Sick Days Include Mental Health Breaks?
I never know how to ask for a break when I need one
I live in America where mental health and disabilities are still highly stigmatized in the workplace. When I apply for a job, there’s often times a small survey about my demographics before submitting. It’ll include asking about race and heritage, veteran status, and whether I want to disclose that I have a disability.
I’ve struggled to come to terms with the word “disability” because I don’t see myself as disabled, at least not in the same way as a lot of other people. But major depressive disorder and ADHD are listed as disabilities on these surveys, as well as a ton of other mental illnesses (like bipolar disorder).
All “disability” means is a “condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities.” While I don’t have any physical disabilities, I definitely have heightened sensitivities to noises and feelings, and often find it difficult to complete every day tasks.
In America, full time positions usually come with benefits like health insurance, a retirement fund, and paid-time-off (PTO). Many companies also offer paid sick leave.
But what exactly qualifies as a sick day?
The technicalities
According to the Dept. of Labor, employers are not required to offer paid sick leave but are required to allow employees to take unpaid sick days (thanks to the Family and Medical Leave Act, or FMLA). There are certain requirements but I’ll leave that to you to research on your own.
What we need to know here how an employee is allowed to use sick leave.
While FMLA details that leave can be used when “you are unable to work because of your own serious health condition,” I’m not quite clear on what that entails. Specifically looking at numbers two and three in the above graphic, it sounds like those “incapacities” could possibly apply to mental health conditions but it’s likely up to the discretion of the employer to decide if that’s valid or not. Which doesn’t make me feel too great.
But…
I have been at my current job for a little over two and a half years now. While I am technically a part time employee, I work between 30–35 hours per week teaching. I don’t get any health benefits or paid time off, but I am fortunate to have a flexible boss who is generally understanding to last-minute conflicts.
While I am certainly lucky to have a good boss who recognizes that stuff happens, I’m not super keen on explaining to her that I physically can’t get out of bed and therefore can’t teach a class. I’m not going to tell her that I had a really hard therapy session over the weekend and am still recovering from that. So I try my very best not to call out for being sick.
Sure, technically mental health breaks should apply under FMLA because it significantly impairs a person from being able to complete their work tasks. But again, it’s sort of left up to the employer to decide what that really means.
What do we do?
The biggest problem with all of this is that the world doesn’t view mental health as valid healthcare. A manager is more likely to understand when someone calls out because they broke their arm than they would be for someone who is having a panic attack.
Is it because it’s easy to see a broken limb? Is it because it’s more tangible and therefore more real?
My brain is an organ just as much as anything else on or in my body and I wish it was treated as such. When someone needs to take time off for major surgery there are no questions asked. But when I had to take time off because I was hospitalized for depression and anxiety, I was asked how I could prevent that from happening again.
In the most basic forms, yeah, mental health breaks should be covered under FMLA. But unfortunately, until depression stops being stigmatized, we just have to grin and bear it.
