How to File a Mental Health Discrimination Lawsuit

You're suffering from a mental health illness and you feel that you are being discriminated against at your job. Perhaps you've even been fired and you believe your mental illness was the cause. You want to file a lawsuit against your employer for your damages, but you don't know how to go about it. Here are some steps you need to take to file a mental health discrimination lawsuit.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Ask yourself if your boss ever inquired about your mental health before he/she offered you a job, if he/she could be using your disability as a means to keep you from earning a promotion or getting a pay raise, for example, or if any requests for accommodations that you may have made have been turned down.

2. Write down everything that you remember and gather together all paperwork that may support any basis for your complaint for mental health discrimination.

3. Consult with an experienced civil rights attorney to determine your rights. Most likely, if the company you work for has 15 or more employees, your complaint will fall under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Your attorney knows which laws apply to your situation and can help you determine if you have a good case. Bring all of your notes and paperwork so that he can review them and give you his honest opinion about your chances for a successful outcome.

4. Initiate your complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) first before starting a lawsuit in civil court. This must be done within 180 days of the alleged incident, and is accomplished by completing an intake questionnaire.

5. Provide information required on the intake questionnaire, such as your name, address, and telephone number; the name, address and telephone number of your employer or the employment agency or entity who you allege discriminated against you; and the date and a brief synopsis of the alleged violation.

6. Receive a letter from the EEOC that says you have a right to sue if it finds that there is enough evidence to advance a lawsuit. Again, consult with your attorney so that he can initiate these proceedings for you, or help you on your way to filing the lawsuit yourself.

7. Decide whether to file your mental health discrimination lawsuit in state or federal court. Here, your attorney can advise accordingly. In some states, a statute may dictate where you should file. Again, consult your attorney in this regard.

Tips & Warnings

• In order to protect your rights, notify the EEOC as soon as possible after you suspect that you have been discriminated against.
• If you need special accommodations in order to file a complaint with the EEOC, such as a sign language interpreter, tell your local EEOC office in advance so that they can make the appropriate arrangements.
• When asked for information from investigators, avoid revealing copious notes about your feelings and emotions. They won't help your case.
• Most investigators are not adequately trained to understand psychiatric disabilities. For that reason, provide only medical documents that support your mental health disability and the issues it may cause on the job, and any specific information you can about why you are qualified for the job in question.
• The EEOC and the courts use the American Psychiatric Association Diagnostic and Statistical Manual to measure which mental health illnesses are entitled to protection under the ADA. Most are categorized as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety sicknesses. If your mental health illness does not fall under the recognized illnesses in this manual, you may not have a case.

Resources

• Official site of the EEOC
• How to start a civil lawsuit

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on 12/29/2008 “I Wanna Live!”
WHYpd…Youngstown’s Finest

This is a summary of my struggle to survive in 2008 (to the present). True story!

Faith D. Harris-Jefferson
12/9/2008

My name is Faith and I have been a Police Clerk IV at the Youngstown Police Dept. since April 4, 2000. After 8 yrs of psychological harassment via bullying and mobbing, I composed a letter Jan. 21, 2008 detailing the racial/sexual harassment that I endured and hand delivered same on Jan. 22, 2008 to the City of Youngstown authorities that would hopefully put an end to such hate crimes. Once receiving no response, I called for TV27 (along with TV 21 & 33) to come to my home to hopefully start an investigation & judicial process…and hopefully avoid “disappearing” or being incapacitated in any way. Unfortunately, all I received was an all expense paid three day "vacation" in St. Joseph's psych ward (Jan. 26-Jan.