What Employers Need to Know: Accommodating Bipolar Disorder and Other Psychiatric Disabilities

        

What Employers Need to Know: Accommodating Bipolar Disorder and Other Psychiatric Disabilities

In this presentation, Professor Michael Z. Green (Texas A&M Law School) will discuss guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the impact of decisions pursuant to the American With Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008 relating to an employer’s duty to make a reasonable accommodation to an employee’s psychiatric disabilities.  Employers sometimes face daunting challenges when balancing the need for disciplinary action in response to workplace misconduct with the need for accommodation of psychiatric disabilities.  Through a series of hypothetical scenarios, Professor Green will discuss issues of disclosure of the disability, requesting the reasonable accommodation, selecting various options as a reasonable accommodation response, and unique issues related to misconduct and direct threats to health and safety that employers must address when confronted with an employee who has  bipolar disorder or other psychiatric disabilities. .              

About the presenter,

Professor Michael Z. Green

    

 Michael Z. Green is a member of the Texas A&M University School of Law faculty. Professor Green’s scholarship focuses on workplace disputes and the intersection of race and alternatives to the court resolution process. He previously served on the faculty of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law where in June 2008 he was appointed to the inaugural position of Associate Dean for Faculty Research & Development. As the Dean for Faculty Research & Development, he highlighted the significant accomplishments of the faculty while continuing to nourish and support the development and success of faculty members as scholars and teachers.
 
Professor Green was a visiting professor at the University of Georgia School of Law in Spring 2013 where he taught Employment Discrimination and Employment Law. Professor Green was also a visiting professor at Florida State University College of Law where he taught Evidence and Employment Discrimination during the Spring 2008 semester. His legal practice experience in Illinois and Kentucky focused on representing clients in workplace disputes.
 
A frequently requested speaker and expert in his field, Professor Green has presented at dozens of conferences on matters pertaining to workplace disputes. Professor Green was elected as a Fellow to the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers in June 2014 and elected as a member of the American Law Institute in October 2006. In September 2015, he received the Paul Steven Miller Memorial Award at the Tenth Annual Colloquium on Scholarship in Employment and Labor Law given to a scholar who has demonstrated outstanding academic and public contributions in the field of labor and employment law. Among his many other professional activities, Professor Green is a labor and employment mediator and arbitrator who serves as a member of the American Arbitration Association’s National Labor Arbitration panel, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Labor Panel, and as a hearing officer for the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Trial Board. He served as Secretary of the American Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Section in 2014-15. Professor Green holds a LL.M. from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, a J.D., cum laude, and an M.S. in Human Resources and Industrial and Labor Relations from Loyola Chicago, an M.B.A. from California Lutheran, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California.