Telling coworkers
What should I tell people at work if I have a mental or emotional health or substance misuse problem?
- There may be advantages and disadvantages to disclosure.
- You have the right to keep medical information information private.
- There are circumstances in which your supervisor may legitimately ask for medical documentation verifying that you have a medical condition:
- You can share medical documentation with your supervisor, your HR representative or, in the case of a medical leave, with a representative of Work~Connections.
For most employees, decisions about whether and when to disclose a mental illness to a supervisor are complex, involving many factors. Before deciding about disclosure, it is helpful to understand the choices you have as well as the advantages and disadvantages.
Because mental health problems and addictions are medical problems, you have the right to keep that information private. However, under the following circumstances, your supervisor may legitimately ask for medical documentation verifying that you have a medical condition:
- Repeated or chronic absences
- Absence from work for an extended period of time
- A request for an accommodation to help perform your job
Notice that we have said that the medical documentation must “verify the existence of a medical condition;” we didn’t say you must disclose the exact diagnosis. However, there are circumstances in which you might find it helpful to do so. If your work is negatively affected by a mental health or substance abuse condition, you should seriously consider disclosing the existence of the condition to your supervisor. Without this information, your supervisor may proceed with discipline if attempts at performance improvement have not been successful. Once discipline has been initiated, it is very frustrating for supervisors to be told that a mental health condition has contributed to work problems. It is understandable that supervisors in such situations might be skeptical about the validity of late disclosures. Additionally, your supervisor has no obligation to stop discipline because of a late disclosure.
Also, if you are asking for a workplace accommodation, it may be important for your supervisor to know the nature of your health impairment in order to work with you regarding what adjustments are reasonable and helpful.
If you are reluctant to share medical documentation with your supervisor, it is possible to share it with your HR representative or, in the case of a medical leave, with a representative of Work~Connections. You can talk with these representatives about what information is required and what will be shared with your supervisor. Generally speaking, they share information on a “need-to-know” basis, meaning they can verify that appropriate documentation exists to justify your being away from work or requiring an accommodation without actually disclosing the diagnosis.
What should I tell my co-workers or colleagues?
- This decision is strictly up to you.
- In this section, we provide suggestions for the language or terminology you can use.
- In cases of suspected harassment or discrimination, advise your supervisor, HR representative or the Office of Institutional Equity.
The decision about disclosing your illness to other colleagues or co-workers is a personal one that is strictly up to you. Because stigma around mental illness and addictions persists, and can result in well-intended misunderstandings as well as discomfort or discrimination, many employees are understandably reluctant to disclose a diagnosis of mental health condition to co-workers. If you believe disclosure may lead to any of these difficulties in your work area, and you wish to avoid the possibility of associated problems, you are free not to reveal anything about your diagnosis. However, if you are absent from work for any period, you may want to decide ahead of time what you want to say to caring or curious colleagues who ask questions about your health.
The words you choose may differ in their precision:
- very general terms such as “a personal issue,” “ a medical condition”, “an illness” or “health problem”
- more specific wording such as “difficulty with stress” or “a biochemical imbalance”
- yet more specific terms such as “an emotional problem,” “a psychiatric disorder,” “a mental illness,” or “substance misuse”
- your actual diagnosis: such as attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, anxiety disorder, alcohol addiction, etc.
If you have not openly discussed your condition, but believe that your supervisor and co-workers suspect that you have a mental health or substance misuse problem, you may want to talk about it with them since keeping it secret might create unnecessary anxiety for you and your co-workers. This does not mean you have to tell them everything. You can choose the amount of detail you want to provide.
If you disclose the existence of a mental health condition and believe that you subsequently experience harassment or discrimination from anyone in your work environment, you should advise your supervisor or HR representative; if you don’t believe they are the right people to help, you should seek assistance from the Office of Institutional Equity.
