For workplaces, mental illness doesn’t take a holiday

As the nation marks another Labor Day holiday, I want to take this time to highlight a serious problem affecting workers in Virginia and across the country — mental illness.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness reports that about 264,000 adults in Virginia are living with a serious mental illness. Clearly, many Virginians are struggling and they are not alone. In fact, across America, roughly 17 million people experience a substance use disorder or mental illness.

Many workers worry about the stigma that seeking mental health care may bring. They fear that asking for help may hurt their career prospects or change how their employer views them, leaving their underlying condition untreated and at risk of worsening over time.

Employers are also affected by employees with poor mental health. According to a 2022 Gallop survey, approximately 19% of American workers rated their mental health as fair or poor. These employees were four times more likely to have an unplanned absence from work. For example, over a one-year period, workers with fair or poor mental health had an estimated 12 days of unplanned absences versus 2.5 days for other employees.

This missed work cost the U.S. economy around $47.6 billion in lost productivity.

Mental health care is just as important to the well-being of workers as medical care. Caring for one’s mental health should be treated like any other ailment and be free of judgment or discrimination by health providers or health insurers. Federal law, namely the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, requires group health plans and insurance companies to not impose barriers on using benefits — such as more restrictive copays or limits on visits — for treatment of mental health or substance use disorder than they provide for medical or surgical benefits. More recently, the Biden-Harris administration proposed changes in regulations that would expand access to mental health and substance use disorder care.

People seeking care should check their health plan’s mental health benefits. Typically, the plan summary or summary of benefits and coverage should explain mental health and substance use disorder benefits and rights the plan covers. In some cases, a primary care physician can identify specialists, social workers or therapists.

In addition, the U.S. Department of Labor offers online resources and benefits advisors through its Employee Benefits Security Administration that provide free assistance in explaining mental health and substance use disorder benefits and protections under federal law. EBSA’s benefits advisors can also help you with a denied mental health or substance use disorder claim, ensuring your health plan pays the correct amount and that you’re getting the benefits promised to you under your plan. You can find out more from EBSA’s benefits advisors at askebsa.dol. gov or by calling 1-866-444-3272.

We’re also educating employers about their responsibilities for promoting a mental health friendly workplace. The department’s “Mental Health at Work” initiative promotes resources to help employers understand how to support workers’ mental health and what their legal responsibilities are under federal law, while our Office of Disability Employment Policy offers “The 4 A’s of a Mental Health-Friendly Workplace.” Specifically, these are tips for building awareness and a supportive culture, providing accommodations to employees, offering employee assistance and ensuring access to treatment. The department also offers a workplace mental health toolkit to ensure employers’ efforts respect differing experiences of employees from all backgrounds.

Company leaders, managers and co-workers all have roles to play in promoting mental health well-being. Work is about more than wages. It’s also about a sense of purpose, meaning and belonging. For the U.S. Department of Labor, this is a priority not just on Labor Day, but year-round.