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Filing an ADA Employment Discrimination Charge:
Making It Work for You
The Record of Charges by People With Psychiatric Disabilities
Do many people with psychiatric disabilities file employment discrimination charges?
Yes. Psychiatric disabilities are among the most frequent disabilities cited by individuals who file ADA employment discrimination charges. In recent years, psychiatric disabilities have been cited in roughly 15 percent of the charges filed under the ADA each year.
Over what issues do people with psychiatric disabilities tend to file charges?
The reason that most people with psychiatric disabilities file charges is because they have been fired from their job. Other issues commonly cited in charges are failure to provide reasonable accommodations, workplace harassment by a supervisor or co-worker, hiring discrimination, or unfair disciplinary actions taken by an employer or supervisor. Many other issues have been cited (e.g., being laid off or "down-sized" from a job, discrimination in the awarding of pension/retirement benefits, discrimination with respect to promotion to a higher level of work, suspension of employment status, or discrimination in wages). However, these account for only a small percentage of the charges that are filed.
Are EEOC and FEPA investigators knowledgeable about psychiatric disabilities?
Few investigators receive specific training on psychiatric disabilities. Therefore, if you file a discrimination charge, you should provide relevant documentation about the complexity of your specific psychiatric disability, the issues it may raise in the work place, and why you are qualified to do the job either with or without a reasonable accommodation. On the other hand, provide only relevant information. For example, do not provide extensive and repetitive notes about your feelings and thoughts. Too much information can confuse the picture you are trying to paint of the significant details of the discrimination.
Do investigators distinguish between different types of psychiatric disabilities?
In filing charges, individuals with psychiatric disabilities 'self-report' their impairment or diagnosis to the investigator taking their charge. Investigators then code that information as one of five possible psychiatric disability categories: anxiety disorder, depression, manic depressive disorder, schizophrenia, and other emotional/psychiatric impairments. Of the 19,454 people with psychiatric disabilities who filed charges under the ADA as of March 31, 1998, 43 percent were coded as having depression, 15 percent an anxiety disorder, 11 percent manic depression, 2 percent schizophrenia, and 36 percent "other". Some individuals report having more than one kind of psychiatric disability.
What kinds of outcomes can people receive from a charge?
ADA charges can be closed in six ways. Three bring some type of direct benefit to complainants:
- Withdrawal with Benefits - These are informal, non-written agreements between complainants and employers that resolve charges. In almost all cases, they are agreed upon before an investigation has been completed and the merits of the charge determined.
- Settlements - These are formal, written agreements between complainants and employers that resolve charges. Again, in almost all cases, they are agreed upon before an investigation has been completed and the merits of the charge determined.
- Conciliation Agreements - These are formal, written agreements between complainants and employers entered into after an investigation shows reasonable cause exists to believe that discrimination occurred.
The other three outcomes do not result in benefits to individuals bringing charges:
- Unsuccessful Conciliations - These represent failures to obtain an agreement between the complainant and an employer after an investigation has shown reasonable cause to believe that discrimination occurred.
- No Cause Determinations - These are determinations after an investigation that no reasonable cause exists to believe discrimination occurred.
- Administrative Closures - These are charges closed without a determination for various reasons, among them: a lack of jurisdiction by the EEOC or a FEPA, a failure to cooperate by the complainant, a determination that the employer has too few employees to be covered by the ADA, inability to locate the complainant, a determination that the complainant is not a qualified individual with a disability, or a request by the individual who filed the charge for a "right-to-sue" notice, needed to file a lawsuit in court.
As noted, during all stages of the administrative enforcement process, complainants may request a "right-to-sue" notice which, when issued, ends the administrative enforcement process. Moreover, if the investigation finds no cause to believe discrimination occurred, the EEOC or FEPA will issue a "right-to-sue" notice to the complainant, who then may file a lawsuit. Again, after the EEOC or FEPA issues the "right-to-sue" notice, it takes no further action with respect to the complainant.
Among people who receive benefits, what is the nature of benefits received?
There are many different kinds of benefits, including cash payments, hiring, promotion, reinstatement, reasonable accommodations, providing complainants with a positive job reference, and referring complainants to a job.
How do people with psychiatric disabilities fare compared to people with other kinds of disabilities with respect to the outcomes of their charges?
Outcomes for people with psychiatric disabilities do not differ substantially from those for people with other disabilities. Of the 15,729 ADA employment discrimination charges brought by people with psychiatric disabilities closed as of March 31, 1998, 14 percent resulted in benefits for complainants. Of the 130,065 charges brought by people with non-psychiatric disabilities closed during the same time period, 16 percent brought benefits for complainants.
How do people with different kinds of psychiatric disabilities fare?
Among the 15,729 persons with psychiatric disabilities whose charges were closed by March 31, 1998, 14 percent of the individuals coded as having "other emotional/psychiatric" impairments received beneficial outcomes; 14 percent having anxiety received beneficial outcomes; 13 percent having manic depression received beneficial outcomes; 13 percent having depression received beneficial outcomes; and 12 percent having schizophrenia received beneficial outcomes.
How do people with psychiatric disabilities fare as a result of filing an ADA employment discrimination lawsuit?
In most ADA employment discrimination lawsuits that ended in a judgment for the plaintiff (the person who filed the lawsuit) or the defendant (the employer named in the lawsuit), courts have ruled against plaintiffs with psychiatric disabilities. However, the vast majority of lawsuits that are filed do not result in a judgment for either the plaintiff or the defendant. Rather, they end in out-of-court settlements for plaintiffs or in some other type of dismissal.
The U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs recently reported that between 1990 and 1998, the percentage of civil rights lawsuits dismissed from U.S. district courts increased from 66 percent to 71 percent while judgments decreased from 34 percent to 29 percent. Among employment lawsuits alone during 1998, roughly 39 percent ended in an out-of-court settlement.
Most plaintiffs will not agree to an out-of-court settlement unless they receive some kind of benefit. Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that like employment lawsuits generally, roughly 4 of every 10 ADA employment discrimination lawsuits filed by individuals with psychiatric disabilities bring benefits to plaintiffs through out-of-court settlements.
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