Employment provides five factors that promote mental well-being:

• Time structure
  
• Social contact and affiliation
  
• Collective group effort and purpose
  
• Social and personal identity
  
• Regular activity

Most of the time, especially if the person with a mental illness is functioning well enough to obtain some sort of employment, mental illness does not affect the work atmosphere in a negative way. Often, the individual who has a given disorder is more likely to be of harm to him/herself as opposed to being of harm to anyone else.

The best possible thing an employer could do, in relation to mental illness, is to be educated about these and other mental health disorders.

Legal Guidelines Regarding Disclosure of a Disability

Both federal law (Americans with Disabilities Act) and California state law (Fair Employment & Housing Act) provide regulations regarding disclosure of a disability. Here are the key points:

• Employers cannot ask questions about a job applicant’s disability, or require a medical exam before a job offer is made.
  
  
• After a job offer is made, employers can ask questions about a person’s disability, as long as the same questions and exams are required for all applicants for the same position. Information must be kept confidential, and if a person is screened out because of a disability, the employer must show the inquiry was job-related and consistent with business necessity.
  
  
• After a job offer is made, employers can require a medical exam, as long as the purpose of exam is to demonstrate whether a person can perform the job safely. If a person is disqualified based on exam, applicant can submit an independent medical opinion.