Mental Health and FMLA: Know Your Rights
Do you have a diagnosed mental health disorder (bipolar, anxiety, depression, PTSD, etc)? Did you know you may qualify for FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) through the State of Washington? If you didn’t, you are not alone. Many people are forced to take all their sick leave and vacation before their company even suggests taking FMLA. That is if they even suggest it at all. If you are employed by a company that has 50 or more employees, you already pay into this program.
Here is how it works. Whether you work full time or part time, you are eligible for up to 12 weeks of Paid Family and Medical Leave. To qualify you need to work at least 820 hours over the course of a year. That is only about 16 hours per week! In some instances, you can use up to 18 weeks of leave per claim year. You can apply for a minimum of 8 hours or as long as 12 weeks, depending upon what your doctor and therapist are requesting. When your claim year expires, it starts all over again. You can apply for this leave through the Employment Security Department. You will get up to 90 percent of your typical pay, capped at $1000 per week. The cool thing is, your employer can not require you to use your sick leave or vacation days first. They can not prevent you from taking this leave either.
What conditions qualify for this benefit? Glad you asked! Any serious health condition that prevents you from working, caring for a family member (parent, child, spouse) or certain military-related events. This includes mental and behavioral health. Your child or loved one may need some extra help to keep them safe during a mental health episode, which can sometimes last weeks. This may qualify. Your depression and/or anxiety has become so bad you can’t function at work and you need time to restabilize on meds. This may qualify. Maybe your mental health symptoms or thoughts of death have become too strong to handle and you need an extended hospital stay to regulate your emotions. This may qualify. An inpatient stay for substance abuse may qualify as well. Mental health qualifies as a serious health condition. As long as your doctor, therapist, and/or medication prescriber feels this leave is needed for the sake of your health and is willing to fill out the needed paperwork for you to qualify, then why not use what you have been paying into and earned?
Let me give you an example. I had a client who has dysthymia (chronic depression) and anxiety. I was working cooperatively with her primary care provider who was prescribing her medications, but was having a difficult time finding the right combination of meds that controlled her depression. I suggested a genesight test which is a DNA based test that tells you how your body metabolizes specific medications. This is helpful so your prescriber can find the right combination of medications without “trying” different cocktails to see if they work. The client had the test done, but it takes several weeks to get the results. In the meantime, both I and the prescriber recommended FMLA to this client until she was able to get put on the right meds that worked for her and stabilized enough to be able to go back to work again. This helped the client feel more at ease about not being fired. Helped the employer because they knew that their employee would be back to work healthy and not calling in sick all the time, and it also helped myself as her therapist because I knew my client was safe at home and able to manage her emotions more effectively.
Mental health is just like any other disease or disorder in your body. Your brain is an organ just like your heart, liver, or pancreas. If you had diabetes, heart disease, or any other health issue wouldn’t you seek the help you needed? It is okay to do the same for your brain. It is nothing to be ashamed of, and you are worth it. Love and take care of yourself.
For more information and to apply visit:
paidleave.wa.gov or you can also find more information on the Washington State Department of Health website.
Written by Debra Winter, LMHC, LSWAIC, Clinical Therapist at Charmed Counseling