Compliance Stuff

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has increasingly emphasized that stress, anxiety, and burnout can contribute to accidents and reduced productivity, making mental wellness a significant part of its modern safety framework since the agency released a fact sheet on workplace mental health in 2024. 0:00 4:40 Quick Hits OSHA is making mental wellness a significant part of its modern safety framework. Employers may want to ensure that their safety and health management systems include worker input to ensure psychologically safe environments. Psychological risk prevention may include employee assistance programs, leaves of absence accommodations, and other accommodations to prevent and mitigate risk exposure. Psychological safety refers to the mental and emotional well-being of workers in the workplace, including well-being following traumatic workplace events, high-stress work environments, and employee substance use disorders. Improved psychological safety is dir...

  When an employee stops showing up to the office, talks about wanting to give up, or appears impaired during work hours, managers and HR staff might feel unsure how to respond . But you can be supportive while also addressing legal obligations, safety, and business needs through a bit of planning, training, and resources. While employers are generally not mental health professionals, you can play a critical role in identifying warning signs and connecting employees with the support they need . Here are eight practical steps to help your managers and HR department respond in real time to serious and sensitive situations, as well as the key legal points to keep in mind. Call for Help Immediately in Emergencies First and foremost, you should call 911 in critical situations, such as when an employee expresses intent to self-harm imminently. You should also consider directing employees to 988, the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. When you have a specific concern about an employee’...

When an employee requests a reasonable accommodation for a health condition, it may be confusing for employers to parse out the various privacy protections embedded in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and  42 CFR Part 2 (Part 2),  a federal regulation restricting the disclosure of substance use disorder records. This article will explain the legal obligations under the three standards and how they intersect in this tricky area of compliance. Quick Hits The ADA, HIPAA, and the 42 CFR  Part 2 regulation  seek to protect patients’ private medical information with different requirements for healthcare providers and employers. When employers receive a request for a reasonable accommodation, they can request a doctor’s letter or limited medical records for which there is a business need for the information. Non-healthcare employers typically are not subject to HIPAA and Part 2 for their employment...