Mental Health and Illness

Speaker: Preston Parsons

As societal awareness of mental health issues grows, companies are in turn realizing that they have a vested interest in the mental health of their employees. This presentation will begin with some current information and statistics on the prevalence of mental health issues in the general population, then go on to examine how that manifests at work and what an employer’s responsibility is to maintain a safe workplace. This presentation will also examine human rights obligations in employment for persons with a mental disability, exploring the requirements for the duty to accommodate and the duty to inquire. Finally, a look at addictions and substance abuse issues at the workplace will be explored, again through a human rights lens. Overall, this webinar aims to give an overview of an employer’s obligations relating to mental health issues that commonly arise in the workplace.

Preston Parsons is a lawyer practicing primarily labour, employment, and human rights law at Overholt Law in Vancouver. Through this work, Preston interacts frequently with individuals, human resources professionals, and business owners to advise them on a wide array of workplace issues, including the accommodation of mental disabilities in the workplace.