Your mental health leave rights, step by step.
FMLA gives you up to 12 weeks of job-protected leave for a serious mental health condition. ADA requires reasonable accommodations. State laws often add paid benefits or broader protections. Here is the whole map.
The two laws that matter most
FMLA: Job-Protected Leave
Up to 12 weeks off per year. Continuous or intermittent. Your employer must hold your job and keep your health insurance active.
Read the FMLA guideADA: Reasonable Accommodations
Schedule changes, remote work, reduced meeting load, quieter space, additional unpaid leave after FMLA runs out.
Read the ADA guideBy condition
Specific guidance for the conditions that most often drive mental health leave requests.
Anxiety and FMLA
GAD, panic disorder, social anxiety. What qualifies, how to get certified.
Depression and major depressive episodes
Continuous leave for episodes, intermittent leave for ongoing treatment.
Bipolar disorder
Intermittent FMLA for mood episodes and what your doctor should certify.
ADHD
Does ADHD qualify for FMLA? And the ADA accommodations most commonly approved.
ADHD accommodations (ADA)
Specific workplace accommodations that courts and agencies have approved.
Autism workplace accommodations
Reasonable accommodations, the interactive process, and disclosure tradeoffs.
OCD workplace accommodations
Evidence-based OCD accommodations that do not require disclosing specifics.
Burnout: covered by FMLA?
When clinical burnout is and is not a serious health condition.
Addiction and recovery workplace rights
ADA covers addiction in recovery. FMLA covers treatment.
Remote work for PTSD
Remote work as an ADA reasonable accommodation for trauma-related conditions.
Mental health accommodation notice
The sample notice pattern that works at most employers.
When an employer asks for your mental health records
What HR and leave administrators like Sedgwick, The Hartford, or Unum typically ask for, what the law actually requires, and how to hold the line.
Letter templates you can actually send
Real worked examples. Copy, edit, send. Every template includes annotations explaining why each sentence is there.
Intermittent FMLA Leave for Mental Health
Therapy appointments and symptom-flare days.
Continuous FMLA Leave for a Major Depressive Episode
Up to 12 weeks continuous leave for an episode.
Intermittent FMLA for Bipolar Disorder
For mood cycles and predictable intensifications.
ADA Reasonable Accommodations for Mental Health
The opening move in the interactive process.
Remote Work as an ADA Accommodation for PTSD
Specific to trauma-related sensory load and workplace triggers.
Flexible Schedule for Trauma Therapy
Trauma-focused therapy runs long; this template preserves job hours.
Limit Medical Records Release to TPA
Block third-party administrator overreach into your full record.
Decline EAP Referral While Maintaining Accommodation Request
HR often deflects to EAP. This keeps your FMLA on the record.
For survivors of childhood trauma
Complex trauma gets a different set of concerns.
Records privacy, EAP risks, certification by long-term therapists, reentry into triggering environments. Every step has a survivor section that covers these. Start here, then walk the steps.
Mental health symptoms of trauma
How CPTSD, dissociation, and anxiety show up at work.
The science of ACEs
The ACE Study and the proven link between childhood trauma and adult health.
Protecting sensitive medical and therapy records
HIPAA rights, psychotherapy notes, and TPA overreach.
EAP traps
Why short-term CBT is not adequate for complex trauma.