Are employees suffering from depression in the South African workplace protected by the existing disability provisions within employment law?
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Date
2017
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
University of the Western Cape
Abstract
Depression is a mood disorder that negatively affects the way in which a person feels
about himself or herself. This can ultimately affect an employee's ability to work,
through reducing his or her capabilities to perform within the workplace. Individuals who
suffer from depression are often discriminated against due to the societal prejudice
that continues to exist about depression. In the workplace such discrimination often
prevents employees from qualifying for promotions, or prospective employees from
being offered employment. The fear of being subjected to unfair discrimination
because of depression frequently results in employees not disclosing their mental
health status to their employers, which often then causes the depression to become worse.
In order to effectively address this issue, the legislative framework in South Africa
dealing with employment rights can be broadened to include depression as a
disability, thereby also further protecting depressed employees from discrimination in
the workplace.
Description
Magister Legum - LLM (Mercantile and Labour Law)