RSBM
Respectively, I think you're splitting hairs here. As I cited from the
ADATA.org link:
"
Examples of psychiatric diagnoses include anxiety disorder, depression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder and schizophrenia."
The ADA protects people with ALL forms of psychiatric diagnoses, including what you or I might call 'serious' mental illness, like schizophrenia
. And it protects against hiring, promoting / demoting and terminating decisions. Per the ADA, disclosing any psychiatric diagnosis is voluntary. So employers can't ask unless a person asks for accommodations.
Anyone is welcome to read more from that fact sheet to learn all about how the ADA relates to mental health issues.
ET: fix typo
Mental illness may impact the outcome of this case-
Can a district fire a teacher due to mental health issues? Not alone, but if they interfere with their ability to do this job.
We know statutory laws is crafted and worded carefully, but time and testing determines how a law will be interpreted and applied in the real world. That is case law.
What is case law? Library of Congress
Case law is the body of law developed from judicial opinions or decisions over time (whereas
statutory law comes from legislative bodies and
administrative law comes from executive bodies).
What is a classroom? A classroom is an adult with authority over minors, where that adult has a moral and legal obligation to protect those minors.
Here is one related case, a teacher dismissal with mental illness related to religion.
Lockhart vs. Marietta City Schools- Justia Law
A synopsis in a law article
Can disability- related misconduct serve as grounds for termination?
A teacher was dismissed and she sued that her dismissal was a violation of ADA.
What an employer can’t do as per this case:
“An employer may not rightfully fire an employee for disability-related conduct that is not related to work performance and does not violate some work-place or societal rule,” the 6th Circuit said in its analysis, referencing a 1997 case. “Rather, an employer should tolerate eccentric or unusual conduct caused by the employee’s mental disability, so long as the employee can satisfactorily perform the essential functions of his job.”
What the employer could do as per this case:
There are limits to this prohibition, the court pointed out. “An employer may legitimately fire an employee for conduct, even conduct that occurs as a result of a disability, if that conduct disqualifies the employee from his or her job,” the 6th Circuit opined.
The case is now part of case law- it add strength to all school districts ability to terminate a teacher based on actions related to mental illness that show they are not doing their job.
Lewisville ISD chose not to dismiss AJM and protect elementary students despite signs he was not doing his job. If a mental illness had come up- related or not- the district could have dismissed.
So in some cases not only can a school dismiss a teacher, who isn’t doing their job, due to mental illness or any other reason, they must do so. Lewisville failed to protect.
Let’s imagine worst case scenario- If pedophilia was defined as a mental illness. We surely know a school would not be legally bound to keep a teacher on staff if they had such a mental illness.
Pedophilic Psychiatric Disorder- MSD Manual Online
IMO
