The intentional crash of Germanwings flight 9525 by an apparently mentally ill pilot into the French Alps this March shocked and distressed not just the millions of people who fly each day, but also the millions of responsible employers who strive to provide safe workplaces for their employees. In "Mental Health Issues in the Workplace – A Global Perspective," FordHarrison partner Sarah Pierce Wimberly discusses the difficulties involved in monitoring employees' mental health while balancing the compelling, but competing, duties to provide a safe workplace and protect employee confidentiality. For multinational employers, these difficulties are compounded by differing laws in the jurisdictions in which they do business. The article compares the obligations imposed by U.S. law to those imposed by laws in the U.K. and Germany, incorporating insight from Ius Laboris member firms in those countries. The article was published by Corporate Counsel magazine and is available on the In Depth Analysis page of the FordHarrison website.
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