human rights and legislation who resource book on mental health

16.4 Employment
Legislation could include provisions for the protection of persons with mental disorders from
discrimination <strong>and</strong> exploitation in employment <strong>and</strong> equal employment opportunities. It could also
promote reintegration into the workplace for people <strong>who</strong> have experienced a mental disorder,
<strong>and</strong> ensure protection from dismissal from work solely on account of mental disorder. Legislation
could also promote “reasonable accommodation” within the workplace, whereby employees
with mental disorders are to be provided with a degree of flexibility in their working hours in order
to be able to seek mental health treatment. For example, an employee could take time off to
receive counselling <strong>and</strong> make up for that time later in the day.
The Rio Negro (Argentina) Act for the Promotion of Health Care <strong>and</strong> Social Services for Persons
with Mental Illness (Act 2440, 1989) states that “the province shall ensure that appropriate
measures to ensure access to work, which is a decisive factor in the recovery of persons with
mental illness, are taken”. It further decrees that a commission be established to examine the
issue of work promotion, which will propose appropriate permanent measures to guarantee
access to work for persons covered by the Act.
Laws can also contain provisions for establishing adequate funding of vocational rehabilitation
programmes, provisions for preferential financing for income-generating activities by people with
mental disorders residing in the community, <strong>and</strong> general affirmative action programmes to
improve access to jobs <strong>and</strong> paid employment. Employment <strong>legislation</strong> can also provide
protection to persons with mental disorders working in sheltered work schemes to ensure they
are remunerated at a comparable rate to others <strong>and</strong> that there is no forced or coercive labour in
such sheltered schemes.
Employment <strong>legislation</strong> that incorporates provisions concerning maternity leave, especially paid
maternity leave, has proved effective as a health promotion tool in many countries. It allows new
mothers to spend more time with their infants <strong>and</strong> facilitates the establishment of affective
bonds, thus promoting good mental health for both infant <strong>and</strong> mother.
16.5 Social security
The payment of disability grants can represent a huge benefit for people with mental disorders,
<strong>and</strong> should be encouraged through <strong>legislation</strong>. Where pensions are provided, disability pensions
for persons with mental disorders should be paid at a similar rate as pensions granted to
persons with physical disabilities. The social security <strong>legislation</strong> needs to be flexible enough to
allow people with mental disorders to get back into employment, especially part-time
employment, without losing the benefits of their disability pension.
16.6 Civil issues
Persons with mental disorders have the right to exercise all civil, political, economic, social <strong>and</strong>
cultural <strong>rights</strong> as recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The International
Covenant on Economic, Social <strong>and</strong> Cultural Rights, <strong>and</strong> the International Covenant on Civil <strong>and</strong>
Political Rights.
Some of the key <strong>rights</strong> (often denied to people with mental disorders) that need to be protected
are mentioned below. This is not an exhaustive list; it merely illustrates the wide range of <strong>rights</strong>
that may need to be protected. However, some of these <strong>rights</strong> are subject to limitations based
on a person’s capacity at a given point in time.
• Right to vote
• Right to marry
• Right to have children <strong>and</strong> to maintain parental <strong>rights</strong>
• Right to own property
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