Reforming Mental Health Law & Policy at Work Place: Better Late than Never

Abstract

Mental health issues are increasing in society that needs to be addressed accordingly. It happens in daily life and the workplace setting. Mental health and law intersect in a multitude of ways. Legally, the Mental Health Act 2001 references "mental disorder," where mental health has been substantially impaired. Globally, 74% of people with mental health problems are out of work for more than a year. Every employee is entitled to safe workplace surroundings in conditions of security and human dignity. For people with mental health problems, achieving this right is particularly challenging and may caused the employees going on sickness absence leave due to stress and anxiety. Of course, employers need to be allowed to run their businesses and apply formal procedures, but to do so without understanding an individual’s particular personal and medical situation have adverse impact and could expose that employer to various claims. This paper aims to explore the issues related to mental health from the legal perspective to safeguard an employee's legal rights suffering from mental health at the workplace. The paper employs doctrinal legal research as a systematic means of legal resources relating to mental health law in handling mental health issues that occurs in a workplace to examine the existing legal framework in addressing the workplace's provisions and issues on mental health. For the doctrinal legal research method, the relevant statutes relating to the workplace are reviewed, besides the literature on mental health issues globally and domestic are being analysed. Depression or anxiety could affect the employees' performance. Instead of terminating the employee for being absent, the law should make provisions for rehabilitation of the employee affected with mental health. Neglecting the mental health in the workplace will affect the employee as well as the employers because it affects the organisation. Besides promoting the physical health, the law and the relevant authority in Malaysia should hold mental health-related activities. For future research, exploration of theory related towards the mental health can be suggested and the comparison study between a country on the implementation of mental health law and policy for the purpose of securing the workplace's safety, health, and welfare.