Yes, Hawaii's Employment Practices Law prohibits discrimination against the disabled (which includes people with emotional and/or mental impairments), requires employers to provide accommodations, and entitles disabled emloyees to equal benefits. In addition, Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act requires Hawaii employers to provide coverage for mental health treatment.

Both.  Employees requiring a leave of absence due to mental health impairments may take an unpaid leave of absence if their treating physician confirms the disability and provides a return to work date.  Under Hawaii's Temporary Disability Insurance Law, an eligible employee may also receive a partial wage replacement (up to 58% of their pay) beginning on the eighth day of disability and continuing up to a maximum of 26 weeks.  The unpaid leave of absence is available to employees as soon as they begin employment. The temporary disability insurance benefit is available to employees who have worked at least 14 weeks, at 20 or more hours per work week.

Employers are not permitted to act based solely on suspicion or assumptions. But if the employee fails to perform his/her essential job functions, or the employee is unable to work safely, the employer can initiate discipline to correct the deficiencies.  However, if the employee responds by claiming he/she suffers from mental health impairments, the employer must initiate the "interactive reasonable accommodation process" under federal and state law to determine if the employee's condition can be accommodated to enable him/her to perform the essential job functions.

Except for very specific safety-sensitive industries, employers may not require employees to undergo a medical examination or seek medical attention because the employer suspects a mental health issue.  See response to No. 3 above.  If the employee asks for accommodations, then the employer can request the employee undergo a medical examination.  However, the physician conducting the examination must be provided with the employee's job descritpion, as well as a copy of the federal and state regulations governing the examination.

Treatment costs are covered by Hawaii's Prepaid Health Care Act.  The monthly premiums are paid by the employer.  Employees who work 20 or more hours per week for four or more consecutive weeks are entitled to this coverage.

Employees who suffer work-related mental injuries or illnesses (such as mental stress) may apply for occupational injury insurance under Hawaii's Workers' Compensation Law.  All employees are eligible for coverage immediately upon hire.  Applications for coverage are presumed to be legitimate claims and the  burden is on the employer contesting the claim to prove otherwise.

Yes.  See responses  to Nos. 1-4 above.

Employers are prohibited from terminating employees simply because they have a mental health condition.  Employers may only terminate employees with mental health conditions if:  (1) the employee is unable to perform the essential functions of his/her job even with reasonable accommodations; (2) the employee refuses accommodations; (3) the employee poses a direct threat of harm to himself or others; (4) the employee violates a work rule; or (5) the employee is not otherwise qualified to perform the job .  Failure to comply with these restrictions can result in a "disability discrimination" claim under federal and state law.

Federal and state law requires the employer to keep all employee health information, including any disability accommodations provided to the employee, confidential.  All health records, benefit information, and leave of absence information must be kept in locked files with access limited to human resource professionals or management with a "need to know."

Yes.  There are extensive federal and state regulations providing examples of reasonable accommodations.  But "reasonable accommodation" is essentially a process of negotiation between the emloyer, the employee, and the employee's physician. 

Yes, it is protected by federal and state laws which prohibits:  (1) disparate treatment based on the indiviual's disability; (2) refusal or failure to provide reasonable accommodation; (3) harassment based on the disabiltiy; (4) retaliation against an individual seeking accommodation or filing a claim due to discrimination and/or harassment based on disaiblity; and (5) disclosure of the employee's medical information.