The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, as of late June, 40 percent of adults were struggling with mental health or substance abuse.

Forty percent. Chances are, a good number of your employees are in that 40 percent, and you may well be also. The pandemic and the damage caused by the shutdowns have caused an incredible amount of stress. Plus, none of this took away any of our other problems--except maybe seeing the in-laws more often than you'd like. If your marriage was shaky pre-COVID, being quarantined together probably didn't help. If your job was stressful before, it's probably worse now.

In other words, Americans are just big balls of stress; this is spilling over into your work environment. As such, some of your employees may ask to take a stress-related leave of absence. You can always say yes to this, but depending on how the stress manifests, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) may not require you to grant the time off.