January 12, 2023

New Study of Employees With Long COVID Demonstrates Need for More Workplace Accommodations

Since the beginning of the pandemic “long COVID” remains a new and poorly understood condition both for medical experts and people suffering from the condition. For workers, this has had a significant impact on their ability to remain productive at work. One in five people reporting a positive COVID diagnosis report experiencing symptoms of long COVID, according to the CDC. And, in a new study focused on long-COVID sufferers, 99% of participants reported that the condition had adversely affected their work. Participants reported having to take time off work, depression, anxiety, and even switching jobs.

The study also revealed that these problems are not merely personal, as employers have not done enough to create clear ways to communicate the availability for accommodations, which are required under the ADA, broadened in summer of 2021 to recognize “long COVID” as a disability. Respondents reported lack of workplace flexibility, poor communication, and a more general fear of broaching the subject with employers., all of which were more acutely felt among  respondents of color.

However, there is much that employers can do to help employees who are dealing with long COVID. The first is simply to talk more openly about the condition. Many people are not even aware they are suffering from long COVID because of the lack of diagnostic tools to point to the condition coupled with its similarities with other common mental health conditions. However, many of those conditions already allow for accommodations, so employers should not be fearful of widening the discussion to include long COVID. Additionally, many of those accommodations cost little, are easy to implement and have been used for other conditions for years, making it an easy target for employers.

Is the Third Stimulus the Beginning of a Guaranteed Family Income?

March 11, 2021
Gender Discrimination
Tucked into 2021’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package is a provision that could have life-changing effects for families with children: an expansion and reworking of the child tax credit. Championed solo for nearly two decades by Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the idea to expand the child tax credit has gained a new lease on life and more admirers as the pandemic and lockdowns have had a deleterious impact on families and children.

“She-cession” Global, Not Local

March 10, 2021
Gender Discrimination
Whether it is increasing the number of hours spent working, picking up the slack in domestic life, being forced to quit to take care of children or other family, or leaving the job market entirely, women in the US have taken the brunt of the pandemic’s resulting economic crisis, so much so that it has been dubbed the first “she-cession.” The Financial Times has released a survey demonstrating that this is an issue for women internationally, not just in the United States.

Alex Berke Quoted in New York Times Article on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

March 5, 2021
Pregnancy Discrimination
The pandemic may be creating a path for the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which was first introduced in 2012 to become law. This law will help clarify and define the rights of women to receive accommodations in the workplace.

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