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.

Fed Chair Makes a Case for Affordable Childcare

February 25, 2021
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In a two-day testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Fed Chair Jerome Powell let it be known that improved federal child care programs would have a positive impact on women remaining in the workforce.

As Vaccine Rollout Continues, So Do Legal Questions about Requiring Worker Vaccination

February 24, 2021
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As the vaccine rollout is speeding up, questions about employers’ legal rights to require the vaccine are becoming more frequent.

Workplace Rights Knowledge is Power for Frazzled Parents

February 17, 2021
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The members of the Center for WorkLife Law have been working 24/7 since the pandemic began trying to provide advice to parents on how to manage with this brave new world of remote learning, shuttered schools, and social distancing which means restricted access to child care assistance.

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