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.

Emergency Paid Leave and Sick Days under Fire in New Stimulus Negotiations

December 21, 2020
Leave
As Congress races to finalize a new round of stimulus for the nation, stricken at the moment with the winter surge that epidemiologists predicted, workers are under threat of losing access to paid emergency leave as well as paid sick days. According to the National Partnership for Women & Families, allowing such provisions to expire would be a grave mistake.

Childcare Costs Skyrocket in 2020

December 9, 2020
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Child care has not been affordable for a long time now, especially not for poor and working class parents, but with the pandemic forcing the closure of schools and childcare facilities across the country, costs have shot up even more as parents scramble to figure out what to do with their children as they try to balance work and family.

Special Issue of Harvard Law & Policy Review Focuses on Pregnancy

December 7, 2020
Pregnancy Discrimination
The Harvard Law & Policy review has recently devoted an issue to the special theme of “The Politics of Pregnancy.” It contains numerous responses to and discussions of myriad political issues of pregnancy in the U.S. and abroad, including increased emphasis on maternal health, abortion access, surrogacy, and state intervention into matters of women’s health, including the effects of incarceration on mothers.

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