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.

Health Care Workers Bring Suit Against OSHA over Pandemic Rules

November 2, 2020
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A large coalition of union-represented workers in health care and education are pressing the Ninth Circuit Court to require the Department of Labor to direct its Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to put a rule into effect which has been batted about since the scare of H1N1 in 2009.

New York Metro Super Lawyers Recognizes all Berke-Weiss Law Attorneys

November 2, 2020
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Berke-Weiss Law PLLC is excited to announce that all of our lawyers were once again recognized by Super Lawyers in 2020.

Breastfeeding in the Era of Zoom

October 22, 2020
Pregnancy Discrimination
In the era when many office jobs and classrooms have transitioned to video conferencing software and the home/work boundary continues to blur, discomfort around breastfeeding has become a source of major contention. Case in point is a recent story that caught our attention involving a student at Fresno City College, who was publicly called out by her professor for simply asking if she could turn her video off during a lecture to feed her 10-month old.

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