Three years later, long Covid is considered a disability that’s here to stay

A little over three years ago, in the first weeks of March 2020, a national emergency was declared in the US over Covid-19, and states began implementing shutdown measures in an attempt to slow its spread. Since that time, the country has lost at least 1.1 million people to the disease, and the entire world is still grappling with ongoing effects.

According to a paper published in Nature Reviews Microbiology, at least 10% of people who have had Covid end up with long Covid, making the pandemic a “mass disabling event.” Many of those people have left the workforce, while others have struggled to be productive at work. However, there are ways that HR leaders can accommodate this portion of the workforce and retain them.

The basics. Long Covid is a chronic illness with symptoms that can vary from extreme fatigue and brain fog to difficulty breathing and heart complications. An estimated 18.8 million adults in the US have long Covid, according to a December report in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services jointly issued guidance in 2021 on how the condition can be considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA stipulates that organizations with 15 or more employees must provide accommodations to workers with disabilities, so long as the accommodation won’t cause an “undue hardship” for the company, and the EEOC, which enforces provisions of the ADA, has addressed some questions around long Covid and the ADA. Employers can request documentation of the disability to confirm the employee’s claim.

Doctors and economists have warned that Covid-19 could impact the workforce for years to come. “Employers will face challenges accommodating these individuals in the workplace, as well as hiring new individuals from a labor force that could be reduced due to these long Covid sufferers choosing to remove themselves from the available labor pool,” Luke Dietterle, a specialist for the University of Missouri Extension’s Exceed program in regional economic and entrepreneurial development, wrote in a report on long Covid last fall.

People with long Covid may have a hard time requesting work modifications and feel afraid of the stigma or repercussions that may follow. “It was harder than I thought it would be [to request accommodations], even though I knew my rights,” Mindy Jackson, a vocational counselor for the State of Washington who has had long Covid since 2020, told the Wall Street Journal.

Options for employers. Flexible work options are key, according to Diane Winiarski, director of Allsup Employment Services. “Employers need to address the need for providing either work from home or different accommodations for individuals who are considering returning to the office,” she told HR Brew. “It could be a separate workspace. It could be flexible hours, and it absolutely can be staying in a remote work environment.”

Finally, Winiarski recommends that HR leaders consider contacting outside organizations when they’re unsure how to process an accommodation request. She pointed to the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a free government resource for employers and workers. For HR professionals uncertain about navigating an employee with a long Covid-related accommodation request, JAN allows them to speak with a consultant to go over a job description or possible job accommodations.—KP