covid employee
October 18, 2023

The world can be bi-partitioned based on one event that defined the entire trajectory of humanity. Yes, you guessed it right. The era before Covid-19 and the era after Covid-19. While a communal feeling we share is our desire to move past the pandemic, move away from it or at least move around it and not walk abreast, the world has other plans. And it has come to the point where every narrative that is told will have Covid-19 as the backdrop whether we prefer it or not. And this time around it is about long Covid and the workplace.

What is the relationship between these two variables? 

Sarah Barley-McMullen, a senior academic at her workplace, shares with Heather Stewart; a writer at The Guardian, about how she was made to feel like she was not accepted in her workplace anymore. She explains how “long Covid has had an emotional, social, physical and professional impact”. She elaborated on how the way that the workplace treated her made her feel like they wanted her to leave. McMullen fell prey to the virus in January 2021 and even now, two years later, she is still suffering from a range of severe symptoms. These include issues like hearing loss, lack of mobility, sudden heart palpitations and being unable to cry. She grieves over the fact that these ongoing health problems have also taken a toll on her mental well-being. 

While she was accepted into her workplace after a medically required 10-month long break, with time she was informed about how she needed to be back on a full-time basis. This required her to show up physically at least twice a week. She was also told that her team was being restructured and that her title was going to bear more weight in terms of responsibility and workload. When she reasoned against it, Stewart mentions in her article how McMullen was told to ask herself whether she was “well enough to stay”  by her workplace. As surprising and inhumane as this may sound, this has been happening one too many times over the past few years. The latest development is that long Covid is being treated as a disability, but is not given the same set of rights associated with it and this is creating new and long-lasting inequalities. Ones that did not exist before.  

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Is long Covid a disability?

Long Covid is a blanket term that is used to describe a range of symptoms that persist in individuals after they have contracted Covid-19. These symptoms can include chronic fatigue, breathing problems, and cognitive difficulties like brain fog. While many people do recover from the after-effects of Covid-19 relatively fast, those with long Covid continue to be subjected to these for extended periods, often months or even years. According to an estimation, in the UK alone, up to two million people may be dealing with the consequences of long Covid, and organisations like the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Long Covid Support Employment Group (LCSEG; a charity that was established to help people struggling to recover from Covid) warn that turning a blind eye to these widespread and lingering after-effects could lead to long-lasting discrepancies. 

As of now, a person is considered disabled if they have a physical or mental inadequacy that persistently affects their ability to perform a regular routine. Given that long Covid symptoms have a life span of many years and can have a substantial impact on a person’s ability to carry out daily tasks, someone with long Covid could be classified as disabled. This fact was confirmed in the case of Burke Vs. Turning Point Scotland, where an Employment Tribunal ruled that T. Burke, who suffered from severe headaches and fatigue due to long Covid, was indeed disabled. However, despite it being recognised by the government authorities as a disability, not many workplaces are privy to this fact. Governments therefore need to issue clear guidance to employers so that they will be made aware of the gravity of long Covid symptoms and not treat the employees in a discriminatory manner. 

How are workplaces adjusting to long Covid?

66%, that is two-thirds of employees in the U.K, who are victims of long Covid have been subjected to unfair treatment at work according to research conducted by TUC and LCSEG as a part of their Worker’s Experiences of Long Covid report. The study also reveals that approximately 23% of the survey respondents reported that their employers had questioned the credibility and legitimacy of their long Covid diagnosis. About 14% of respondents had lost their jobs due to reasons related to their condition. Nearly 28% expressed concerns that long Covid may have had adverse effects on the likelihood of them receiving a promotion at work. 16% of them were victims of workplace bullying and harassment. The larger picture of this demonstrates how individuals who are medically diagnosed with long Covid are constantly put to the test in their workplaces where they are either suspected of lying or conditioned to scepticism from employers, job loss, minimised career advancement opportunities and instances of mistreatment as well. 

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What steps can employers take to reduce discrimination against them?

As opposed to spending time trying to figure out whether an employee’s long Covid condition is a disability or not, it is advisable for employers to pay attention to bringing into effect reasonable adjustments in their workplace. For instance, this could involve phased returns to work, adjustments to working hours, modifying the type of work assigned, permitting continued remote work, and providing access to occupational health services and employee assistance programs. Additionally, a workplace can ensure that line managers understand the significance of applying company policies and procedures in a non-discriminatory manner where they should not allow the frustration with an employee’s repeated absences to play a role in their decision-making process. Taking all things into consideration, it is vital to comprehend that these measures are necessary to accommodate employees with long Covid and not make them feel like their organisations have marginalised them in an unfair manner. 

(Sandunlekha Ekanayake)

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