Nicholas J. Pappas Accommodating Employees Disabled by 'Long COVID'
In this month's edition of his Employment Law column, Nicholas J. Pappas discusses employers' obligations to reasonably accommodate employees claiming to qualify for disability status under the ADA due to long COVID, and steps employers should consider in responding to employees' requests for accommodation.
November 30, 2021 at 12:00 PM
9 minute read
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently reported over 46,780,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and over 756,000 resulting deaths in the United States alone. WHO, COVID-19 Dashboard (Nov. 17, 2021). While some compare COVID-19 to the seasonal flu, the approximately 48,000 domestic deaths from the seasonal flu over the past two years pale in comparison to the COVID-19 mortality numbers. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Past Seasons Estimated Influenza Disease Burden (Oct. 1, 2020). By any measure, the damage from the COVID-19 pandemic continues to increase, especially considering that one in three individuals who contract COVID-19 may continue to experience symptoms and ongoing health problems for weeks to months after their initial infection. CDC, MMWR Report (Sept. 19, 2021). The CDC refers to these long term effects of the COVID-19 illness as "long COVID," and has described the symptoms as including difficulty thinking or concentrating (known as "brain fog"), tiredness or fatigue, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, chest or stomach pain, headache, sleep problems, and symptoms that worsen after physical or mental activities. CDC, Post-COVID Conditions (Sept. 16, 2021). According to the CDC, long COVID can have long-term effects on the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, and brain functions. Id.
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