Pressure is clearly mounting on the Government to classify long-COVID as a disability. The aim is to provide thousands of employees with legal protection against any potential discrimination in the workplace.

Interestingly, a recent survey commissioned by the TUC revealed that just over half of people with symptoms, which typically include extreme tiredness, brain fog and dizziness, have experienced some form of discrimination or disadvantage at work.

The online poll of 3,500 people found that long-COVID sufferers are frequently met with disbelief and suspicion, with 19% of respondents saying that managers questioned the impact of the condition.

With calls for long-COVID to be given ‘occupational disease’ status for healthcare workers, there is clearly growing momentum for the condition to be given greater precedence in the workplace. While long-COVID is something that is entirely new, the Equality Act 2010 talks about disability as a physical or mental impairment that affects you day-to-day. The Act doesn’t contain a long list of conditions; it’s all about how it impacts your daily life. As such, there is a strong case for the emerging condition to be classed as such.

If long-COVID is categorised as a disability, employers will have to be very cautious about how they deal with the condition moving forward, to avoid any potential discrimination claims. However, from a HR perspective, the motivation shouldn’t be about avoiding employee action. Rather, it should be about what the long-term effects are going to be on workers, so that employers can put appropriate measures in place to support staff. The problem is, we don’t know a huge amount about the condition, which seems to differ enormously from one person to another.

As we wait to see how long-COVID is treated from a legal perspective, there are a number of key things that HR Directors and business owners should consider to ensure they are dealing with the condition in the most appropriate way – now and in the future.

If you would like to discuss how to implement an effective strategy to help manage occupational health, please contact Adam Pavey on 07980949525 or email Adam.Pavey@pannonecorporate-com.stackstaging.com

Latest News

Chambers rankings 2025 – ‘They go head to head with the big firms’ - Pannone Corporate

This year’s Chambers 2025 rankings have been published, with Pannone once again featuring strongly – both for individual lawyers and teams. The Cham...

Read more...
Pannone heads to Lisbon for the annual PLG Academy - Pannone Corporate

Pannone has been a member of PLG International Lawyers for over 30 years, providing the firm with access to a professional network of lawyers from across...

Read more...
Grenfell Phase 2: key takeaways for the construction sector - Pannone Corporate

The Grenfell Phase 2 report has now been published. Whereas Phase 1, which was published in October 2019, focussed on events on the night of the fire,...

Read more...

View all posts