The Guardian reports on the TUC and the charity Long Covid Support urging more support for those with Long Covid who are facing discrimination in the workplace. It is claimed that as many as two thirds of people with Long Covid have been unfairly treated at work.
The ME Association supports calls for Long Covid to be designated a disability for the purposes of the 2010 Equality Act, and for sufferers to receive ‘reasonable adjustments' as employees or students. We believe sufferers of Long Covid should be treated fairly in the workplace just as we do people with ME/CFS.
Russell Fleming, MEA Head of Communications
Extracts
The report, from the TUC and the charity Long Covid Support, warns that failing to accommodate the 2m people who, according to ONS data, may be suffering from long Covid in the UK will create, “new, long-lasting inequalities”.
The analysis is based on responses from more than 3,000 long Covid sufferers who agreed to share their experiences.
Half of the long Covid sufferers who responded to the survey said they believed they had originally contracted Covid-19 in the workplace.
The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) recommended last November that health and social care workers should be entitled to claim industrial injuries disablement benefit, for specific complications of Covid-19 such as lung fibrosis or strokes.
The report calls on the government to adopt that recommendation – but also to designate Covid-19 as an occupational disease for sufferers in any sector.