Whitepaper: The growing impact of Long Covid in the workplace
A paper which considers the growing impact of Long Covid in the workplace, specifically in the context of disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. Written in the month that the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates 1.0 million people in the UK are living with Long Covid, this paper considers the challenges which the new health condition presents to employers in respect of their existing sickness management obligations and questions whether the current legal framework is fit for purpose in this regard. Examining whether the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 will have a negative impact upon the ability of businesses to effectively recover from the past years’ economic pressures, the paper also questions whether consideration ought to be had to treating Long Covid as a distinct condition for the purposes of applicable labour and equality laws.