The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is backing calls for long Covid to be classed as a disability as new research reveals long Covid sufferers are being discriminated against due to the condition.
Last month, 65 MPs wrote to the Prime Minister asking for long Covid to be made an occupational disease.
At the time lawyers told Health & Protection that designating long Covid an occupational disease could make it easier for workers to pursue successful personal injury claims, with healthcare firms potentially at greater risk.
And the TUC is backing the campaign after it surveyed more than 3,500 workers on the impact of long Covid on their daily working lives.
The survey showed more than half of respondents (52%) claimed they had experienced some form of discrimination or disadvantage due to long Covid.
Workers also revealed they were met with disbelief and suspicion when they disclosed their symptoms, with around a fifth (19%) claiming their employer had questioned the impact of their symptoms.
Only one in eight (13%) were asked by their employer about whether they had long Covid at all and one in 20 (5%) said they had been forced out of their jobs altogether because they had long Covid.
Commenting on the findings, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady (pictured) said: “Many of the workers who have carried us through the pandemic are now living with debilitating symptoms of long Covid. And we’re beginning to hear troubling stories of a massive wave of discrimination against people with long Covid.
“It’s time to recognise this condition properly – and make sure workers who are living with long Covid get the support they need to do their jobs.
“Long Covid must be recognised as a disability. That would mean workers are protected by the Equality Act, and would have a right to get reasonable adjustments at work.
“And Covid-19 should be designated as an occupational disease. That would allow workers who contracted Covid-19 at work and are living with the consequences to claim the compensation they are due.
“Employers must also act. They should make sure they make reasonable adjustments for workers with long Covid, and complete specific risk assessments to make sure workers with long Covid are safe at work.”
Lesley Macniven, chair of the long Covid support group, which worked with the TUC on its report, said: “Even those with mild Covid can suffer daily with fluctuating symptoms, exhausted and alone. Promises we’ll ‘just get better’ have been proved otherwise.
“A year on we need legally enforceable guidance for employers and government – informed by unions, occupational health and patient groups with significant lived experience managing long Covid.
“Patients need time to convalesce, then recuperate through a very gradual, flexible phased return to work, over months, to achieve a sustainable return.
“Long Covid is disabling young, previously healthy workers. This key step is needed to take the effects of long Covid seriously, enable rehabilitation and protect dedicated workers from discrimination due to poor understanding of the condition.”