Americans With Disabilities Act and Unions Help Protect People with Long Covid

Today marks the 34th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which prohibits discrimination against disabled people in employment and public services. In a new analysis, CEPR Research Associate Hayley Brown explains that the pandemic leaves in its wake between 10 and 30 percent of those infected with Long COVID, many of them meeting the definition of disability covered by the ADA.

As we celebrate the ADA as a vital resource, it is limited in its ability to direct and foster the kinds of supportive work environments that would help those with Long COVID and other chronic illnesses thrive in their jobs. Although the ADA requires employers to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified workers with disabilities, employers and employees may not see eye-to-eye on what is reasonable.

Unions offer one possible remedy. Union representation carries a 17.7 percent wage premium for workers with disabilities and is associated with increased access to employer-sponsored health insurance, paid sick leave, and retirement coverage for disabled workers. In other words, unions can empower disabled workers on the job and hold employers accountable for workplace discrimination.

“Securing economic justice for workers with disabilities will require more than just the ADA,” says Brown. “Unions have an important role to play in advocating for the growing ranks of workers with disabilities.”