Thousands of Covid-Related EEOC Charges Allege Disability Bias

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The Covid-19 pandemic has led thousands of workers to file discrimination claims with the EEOC, with the majority related to disability bias on top of a surge of vaccine-related charges in the wake of workplace mandates, according to data provided to Bloomberg Law Thursday .

Since April 2020, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has received roughly 6,225 Covid-related charges of discrimination under federal civil rights laws, agency data show. In addition, the commission received more than 2,700 vaccine-related charges, most of which were in 2021 when vaccine requirements were introduced.

Charges filed to the agency are the first step for workers bringing discrimination laws, including under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and other anti-bias laws.

The Covid charges not related to the vaccine were relatively steady between 2020 and 2021, with nearly 3,150 in the first year of the pandemic, and 3,075 the following year.

About 66% of the Covid-related charges raised ADA violations, totaling around 4,125. Meanwhile, the ADA was cited in 300 out of the 2,700 complaints tied to vaccines.

The agency did not immediately confirm which statutes were raised in the other vaccine charges, but companies have reported floods of religious exemption requests under Title VII. Employers enforcing vaccine mandates must reasonably accommodate a worker’s religion unless doing so would pose an undue hardship.

ADA lawsuits filed by workers during the pandemic have challenged denials of telework accommodations, and terminations or other adverse actions against those who contracted the virus. They’ve also tested when Covid-19 itself is a disability that triggers ADA protections.

The EEOC has brought at least three lawsuits related to disability bias and Covid, including against ISS Facility Services Inc. for allegedly denying a worker a telework accommodation, and two lawsuits in Texas against a pharmacy in Fabens and a coffeehouse in Ft. Worth that allegedly discriminated against employees with disabilities and rendered them vulnerable to serious illness if they contracted Covid-19.

The EEOC previously issued guidance for employers and workers navigating the pandemic.

That guidance made clear that not every person with Covid-19 will qualify as disabled, but said the virus’s aftereffects should be considered under the ADA’s three definitions for a disability. Those cover actual physical or mental impairments that substantially limit a major life activity; an employer’s perception that a worker has a disability; or the worker’s record of impairment.

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