Early Covid-19 Disability Ruling Offers Blueprint for Lawsuits -

"The Montgomery, Ala.-based court is one of the first tribunals to weigh in on the issue." -

Why this is important: As we enter into the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the biggest lingering questions in employment law is whether COVID is a “disability” under Title I of the ADA. On February 22, 2022, a federal judge in Alabama answered that question in the affirmative, and is allowing plaintiff Lucious Brown, a certified nursing assistant, to pursue a disability discrimination claim against her former employer. In June 2020, roughly nine months into Brown's employment at a rehabilitation and healthcare center in eastern Alabama, she began to feel ill, suffering from a range of symptoms including brain fog, fever, difficulty breathing, and severe fatigue. On July 1, 2020, she tested positive for COVID-19. Her employer had a policy requiring her to isolate for 14 days, which was in line with the CDC guidelines at that time. According to Brown, during that 14-day isolation period, she was contacted several times by her supervisor who instructed her to return to work and be tested -- all of which Brown refused. Brown then claims that the former employer terminated her on the 13th day of her isolation period for "voluntarily quitting" her position. Brown then filed her suit for disability discrimination. In order to maintain her lawsuit for violation of the ADA, Brown's COVID-19 had to qualify as a "disability." The ADA statutory definition of "disability" may include (a) actually having a disability, or a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits at least one major life activity, (b) having a record of a disability, or (c) being regarded as having a disability. The federal judge found Brown had sufficiently pled the type and severity of her particular COVID symptoms to fit into the first category of "actually disabled."