LONDON – Two-thirds of workers in the United Kingdom suffering long Covid symptoms claimed they were treated unfairly at their workplace, and one in seven had lost their job, said a report released on Monday.
The report, released by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the charity Long Covid-19 Support, shows the results of the responses of a total of 3,097 long Covid sufferers who shared their experiences at work.
According to the report, one in seven respondents to the survey, or 14% stated they had lost their jobs because of reasons connected with long Covid.
Two-thirds or 66% said they had experienced one or more types of unfair treatment at work, said the report.
In addition, half of the respondents, or 49% said they had reason to believe they had contracted Covid-19 at work.
According to the report, unfair treatment at work ranged from harassment for being disbelieved about their symptoms or threats of disciplinary action, said Xinhua.
“Workers with long Covid have been badly let down. Many of these are the key workers who carried us through the pandemic – yet now some are being forced out of their jobs,” TUC general-secretary Paul Nowak said.
People suffering from long Covid experience a wide range of symptoms, including breathing difficulties, chronic fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, which can last months or even years.
Over half of the respondents reported pain-related symptoms, including muscle pain, headaches, joint pain and chest pain, the report said.
The most common length of time that respondents had been experiencing symptoms was over 24 months (29% of respondents), followed by seven to 12 months (23%), the report added, while 60% of respondents stated they had been experiencing symptoms for over a year.
The respondents also expressed frustration at employers not understanding that symptoms would continue and fluctuate.
Nearly a quarter of the respondents of the survey, or 23%, declared that their employer had questioned whether they had long Covid or the impact of the symptoms.
Moreover, half of the long Covid sufferers participating in the survey said they believed they had originally contracted Covid-19 in the workplace.
The National Statistics Office in the UK reported that the most recent data from Jan 2, 2023, shows that 2 million people in the country were experiencing self-reported long Covid. – Bernama, March 29, 2023
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