Throughout the pandemic, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has focused on answering key employer questions and providing hands-on guidance about the evolving COVID-19 issues employers face.
"The pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on women, on people of color, on older workers, on people with disabilities," said EEOC Vice Chair Jocelyn Samuels. "And as we move toward a more complete reopening of the workplace, I think we need to be conscious of the needs of each of those groups so we can ensure that barriers don't exist to reintegration into the workplace."
Samuels and EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas spoke on a panel at the Society for Human Resource Management's Employment Law and Compliance Conference in Washington, D.C., on March 29.
They encouraged HR professionals to reach out to the EEOC about the COVID-19-related issues employers continue to confront, so the agency can add relevant updates to its "What You Should Know" document.
The EEOC wants to know what information employers need most, Samuels said. The guidance is intended to be a living document that adds answers to questions as they come up.
"We've really got a host of very helpful Q&As, although they are getting longer and longer," Lucas said.
Here are a few key topics that the agency continues to update.
COVID-19 As a Disability
Some agencies focused on disabilities related to "long COVID" for people with long-term effects of COVID-19, Lucas said. However, COVID-19-related issues...
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