16 | HR Connection
Back to “Normal”?
Employment Issues in the Post-COVID World
Mario G. Perez, Jr
C
urrently, the COVID-19 pandemic is retreating. Researchers mostly agree that the omicron strain, and its variants, though more transmissible, are milder, and are hopeful that subsequent COVID-19 variants may follow this pattern. Herd immunity, brought on because of vaccines and natural infection, is at hand if we have not achieved it already. As we move past summer and enter the winter, cases may spike on a short-term relative basis, but the overall outlook is positive. In sum, it is the end of
the COVID-19 pandemic as we know it. But will the effects of COVID-19, particularly those felt in the workplace, continue? The answer seems to be yes, at least for now. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to have an impact on employment issues, especially concerning charges of unlawful discrimination. For example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), which handles employee administrative claims of workplace discrimination, reports the heaviest
workloads in agency history. Most of these claims, over twothirds, allege that an employer has engaged in disability-related discrimination. The EEOC may investigate a wide variety of discrimination-related claims, including disability, age, sex, and religious discrimination. Most EEOC investigations begin when an employee files a charge of discrimination. The EEOC will then usually request a position statement from the employer. An EEOC investigation can be time consuming and costly, so preparing
