Federal workers with Long COVID face firings, loss of accommodations, and more challenges under Trump

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Stacey has worked at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for over a decade. Since developing Long COVID in 2022, she’s worked entirely remotely. Her colleagues have been largely supportive of this accommodation, she said, and she’s received “excellent” performance reviews.

But when she submitted a request to renew her telework arrangement last fall, she started to suspect something might change. “All of my previous requests were processed in two weeks,” she said. With this one, she still hasn’t received a decision, nearly six months later.

Stacey worries she may be pushed to return to work in person — or worse, targeted to be fired, like thousands of other federal employees in the weeks since President Donald Trump started his second term. (Like other sources in this story, The Sick Times is referring to Stacey with a pseudonym, as workers have not been authorized to talk to the media.)

If she does lose her job, Stacey, a parent, doesn’t know how she’ll continue to provide for her family. “I’ve only really worked in public health since graduate school,” she said, at state and federal institutions. “I can’t just go to some company to get a public health job.” And any job that requires regular in-person work would be incredibly difficult for her due to debilitating Long COVID symptoms.

Stacey isn’t alone. Many other federal government employees with Long COVID and other chronic diseases and disabilities are deeply concerned about their future under the Trump administration. The Sick Times spoke to several federal workers with Long COVID who have been part of mass firings, have faced new challenges receiving work accommodations, and have been asked to do work that diminishes their identities.

The federal government has historically been a leading employer of Americans with disabilities. Now, that status is quickly changing. In addition to fearing for their own livelihoods, the workers who spoke to The Sick Times expressed concern about what increased ableist policies could mean for Long COVID research and government support.

“I want people to know, this is terrifying for a vulnerable person, and the changes that are coming are going to negatively affect every single person,” said Mary, another government worker, in a message. “If we don’t fight this now, all of us lose a lot more — and us disabled people will be the canary in the coal mine.”

Looming cuts, reduced accommodations

As the largest employer in the U.S., the federal government employs many thousands of people with disabilities — about 330,000 as of 2018, according to a report from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Government protections for disabled people have made it easier for some to find work at federal agencies compared to private companies.

In particular, many people with disabilities have been hired through a process called Schedule A. Schedule A applicants go through a streamlined hiring process that is designed to better meet accommodation needs.

But Schedule A applicants then have a longer probationary period at their new jobs: two years, as opposed to the one year for those hired through the regular process. This makes workers with disabilities potentially more vulnerable to cuts from the Trump administration, which has specifically targeted workers on probation, as STAT reported in a recent story about federal workers with disabilities.

Rachel, who was hired at the Department of Labor last year, was targeted as a probationary employee when she was wrongfully fired this month, she told The Sick Times. While she wasn’t hired under Schedule A because her Long COVID symptoms were less debilitating at the time, her condition worsened after facing a reinfection.

She’s now exploring potential legal action to try to get her job back and is concerned about her other options if that fails. “This would be my first time looking for a job as a person who identifies as being disabled,” she said. “A lot of jobs in my field often require frequent travel, lots of in-person meetings … [but] I can’t frequently travel, I can’t be in an office five days a week.”

Like other employees who spoke to The Sick Times, Rachel worked entirely remotely. Accommodations such as remote work as well as taking breaks, reducing travel, and masking for in-person duties have made it possible for some people with Long COVID to do their federal jobs; these accommodations are now also threatened under Trump, workers said.

Amanda Finley, a Long COVID advocate who started work at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last summer, said her office in Kansas City was “the most diverse workforce” she’d ever been a part of. “A lot of people have all varying disabilities, they have varying accommodations,” she said, including people who work with sign language interpreters and those who use walkers. 

Finley and other workers worry that it will be difficult for people to keep their existing accommodations or request new ones.

“I think it would be next to impossible for somebody to try to request a reasonable accommodation for 100% telework right now in this environment,” Stacey said. Even managers who “would have been the most open about telework six months ago,” she added, are now concerned that providing this accommodation could “make them look bad” to their own supervisors.

I think it would be next to impossible for somebody to try to request a reasonable accommodation for 100% telework right now in this environment.

Stacey

Threats to income, healthcare

Workers who spoke to The Sick Times expressed concern that if they lose their current jobs at the federal government, it will be difficult to find new employment that has similar capacity to offer accommodations. Staying employed is also important for people with Long COVID to maintain access to health insurance and other basic needs.

Prior to starting work at the IRS, Finley was unhoused due to Long COVID. “It took me a long time to land this job,” she said. “I was so excited, like, my God, I have a pension building.” But now, just six months after her new job began, she’s still on probation — and says she is likely to be fired.

Rachel is particularly worried about losing her health insurance. In one small silver lining, her request for a power wheelchair was approved by her insurance provider before she lost access to her plan. “But for a minute there, I was a disabled person in danger of not getting a wheelchair because of arbitrarily being summarily fired by the Trump administration,” she said. “They just seem to not care about the pain that they’re causing.”

Anna, another worker in a science communication position, has already faced challenges with paying medical expenses since she contracted COVID-19 in 2022. “Working requires every ounce of physical and mental energy I have,” she said in a message. There’s “no alternative” to pushing through cognitive symptoms, even though this is likely “making my illness worse,” she said.

Anna described the time since Trump’s second term started as “a waking nightmare.” She’s had a front-row seat to the administration’s freezes of health communications, data removal, and other damaging policies. “I entered this field to do good, yet in my role working with the federal government I have become an unwilling foot soldier of fascism, enacting genocidal and Orwellian policies that endanger my life, the lives of my loved ones, and millions more,” she said.

For Anna and other workers, the stress and fear of working under the Trump administration has itself damaged their health. Mary similarly reported worsened symptoms in recent weeks: “My metrics are all off, I can’t sleep, it’s hard to take care of myself. It’s a catastrophic time to have a bad crash.”

But other options are limited. Anna plans to take an unpaid medical leave of absence soon if her position is not already eliminated, she told The Sick Times. She is pessimistic about future work prospects: “If and when I recover enough to look for another job, which industries will still exist? Who will hire a multiply disabled person for a part-time remote position and give her health insurance?”

I entered this field to do good, yet in my role working with the federal government I have become an unwilling foot soldier of fascism, enacting genocidal and Orwellian policies that endanger my life, the lives of my loved ones, and millions more.

Anna

Need for community support

Threats to workers with Long COVID come amid a larger climate of ableism and COVID-19 denial under Trump. “We have a president who has actively mocked disabled people,” Rachel said. She pointed out that private companies have already started to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, even though they aren’t beholden to federal orders.

“Attitudes may shift about disabled employees because there’s all this rhetoric [that] if you aren’t in the office five days a week, you’re lazy,” Rachel said.

Researchers and patient-advocates are also concerned about potential future research funding and disability support programs under Trump. The Trump administration recently dismantled the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Long COVID before the committee even had a chance to meet.

While new HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged to prioritize Long COVID research during his Senate confirmation hearings, his silence on the committee disbanding already contradicts that statement. The Secretary has also gone back on other commitments made in those hearings, such as a pledge that he would not disrupt the CDC’s vaccine recommendations.

“lt’s not just jobs that are being cut. Other supports are on the chopping block, too,” Finley said. For example, Republicans in the House of Representatives recently advanced a federal budget that would require extensive cuts to Medicaid; other programs like food stamps and Social Security disability payments are also under threat.

“This is going to be devastating for a lot of us,” Finley said.

In response, Finley and other workers suggested that people in the Long COVID community can advocate to their federal representatives and speak out publicly about the dangers of the Trump administration’s actions for people with Long COVID as well as other groups under attack. Mary recommended the 5 Calls website and app, which makes it easy for people to contact Congress members. “It is natural to focus on what impacts you the most. But I urge people to keep their eye on the big picture,” she said.

Workers who spoke to The Sick Times also called on the Long COVID community to build up their own support systems during this time of widespread government abandonment. “Please keep checking on your people,” Anna said. “We’ve never needed each other more.”

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The Sick Times will continue following Long COVID-related news from the Trump administration. To contact Betsy Ladyzhets: email betsy@thesicktimes.org, Signal @betsyladyzhets.25.

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