When Is Covid a Disability? Courts Tackle Issue in Bias Cases

Ninoshka Matias was fired the same day she reported a positive Covid-19 test and asked for leave to quarantine. Her termination letter indicated that after only a few months on the job, she wasn’t “a good fit.”

A federal judge in Pennsylvania last week allowed Matias to proceed with a discrimination lawsuit challenging her discharge, indicating that Covid-19 potentially could be considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case is one of several percolating in courts—including one last month against Campbell Soup Co.—that will test a gray area over the virus’s interplay with the federal disability ...