Worker With COPD Advances Suit Over Telework Denial, Covid Leave

A West Virginia tax processing clerk with COPD can pursue her lawsuit alleging she was fired for not returning from medical leave taken to avoid contracting Covid-19 while awaiting assurance that her co-workers were complying with the state’s mask mandate, a federal judge in Huntington, W.Va., ruled.

Patricia Romans also stated a plausible claim that her request to work from home for 30 days to protect her from Covid-19—given the heightened risk she faced due to her chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—was ignored for months and then denied, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia said.

Wayne ...