Nurse with long COVID-19 fired from job at jail, facing wait for disability
Breninghouse went on short-term, then long-term disability. She is not alone
Breninghouse went on short-term, then long-term disability. She is not alone
Breninghouse went on short-term, then long-term disability. She is not alone
Millions of workers fighting long Covid are struggling to keep their job or collect disability.
That includes an Allegheny County Jail employee who was fired while living with long COVID-19 that she got at the jail.
Michelle Breninghouse contracted COVID-19 in January 2021 while working as a nurse at the jail, doing drug and alcohol screenings of new inmates.
But the symptoms never went away.
“Doing household tasks makes me short of breath. I still have a harsh cough. I still run fevers intermittently,” Breninghouse said. “It's just basically turned my life completely upside down.”
Her doctors repeatedly sent Allegheny County letters like one that says her "prolonged symptoms from COVID-19 prevent her from working."
She went on short-term, then long-term disability.
Breninghouse is not alone.
A study last year found about 16 million working-age Americans have long COVID-19. Two to 4 million of them are unable to work.
Dr. Briana DiSilvio is the director of the Post-COVID-19 Recovery Clinic at Allegheny Health Network.
“We're seeing patients now who are crossing over the two-year mark from initial infection and are still experiencing symptoms as a result of their initial infection,” DiSilvio said.
That leads to strained relations between patients and employers.
“What we're finding is a lot of this strained relationship between ongoing care for these patients in a medical capacity and also them being able to work and provide for their families. And I think the strain is both on employers and the employees,” she said.
Last year, Breninghouse asked the jail if she could work remotely, saying most of her job could be done via telehealth. But the jail denied her request.
In September, 21 months after she stopped working, the county sent Michelle a letter saying her leave had become an "undue hardship due to the length of the leave and because it had become indefinite."
But her doctor said she was still unable to work outside the home due to her respiratory capacity.
In December, the county sent her a letter saying she was being fired, ending her 34-year career as a nurse.
“It's all I've ever known. It's like my whole identity and to not be in it has been very rough,” Breninghouse said. “Not only has my identity been taken away, but like my life has been taken away.”
Action News Investigates asked Warden Orlando Harper if it was fair for someone to lose their job over Covid they got at the jail.
“I can't talk about personnel issues,” Harper said.
A statement from Allegheny County Human Relations Director Laura Zaspel said:
“There is no specific protocol for long COVID, or any other medical condition.
“When COVID was in its prime, the county had established leave policies and complied with the leave provisions under the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) when it was in effect. Subsequently, the county established its own COVID leave program providing up to 10 days of leave for employees who contracted COVID or met isolation protocol under CDC/public health guidance at the time.
“The county has several policies in place that address the needs of employees who have medical conditions that may impact their ability to perform their jobs. These policies include granting up to 12 work weeks of leave under FMLA, providing ADA accommodations, and county leave of up to one year without pay where a medical reason may not qualify under Federal or State leave laws.”
Pitt disability law professor Jay Hornack said the law requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for disabled workers - but not indefinitely.
“Once a doctor says of their patient, 'this employee is not going to be able to go back to work or it's unclear whether they're ever going to be able to go back to work,' then an employer's on firmer ground to be able to say, 'well, we can't provide you unpaid leave any longer and we have to terminate you and find somebody to take your place,'” Hornack said.
Now, Breninghouse is seeking Social Security disability for her long COVID-19, which since 2021 has been officially recognized as a disability just like heart or spinal conditions.
But studies show she could be waiting more than a year because of backlogs in the system due to the pandemic and the explosion in long COVID-19 cases.
She's facing an expensive surgery, so she set up a GoFundme account to help cover the costs
“I put myself on the line and got COVID working for them, and this was the thanks basically that I got,” she said.
The backlog in disability cases is impacting not only long COVID-19 patients but anyone who needs disability. Members of Congress have called for bureaucratic reforms and spending increases to help reduce the backlog.
