Office Culture War Escalates as Workers Balk at Return Mandates

The Covid-19 pandemic’s test of mass telework for office workers has reached an inflection point as return-to-office mandates take shape and legal battles loom over employee requests to stay at home.

The desire of some businesses to return to normalcy has led to a spike in requests from workers with disabilities—those with chronic illnesses that put them at risk for severe Covid infection, anxiety and depression, and other mobility impairments— for remote options as an accommodation under federal disability law, employment attorneys say.

Legal battles have begun playing out in court when those have been denied.

Meanwhile, workers have reported ...