McKinsey faces a disability discrimination lawsuit from a former employee who says the firm pulled her Long COVID accommodation and let her go.
Karin Drucker, who spent nearly a decade at the consulting giant, filed the case on February 18, 2026, in federal court in Southern Florida. She alleges McKinsey refused to continue a part-time work arrangement she needed while recovering from Long COVID and ultimately terminated her when she could not return to a full-time schedule.
Drucker joined McKinsey in January 2015. By the time the events in question unfolded, she held the position of Talent Network Manager, providing comprehensive career coaching and market advice to senior-level executives. Her 2023 annual evaluation rated her overall performance as “Strong” and praised her as a “collaborative and valued team member.”
That track record hit a wall in November 2023, when Drucker contracted COVID-19 and developed Long COVID. The condition brought severe cognitive difficulties, memory problems, difficulty multi-tasking, and debilitating fatigue. In or around January 2024, she asked McKinsey for a temporary accommodation — a reduced, part-time schedule at 50 percent capacity while she recovered. The firm agreed, and for roughly five months, the arrangement worked.
Then, on or about May 23, 2024, McKinsey reversed course. According to the filing, HR Representative Lisa Goodrich and Drucker’s supervisor Allison Vandenberg told her the firm would no longer support her part-time schedule. This came despite Drucker having told both HR and her manager that her recovery was progressing very well and that she fully anticipated being able to return to work full-time in a number of months.
McKinsey gave Drucker a deadline instead. Her accommodation would end June 28, 2024. She would be placed on unpaid leave from June 28, 2024, through September 30, 2024, to find another role internally. If she could not, she would be terminated. Her position, she was told, would be filled immediately.
The filing challenges that reasoning head-on. Drucker points to at least three non-disabled colleagues in the same role who were allowed to work part-time: Olga Hallax, who did so for roughly six years while based in Dallas, Texas; Christel Habils, who worked a four-day week while based in Brussels; and Sandra Lenze, who worked part-time while based in Germany. When Drucker raised this, management allegedly told her such arrangements were only available to Europe-based employees — a claim undercut by Hallax’s years of part-time work from Texas.
There is another detail worth noting. Despite telling Drucker her role would be filled right away, McKinsey allegedly stopped posting for the position and never actually replaced her.
Drucker was let go on September 30, 2024. Four months later, on February 1, 2025, her doctor cleared her to return to full-time work.
She is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and has requested a jury trial. McKinsey has not yet responded, and no determination has been made on the merits of the case.