Disabled Employee in France Asserts Discrimination Against Company For Not Giving Her Any Task
EMPLOYEE – A worker in France who got paid for 20 years without any task filed complaints against her employer company.
In most cases, employees are given daily tasks or projects to do in exchange of their salary which is usually given on a semi-monthly or monthly basis. In some cases, the pay is given depending on the work done. However, it is different in the case of Laurence Van Wassenhove who got paid in full even when she was not given any task to do.
Laurence Van Wassenhove was born in France as per an article on Pep. She was born with hemiplegic, a condition wherein the body loses strength which can result to paralysis. In the case of Laurence, she has partial paralysis in her face, hand, and feet. She is also epileptic.
Meanwhile, Laurence did not let her condition hinder her from finishing her studies. She finished school and in 1993, she was recruited by the France Telecom. The company knew about her health condition and she was given a job that is fit with her capabilities.
Then, the employee of France Telecom worked as a secretary and as a Human Resource Department. Based on the article, in 2000, the company that Laurence was working for was acquired by the Orange PLC in London.
In 2002, she asked the company to transfer her to a region in France and it was granted. However, her new workplace was not fit to her needs and the occupational medicine report also confirmed that she is not fit for her job.
Since 2004, the employee was not given any task to do. She has no workspace and does not receive any emails or was not asked to attend to meetings. Despite it, she gets her salary in full. However, this did not sit well with Laurence who requested to be given tasks.
Based on the article, after there was no resolution to her 2015 move when she reached out to the company regarding her concern, Laurence Van Wassenhove filed a complaint to the government over the treatment of Orange. The issue also reached the High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination.
Laurence was assisted by a lawyer, Me David Nabet-Martin, who expressed that the company allegedly preferred to pay her more than making her work so she would be force to resign from her job. He cited discrimination at work due to her condition.
The complaint of the employee was filed against Orange and four (4) of its managers. On their side, the company justified that they planned for a “return to work in adapted positions” but she was usually on a sick leave. They also considered the report that she’s not fit for her job.
“I am a disabled worker, not a sick person,” Laurence said.