A French woman named Laurence Van Wassenhove, has decided to sue telecom giant company Orange for not giving her any work despite paying full salary for 20 years. Thus, alleging harassment and discrimination based on her health condition.
Laurence Wassenhove who had epilepsy and was paralyzed with one side of her body was employed by France Telecom in 1993, before Orange acquired the company.
Hired with the awareness of her physical limitations, she was accordingly offered the role suitable for her.
Till 2002, she worked in the company as a secretary and in human resources. Later, she asked for transfer to another region of France. But she didn’t find her new workplace suitable.
The company Orange did not make any adjustments. Instead, she was given full salary but no work. As per Wassenhove, they intended to remove her from the job, without outrightly fire her. For her, this was an unbearable situation.
Despite lodging her complaint to government and authority of fight against discrimination in 2015, There was no improvement in her situation.
Speaking about her situation, she said ‘being paid, at home, not working is not a privilege. It’s very hard to bear.’
As per her lawyer, she also had depression regarding her situation. However, Orange asserted, that they made sure, that she worked under best conditions.
And they also took her situation into account and planned her return to work in an adaptable position. But it never happened, as she always took sick leave.
