Disabled woman sues company that paid her salary for 20 years because they did not let her work

A French woman named Laurence Van Wassenhove sued the telecommunications company Orange (formerly Telecom France) because the company had forced her into isolation, denying her professional and social integration within the company.

The woman had worked for twenty years as a human resources assistant, during which time she was paid a full salary while she was at home without any work activity, according to ‘The Economic Times’.

Laurence Van Wassenhove who suffers from facial paralysis and epilepsywas hired in 1993, where the telecommunications company provided him with adequate space for his condition and positionin which he could carry out his work assignments.

In 2002, the woman requested a transfer to another region of France, which was approved, but there began her displeasure with the company, since the workplace they had at that headquarters could not meet the needs she needed.

For this reason, Orange stopped assigning him work tasks for twenty years. As the facilities did not have what was necessary to provide him with a work space, the company made the decision to offer him a pension for his disability, according to ‘The Sun’.

Why did you decide to sue the company?

Not only was the time he spent without being able to practice his profession relevant, but this social and work isolation caused him more problems regarding his well-being, this because he now has depression, according to what his lawyer David Nabet-Martin told the local media. La Dépêche’.

“For a person with a disability, working means having a place in society. Recognition. Social connections are created”explained the person in charge of defending Laurence Van Wassenhove.

It should be noted that in 2015 he had reported Orange’s acts of isolation to the government and the High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination, but there was no great cooperation with the company representative.

In the aforementioned medium, the company stated that they did everything in their power so that he could work in the best conditions taking into account his “personal social situation”.

In addition, the idea of returning to work was raised. “in an adapted position”but this never happened because, at the time, Van Wassenhove was getting sick regularly.