Defender of Rights Warns of Discrimination Against Chronically Ill Workers

The Defender of Rights warns of the “denial” of discrimination suffered at work by people who suffer from chronic illnesses.

Chronically ill people are often stigmatized and discriminated against at work. This is what denounces the 16th barometer on discrimination in employment published each year by the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon, who deplores “a collective denial”.

According to this survey, in France, around one in six people with a chronic illness have already been confronted, in the context of their professional life, with discrimination or discriminatory harassment due to their state of health or disability. For comparison, this concerns 3% of the rest of the working population.

Chronic disease is defined as a long-term condition, often associated with disability or complications. Among these: non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, asthma, but also persistent communicable diseases (HIVAIDS, hepatitis), mental or psychological illnesses (psychoses, depression, chronic anxiety) or even cardiovascular diseases. -vascular, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or rare diseases (cystic fibrosis, myopathies).

The barometer also ensures that people with a visible illness are three times more likely to have been confronted with this type of situation. Worse: more than one in two sick people say they have already experienced a situation of moral harassment at work.

Fear of negative repercussions

In France, since 2005, chronic illness has been recognized as a disability. People suffering from a chronic illness can thus benefit from legal protection. But “only a minority of people take the steps to obtain administrative recognition of the status of disabled worker (RQTH)”, regrets the Defender of Rights.

Employers, both private and public, are required to provide “reasonable accommodation” to workers with disabilities or chronic illnesses. But according to the barometer, 29% of the employees concerned do not benefit from this arrangement. “And in almost a third of cases, the employer does not follow the recommendations of occupational medicine,” the report further points out.

A situation that leads to silence: only half of patients have informed their employer or superior of their state of health. And among those who have not done so, four in ten say they are afraid of the negative repercussions (sanctions, reprisals or fear of redistribution of tasks to other colleagues) that this could have.

2023-12-19 21:54:08
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