A French woman has sued her former employer, accusing them of paying her full salary for 20 years but refusing to give her any work. Laurence Van Wassenhove has filed a lawsuit against Orange, a major telecommunications company, alleging that she deliberately prevented her from working after she tried to transfer to another part of the firm because of a disability.
In 1993, Ms. Wassenhove reportedly joined the telecommunications company as a secretary and human resources representative, which accommodated her partial paralysis and epileptic seizures. In 2002, she tried to get a transfer within the company and was approved.
Ms Wassenhove has alleged that the firm stopped employing her due to her poor performance in the new job. However, despite this, Ms Wassenhove’s employer did not stop paying her salary.
A report in The Sun claims Ms Wassenhove is now finding her situation “too hard to bear”.
The report claims that Orange initially hired her as a civil servant. But due to her condition, Ms Wassenhove was offered a secretary position, taking into account her health needs.
Ms Wassenhove is a mother of two children, one of whom is autistic. Speaking to The Sun she claimed that despite receiving a salary, she has been unable to avoid facing an eviction notice and struggling to make ends meet.
The report said the company prepared an occupational medical report, which confirmed the position was not suitable for Ms Wassenhove.
Following this, the company put Ms. Wassenhove on standby. And then sent her on sick leave, before eventually offering her retirement due to her disability.
However, the company continued to pay her full salary while Ms Wassenhove was not assigned any work.
Describing herself as a “dismissed secretary”, Ms. Vasenhaive claimed that her firm did this to force her to quit her job. In 2015, she filed a complaint with the government and the High Authority for the Fight against Discrimination, but not much changed.
“Staying at home and not working and getting paid is not a privilege. It is very difficult to bear,” he was quoted as saying in the report.
According to the report, however, the company has claimed that it had made every effort to ensure that it could operate under the best conditions.
He also said that plans had been made for a “return to work in an adapted position”, but this never happened, as Ms Wassenhove was reportedly on regular sick leave.
