Discrimination case | Orange employee sues for not getting work despite receiving full pay for 20 years

An employee sued her former employer for not giving her any work, despite being given a full salary for 20 years, on the grounds of disability discrimination.

Laurence Van Wassenhove filed the lawsuit against the company she previously worked for, the telecommunications firm Orange, accusing them of intentionally witholding work from her after she tried to get transferred to a different department due to her disability.

Wassenhove joined the company in 1993 as a secretary and HR practitioner, however tried to get a transfer to a different area of the company in 2002 due to her partial paralysis and epilepsy and was approved.

However, the employee says that after her request was approved, the company stopped giving her tasks, reportedly due to her inadequate performance in the new position but didn’t stop paying her.