One in six people with a chronic illness have faced discrimination or discriminatory harassment in the professional context due to their state of health or disability, according to a barometer published Thursday.
“Having a long-term chronic illness increases the risk of being exposed to employment discrimination“, says in a press release from the Defender of Rights, Claire Hédon.
Chronic illnesses at work remain “a question still largely unexplored“, according to the barometer established by the Defender of Rights in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO).
After those linked to nationality, origin or skin color, discrimination linked to health and disability are the most frequently cited among the 3,000 people, including 1,000 suffering from chronic illness, interviewed. by Ipsos for this survey.
Thus a majority (55%) of sick people report having experienced a situation of moral harassment, compared to 35% of the rest of the active population.
On the other hand, workstations are often not arranged as they should be: thus “19% of employees with a chronic illness benefit from an adjustment to their workstation” while 29% do not benefit from it, but would need it.
Finally, 40% of sick people whose health problems are known to their employer and their superior “do not benefit from the support and understanding of either of them”, according to this study.
The share of the working population affected by a chronic illness was 15% in 2019 but is expected to reach 25% by 2025, according to the National Agency for the Improvement of Working Conditions (Anact).
This rapid increase is due both to therapeutic progress “which may have contributed to transforming certain diseases, formerly acute and fatal, into chronic diseases”, but also to “environmental factors”, “socio-economic inequalities” as well as “conditions of work”.
