- Woman received full salary, but no work for 20 years from telecoms company
- She claims this led to isolation and loss of professional purpose
- Her employer is disputing the claim
Getting paid by your employer but not being assigned any tasks to do might seem to some like the dream employment scenario, but for one woman in France it has caused upset and she is taking suing her erstwhile employer over it.
Laurence Van Wassenhove is now taking telecoms giant Orange to court with a claim that for 20 years she was paid her salary in full, but never received any work to complete.
Loss of purpose
Her contention is that the situation led to “moral harassment” as well as a loss of professional purpose and feelings of isolation.
Van Wassenhove had already worked for Orange for nine years when her problems began in 2002. She had joined the company initially as a secretary and HR representative, and Orange had accommodated her partial paralysis and epilepsy. But when she transferred departments due to her medical conditions, she alleges that Orange stopped giving her tasks at this point due to her inadequate performance. But at no point was her salary stopped.
Her legal team say that Orange could have done more to accommodate her needs, and further claim that the situation could have caused her to develop depression.
Disputing claim
Orange as disputing the lawsuit, countering that they tried to accommodate Van Wassenhove’s conditions, but this was difficult as she often needed to take time off work. The company also undertook an occupational health assessment that found she was not suitable for the new position and put her on standby. She was later put on sick leave before being offered retirement due to her disability.
