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Obligation of the employer
Should the employer provide a wheelchair suitable for a disabled employee?
Publié le 02 mai 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
The employer's failure to comply with the accommodation measures recommended by the occupational doctor suggests discrimination on grounds of disability. This is what the Court of Cassation states in a ruling issued on April 2, 2025 and published in the bulletin.
An employee, a worker with a disability, takes legal action at the end of her employment contract to claim damages from her former employer for discrimination on the grounds of her disability. She criticized her former employer for not providing her with a suitable chair, a measure advocated by the occupational doctor.
The Court of Appeal dismissed the employee’s application. In her view, the employer's failure to comply with the recommendations of the occupational physician was not sufficient to demonstrate the existence of discrimination. The employee is appealing to the Court of Cassation.
The Court of Cassation contradicts the Court of Appeal and condemns the employer for discrimination. According to the applicant, the employer’s failure to provide the employee with a suitable chair despite the recommendations of the occupational doctor constitutes an element of fact ‘suggesting’ a refusal to take appropriate accommodation measures.
The Court therefore finds that there is discrimination on grounds of disability.
Please note
The employer may justify its refusal to take accommodation measures on the basis of the following objective factors:
- physical impossibility of taking the requested or recommended measures;
- disproportionate burdens on the implementation of the measures.