Sickness is not disability

Chacon Navas v Eurest Colectividades SA ECJ TLR 9 August

No provision of the EC Treaty prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sickness as such. ‘Disability’ has to do with physical, mental, or psychological impairments, which, as a long-term matter, hindered the participation of the person concerned in professional life. Accordingly, a person who had been dismissed by his employer solely on account of sickness did not fall within the prohibition of discrimination on the ground of ‘disability’ laid down by Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000, establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation.