In a ruling rendered on April 11, the ECJ lays down the foundation for a European definition of disability, even though the first thing to do is to differentiate disability and disease. To that end, it borrowed some terms from the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which the EU has signed, and which provides that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society. (Ref. 130242)
In the Danish cases that gave rise to the two prejudicial questions leading to this ruling, two employees were fired but their employers didn’t consider them as disabled as their disability was the result of an illness. Yet, being recognized as disabled is critical since Community Directive 2000/78 provides that national laws have to protect disabled workers from discrimination and contain the obligation for the employer to provide reasonable accommodation in order to keep the worker active.
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