Coping with a colleague suffering from cancer

by Marc Long, senior associate, clarke willmott One of the most difficult cases that an employment lawyer can advise upon is when an employee is absent from work due to cancer. Cancer, in its many forms, causes all sorts of distress for the sufferer and for their family but one cannot ignore the fact that employers can be placed into a difficult situation when one of their staff is struck down by this condition. The original 1995 Disability Discrimination Act failed to sufficiently support sufferers of cancer. The Act was primarily aimed at individuals that had demonstrable physical a...