Abstract:
This article interrogates the issue relating to employees living with cancer
taking part in employment without being discriminated against based on
their medical condition. It will be clearly outlined that cancer does not take
away the ability of employees living with cancer to continue with work or
enter into employment, which is what most employers and fellow
employees believe based on the myth and stigma attached to cancer. This
needs to be discouraged through proper education and creating awareness
about cancer. This article will interrogate what cancer is and how it
develops in the human body as well as the extent or impact of cancer on a
patient to a point of leading to disability. The debate of whether cancer
amounts to a disability in the South African context will be entertained and
recommendations outlined with the aim of ensuring that employees living
with cancer are not excluded in taking part in employment among other
things. Focus will then shift to the most important aspect of this article
which is discrimination, and to explore the different forms of
discriminations as well as outline why employers tend to discriminate
against employees living with cancer and can this conduct of employers be
justified in any way in line with the South African legal system and the
article will be incomplete if reference is not made to the English legal system. This is attributed to the fact that the South African legal system is
built on the English legal system to a lesser or greater extent and lessons
can be drawn from the English legal system due to the advances that have
been made when it comes to the protection of employees living with
cancer in the workplace. Recommendations will follow with the aim of
providing a way forward for employees living with cancer in the South
African market.
