The number of disabled workers at the receiving end of bullying, discrimination and harassment is “shockingly high”, the TUC has warned in a report published on 5 June.
The warning comes as the TUC publishes new polling which reveals the “pervasive” mistreatment of disabled workers across UK workplaces.
According to the poll of 1,000 workers, commissioned by the TUC and carried out by Opinium, nearly four in ten (39%) of disabled workers have experienced bullying, discrimination and harassment at work in the last five years related to their disability, impairment or long-term health condition.
For disabled workers who have faced bullying, harassment and discrimination, mistreatment came in different forms:
- 15% have been subjected to intrusive or offensive questioning about their disability.
- 14% had been made to feel uncomfortable at work due to their disability – including through stereotypes or assumptions about their disability.
- 14% reported offensive jokes or “banter” about disabled people.
- 12% said that they had experienced bullying, for example sustained patterns of intimidating or abusive behaviour, clearly linked to their disability.
Mistreatment came at the hands of work colleagues, customers, clients, patients and members of the public met through work.