Cancer patients suffer discrimination and unfair dismissal at work despite recent legislation to protect their rights, disability experts said today.

An investigation by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) found that many cancer patients were discriminated against because their employers were not aware of their legal responsibilities.

The commission said its helpline had dealt with, on average, two calls a week from women with breast cancer complaining of unfair treatment at work since Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) was amended in December to give protection to people with cancer.

The charity Cancerbackup added that employers were failing to make reasonable adjustments to help employees stay in work.

Most employers were not aware that the DDA was recently amended to give protection to people with cancer, and were failing to make reasonable adjustments to help employees, the charity said.

The DRC said its helpline had dealt with, on average, two calls a week from women with breast cancer complaining of unfair treatment at work since the legislation was amended in December.

The commission had received a total of 174 calls from workers with cancer who have experienced discrimination in that period.

More than four-fifths (82%) of the callers said their employers failed to make reasonable adjustments that would keep them in work, and almost a fifth reported having been dismissed. A further 13% of callers complained of facing threats of dismissal, and nearly 6% of callers were facing disciplinary action.

Among the callers was a woman dismissed from a major high street retailer because she could not give a date to return to work after her radiotherapy treatment finished.

Another caller who had breast cancer said the security firm she had worked at for 19 years told her she was a "bad investment" because she needed more time off for reconstructive surgery.

And a care assistant in a residential home who wanted to return to work after having breast cancer said she had instead been asked to resign and subsequently received her P45 in the post.

A DRC spokesman said: "Direct discrimination and failures to make adjustments is turning the world of work into a very hostile environment for workers with these disabilities.

"We cannot tolerate people with cancer and long-term health conditions being prevented from making their contribution to the workplace."

Before the change in the law, employers could dismiss workers with cancer or long-term health conditions because their condition could affect their ability to carry out normal activities.

But the amendment to the DDA 1995 meant that people with cancer, HIV or multiple sclerosis received legal protection from the point of diagnosis.

A spokeswoman for Cancerbackup said: "We know from people calling our helpline and our report last year that this is an issue for cancer patients. Although the DDA amendment came into force last year many employers are not aware of it.

"A lot of people feel unable to return to work even though they want to. Employers need to be more flexible."