Disabled people are more likely to experience hostility and bullying at work, research has found.

More than 22 per cent of people with a disability or long-term illness said they had experienced persistently unfair or critical treatment at work, while nearly 12 per cent had been the victim of physical violence, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 workers published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).

This compares with the equivalent figures of 13.4 per cent and 5.5 per cent for people without such an illness or disability.

Disabled people were also more likely to be on the receiving end of poor management, with 25 per cent complaining of bosses continually checking up on them when it was not necessarily – compared with 19 per cent for able-bodied staff – and 19 per cent saying they were pressured to work on tasks below their level of competence, compared with 13.5 per cent for able-bodied respondents.

The findings come from the British Workplace Behaviour Survey 2008, conducted by Cardiff University and the University of Glamorgan on behalf of the EHRC. It comes as the government’s Equality bill is set to introduce welfare reforms designed to enable more disabled people to enter work.

Nicola Brewer, chief executive of the EHRC, said: “In these difficult economic times we must do all we can to help as many people as possible to stay in work. If disabled people and those with long-term ill health are more likely to experience hostile and negative treatment at work, we risk losing both their talent and their economic contribution.

“Disabled people and those with long term ill-health should be supported to get into, or back into, work, but they'll only stay in work if they are treated with dignity and respect.”