NGOs working to protect the rights of people with disabilities have been talking for years about the need to reform the Labour Code of Ukraine and other laws of Ukraine to ensure the protection of the right to work and protection from discrimination in the workplace for all people with disabilities, and support the efforts of MPs and government officials to amend legislation on the employment of people with disabilities. The priority in this area should be to bring Ukrainian law and its application in line with the standards of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as to bring national legislation closer to the EU minimum standards.
The state of affairs regarding the employment of people with disabilities in Ukraine is glaringly negative. According to official data from the Ministry of Social Policy, only about 17% of people with disabilities were employed in 2021. This means that the unemployment rate among people with disabilities exceeds 70%, meaning that at least one million Ukrainians with disabilities face barriers to employment and to ensuring an adequate standard of living and economic independence. In contrast, in the EU countries, where Ukraine is heading, the employment rate of people with disabilities reaches almost 50%, which should be the goal of employment reform.
The events of the last year and the Russian aggression against Ukraine show that the number of people with disabilities will only grow rapidly, with both military personnel and civilians suffering disabling injuries and damages every day. The reform of employment, together with the reform of the percentage of disability to be determined by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), as well as the system of rehabilitation and social services, should become one of the most important elements of social policy. To this end, the state and employers must be more than ever ready to create equal conditions for the recovery, integration and economic independence of all Ukrainians with disabilities.
At the same time, in order to resolve certain problematic aspects of the current legislation and bring it closer to the minimum EU standards, MPs developed Draft Law 5344-d of 18.11.2022 (the revised text was published on 23 March 2023) (hereinafter – the Draft Law).
The draft law proposes to amend a number of regulations to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities to work. In particular, to increase the guarantees of employment of people with disabilities with the help of
- introducing compensation from the State Trust Fund for Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities for the work of assistants for people with disabilities during employment;
- creating additional guarantees of compensation from the State Trust Fund for Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities for vocational training of employees with disabilities, as well as for workplace arrangement;
- introducing state and local programmes to facilitate the employment of people with disabilities;
- Changes to the conditions for ensuring the quota of jobs for people with disabilities, including the obligation to employ state and municipal institutions and bodies, and improved procedures for recovering funds for violating the quota;
- changes in the conditions for employers to pay into the State Trust Fund for Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities, which will help to ensure its fullness;
- introducing the possibility of reducing the amount of the monthly contribution to support the employment of persons with disabilities by the cost of purchasing products or services produced or provided by protected employment enterprises or business entities that have the status of an enterprise/entrepreneur for the labour integration of persons with disabilities.
In addition to the above, the provisions of the legislation on the involvement of civil society, including persons with disabilities and organisations representing them, in the implementation of state policy on employment and social protection of persons with disabilities have been brought in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
At the same time, in order to ensure the protection of the labour rights of persons with disabilities, the Draft Law requires further elaboration in terms of
- clarifying the definition of discrimination, including the exclusion of the provision on its purpose to ensure that perpetrators of discriminatory actions are held accountable;
- introducing a system of labour coaches for people with intellectual or psychosocial disabilities (whose role will be to integrate more into the life and understand the needs of people with disabilities, in particular from school age:
- assessment of needs and capabilities, work/professional potential, training/retraining, introduction to the profession and, if necessary, support at the workplace, assistance/consultation on workplace arrangement, work with the labour collective on the peculiarities of organising work involving a person with a disability, support for the employee, etc.
- cancellation of the provisions on the permit system for employment of persons with disabilities in terms of possible areas of employment – i.e., the area of employment of a person with a disability cannot be determined or limited by the decision of the MSEC or an individual rehabilitation programme for a person with a disability;
- provide for the possibility for persons with disabilities to submit an extract from their individual rehabilitation programme to their employer in order to use the guarantees for obtaining reasonable accommodation, while preserving the right not to disclose the content of other parts of such a programme and medical confidentiality;
- to establish incentives at the legislative level for employers, regardless of ownership and subordination, for hiring people with disabilities in the free labour market, including the extension of tax benefits, compensation for part of the salary of people with disabilities, and grants for business development;
- introduce a variety of employment types for people with disabilities through: the existence of workshops for the social and vocational integration of adults with disabilities, where people with disabilities will not be employees under the Labour Code, but will be subject to specific provisions to protect their inclusion and will be provided with assistance in performing work. Such workshops are intended to employ people with disabilities who have severe disabilities, including complex disabilities, and who cannot find work elsewhere. The existence of protected enterprises that must maintain the requirement to integrate people with disabilities in the workplace. Such enterprises should employ at least 50% of people with disabilities, but no more than 70%. Such enterprises may be founded by different legal entities and individuals, which will introduce both competition and diversity in the choice of professions. Such enterprises employ both people without disabilities and people with disabilities who (1) cannot find a job on the free labour market; (2) are employed temporarily to gain experience or improve their skills. At the same time, enterprises that meet the definition of segregated enterprises based on General Comment No. 8 (2022) on the Right of Persons with Disabilities to Work and Employment, in particular those that (1) separate persons with disabilities from open, inclusive and accessible employment, (2) are organised around certain specific activities that persons with disabilities are considered to be able to perform, (3) do not contribute to an effective transition to an open labour market; where (4) persons with disabilities do not receive equal remuneration for work of equal value, should be reorganised within the next 3-5 years to ensure the implementation of the CRPD;
- systematic amendments to other legislative acts regulating the employment of persons with disabilities to ensure that the employment mechanism does not contain gaps, and to provide in the transitional provisions for the obligation of the authorities to regulate other bylaws so that the provisions of the Draft Law are fully implemented.
In view of the above, civil society organisations working in the field of protection of the rights of people with disabilities support the adoption of the Draft Law, provided that it is finalised and the recommendations are taken into account. The signatory organisations also express their readiness to join the work on developing the necessary amendments and additions to the Draft Law to ensure its compliance with human rights standards and further promote the employment of people with disabilities in Ukraine.
If you would like to join the statement, please fill in the form below: http://surl.li/ghhts
List of organisations that supported the statement:
NGO “League of the Strong”
All-Ukrainian Association of Persons with Disabilities “Active Rehabilitation Group”
NGO “Family for people with disabilities”
NGO “See with the heart”
NGO “We are there for you”
CO “Charitable Foundation “AIK”
CO “Charitable Foundation “Foundation 03:00”
All-Ukrainian Charitable Organisation “Down Syndrome”
NGO “Dream Workshop”
PU “Ukrainian Association of Cochlear Implant Carriers”
NGO “ANTS”
NGO “Feel”
NGO “Chernivtsi Association “Zakhyst”
CO “Perspective 21.3”
NGO “Kharkiv Regional Foundation “Public Alternative”
NGO “Harmony”