Article 27
Measures to support employers
Measures to support workers with disabilities
Discrimination
Employment on the open labour market
Employment in the supported / sheltered sector
Employment in the public sector
Employment of blind and partially sighted women
Self-employment
Vocational rehabilitation and training
Incentive measures to employ workers with disabilities
Legal obligation to employ workers with disabilities
Vocational counselling
Main occupations performed by workers with a visual impairment
Looking for a job
Legal recognition of disabled worker status
Trade unions and workers with disabilities
Measures to support employers
The legislative instruments (Decree-Law No. 247/89 of 5 August 1989 ) aimed at promoting vocational training and integration in the regular labour market and the technical and financial incentives and supports available are:
- Compensation Subsidy
Public financial payment awarded to employers who hire people with disabilities aimed at compensating them for the lower work productivity during the period of their adaptation or re-adaptation to work. - Grant for Job Adaptation and the Elimination of Architectural Obstacles
These are non-repayable grants made to companies or other bodies to adapt their equipment or installations to accommodate workers with disabilities. Each grant must not exceed 12 times the amount of the minimum monthly wage regarding the highest ceiling it can reach. These grants are different from others because they are given for removing physical obstacles and for adapting workplaces. - Subsidy for Personalised Support
Subsidy granted to employers for each disabled person they hire. The subsidy is aimed at covering the costs of personalised support for people with disabilities provided during the process of their integration in the company's productive scheme and adaptation to the workstation. - Integration Prize
Financial compensation awarded to those employers who hire people with disabilities on permanent contracts or who convert fixed term contracts into permanent contracts. - Merit Prize
Financial prize awarded to those employers who, each year, stand out because of good ` practices in the employment of people with disabilities.
Measures to support workers with disabilities
The Sheltered Employment regime (The sheltered employment system was formally defined in 1983 in Legislative Decree No. 40/83 of 25 January 1983. Implementing regulations were subsequently issued in Decree No. 37/85 of 24 June 1985. ) covers all people with disabilities who although they cannot immediately or in the short term be covered by general work regulations, are sufficiently productive and they can, under special conditions, carry out stable, paid and profitable work. The Sheltered Employment regime has the objective of encouraging the transition to the normal work market as soon as possible. It seeks to provide training for all people with disabilities who have an average work capacity equal to or greater than one third of the normal work capacity demanded of a non-disabled worker in the same job post. These objectives are carried out mainly through Sheltered Employment Centres.
The Labour Code recognizes several rights for workers with disabilities such as:
- The right to benefit from flexible working hours,
- The right not to perform extra working hours or night work if that is considered dangerous for health or safety reasons.
Discrimination
By the Law 46/2006, 28th August, which prohibits and punishes the discrimination on the basis of a disability or illness, is considered discriminatory practice against people with disabilities in the work and employment:
- The adoption of a procedure, measure or criteria, directly for the employer or through instructions given to its workers or the employment agency, that subordinates the factors of physical, sensorial or mental nature in their offers of job, the employment contract ceasing or the refusal of act of contract;
- The production or dissemination of job offers, or other forms of advertising to pre-selection or the conscription, that contains, direct or indirectly, any specification or preference based on factors of discrimination on the basis of disability;
- The adoption of practices or measures by the employer that, in the scope of labour relations, discriminates against a worker in the company.
Employment on the open labour market
Employment in the supported / sheltered sector
Sheltered Employment Centres (“Centros de Emprego Protegido” – CEP)
The CEP's seek to provide people with disabilities with paid activity and the possibility of training and / or vocational improvement that allows them to be transferred whenever possible to the normal work market. CEP's are developed in regular industrial, handcraft, agricultural, commercial or service units.
Employment in the public sector
Employment of blind and partially sighted women.
Self Employment
The Employment and Vocational Training Institute (IEFP) helps in the creation of independent activities by People with disabilities, encouraging their vocational and business capacities and providing them with consequent vocational integration. This is done by subsidising the setting up of a disabled person's own business.
Vocational rehabilitation and training
The Employment and Vocational Training Institute (“Instituto do Emprego e Formaçao Profissional” – IEFP) is the national body competent to implement the vocational rehabilitation policy by developing actions that favour the vocational integration of people with disabilities in the normal work market.
Incentive measures to employ workers with disabilities.
Legal obligation to employ workers with disabilities
The Decree Law 29/2001, of February 3 (Employment Quota System) defines positive measures to promote the employment of people with disabilities in central and local public administration. There is a 5% quota for people with disabilities (motor, visual, hearing, mental or cerebral palsy) with a degree of incapacity greater than or equal to 60%.
Law no. 38/2004, dated 18 August defines the general bases of the legal system for prevention, habilitation, rehabilitation and participation. Article 28 states that 'according to their size, companies should contract people with disability by means of a work contract or other forms of employment for a maximum quota of 2% of their workforce.
Vocational counselling.
It is important to underline the investment made in the Local and Specialized Resource Centres Networks within the domain of vocational rehabilitation, namely in the evaluation/vocational guidance domains, integration support and keeping people with disabilities in employment, specialized support with their training when integrated in courses and actions targeted at the general public.
Main occupations performed by workers with a visual impairment.
According to the Census 2001 information on the type of jobs of people with disabilities, the largest professional group is the blue-collar one, representing 21.5% of individuals, followed by services (20.5%) and individuals with no qualifications (20.3%). Managers and similar professions represent a meagre 1%. Two variables are introduced in the regressions to control if individuals received unemployment benefits (30.2%) or underwent a training experience (47.5%), following their registration at the job centre.
Looking for a job
Legal recognition of disabled worker status
In Portugal, the legal definition of the term “disability” is found in the Framework Law on prevention and rehabilitation of disabled persons (Law 9/89 of 2 May 1989). Under this law, persons who as a result of a congenital or acquired loss of an abnormality of psychological, intellectual, physiological or anatomical structure or function are in a disadvantaged situation with respect to the performance of an activity considered normal taking account their age, gender and the prevailing social and cultural factors, are considered as disabled.
Trade unions and workers with disabilities.
Not Available
Sources
http://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp3028.html
http://www.disability-europe.net/content/pdf/FI%20Employment%20report.pdf