Employers Turning Down Candidates With Disabilities

According to disability rights groups, employers often turn down candidates with disabilities on the grounds of accessibility.

In the absence of even basic accessibility provided by the state, employers refrain from taking the social responsibility to create the necessary environment for people with disabilities. For the jobseekers that don’t require accessibility, other arguments are used, such as “that might be too difficult to communicate with a person with an intellectual disability”, or, “an epileptic’s condition will interrupt the work.”  

To encourage employers to take on more employees with disabilities, the government offers some incentives. These include tax exemptions for people with disabilities on any single source of income of up to $2,400 per month, and subsidizing 50% of an employee’s salary for the first four months, provided they are offered at least a six-month contract thereafter. The subsidy also applies to seasonal jobs, and focus group research from the Public Defender suggests that employers are more likely to hire people with disabilities for this type of work, in order to have their costs subsidized and appear more socially responsible.

The government’s main program for helping people with disabilities into employment, the Supported Employment scheme, currently employs 9 employment support specialists for the whole country, although they hope to increase this number to 15. Many people with disabilities complain that this is not enough, given that each specialist is responsible for supporting at least 10 jobseekers a month and the process of helping them find employment takes a lot time, due to employers being so reluctant.  

One of the least employed groups are blind people, due to the fact that they can only sign a contract through someone else with power of attorney, in the presence of two witnesses, neither of whom can have family or work connections with the person. Such complex bureaucracy scares away most employers.

New legislation on the rights of people with disabilities currently being developed by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Justice, in consultation with several NGOs, includes a suggestion for quotas. This will definitely be beneficial, as sometimes employers demand a reference from an applicant’s doctor confirming they are fit to perform certain tasks.

Sadly the process of obtaining a basic medical reference can be discriminatory as well. Not all doors of consultation rooms are adapted for a wheelchair. Under the new model, people with disabilities would have the option of having their capabilities assessed by a team of specialists, with the proper access to consultation rooms and equipment.

The government’s new employment strategy 2018–2020, will bar discriminatory job ads, preventing employers from advertising for employees based on gender, age or social status, this is a small step in the right direction but more needs to be done in order to help secure work for people with disabilities.

By Shawn Wayne