Measures to Promote Employment of the Disabled Bear Fruit

Ljubljana, 07 August

Measures to promote the employment of disabled persons, including quotas for companies, have started to bear fruit: in the first seven months of 2006 1,107 unemployed disabled persons got a job, up 40% year-on-year and as much as in the whole of 2003 or 2004, the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs said on Monday.

The 2004 act on vocational rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons was amended with quotas at the end of 2005. Yet according to Cveto Ursic, the head of the ministry's directorate for the disabled, the current provisions render it impossible to fully implement the law.
Ursic told the press that the government has already debated changes regarding the duty to employ disabled persons, fines for failure to meet quotas and oversight of exemption from payment of pension and disability contributions.
According to Marusa Erbeznik, the director of the National Fund for the Promotion of the Employment of the Disabled, there are about 4,800 companies with over 20 employees that have to observe quotas for disabled. In June a total of 32,734 disabled persons were in paid employment.
According to law, all companies or individuals, as well as public sector entities, which employ over 20 workers must comply with the quotas, except for foreign diplomatic representations. The lowest quota (2%) has been set for the public sector and non-commercial activities, while the highest (6%) has been set for industry.

Measures to Promote Employment of the Disabled Bear Fruit

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