The Rules for the Act stipulate the procedure and the parameters for the employment. The term for the employers is until 02.07.2019.
At the end of last year the Law on People with Disabilities was passed. Its goal is to ensure that people with permanent disabilities have access to the labor market. The Law on People with Disabilities envisages that an employer with over 50 employees/workers is obliged to hire people with permanent disabilities. The exact number of people who are to be employed depends on the average number of workers and employees. The Law on People with Disability provided the introduction of a Statute Book. Its purpose is to additionally arrange the procedure and parameters of this obligation’s fulfillment as well as to determine alternative measures that the employer could impose. During last week the Statute Book was published and, as far as the necessary normative basis is available, employers now have to behave in accordance with the new requirements.
The Statute Book provides that annually, until March 31, every employer has to take action in order to hire people with disabilities and to inform the territorial division of the Employment Agency if he/ she wishes to use mediation to hire these people. If proper actions for this obligation are taken but there are no suitable candidates and the employer cannot fill his quotas, he/she has to obtain a certificate from the Executive Agency “Labor Inspection” to testify these circumstances.
Employers who are unable to hire people with permanent disabilities due to the specifics of their work, also have to turn to the Executive Agency “Labor Inspection”. This is justified by both the employer and the health and safety services.
The Statute Book introduced alternative measures which an employer can apply and which could free him from his obligation to hire people with permanent disabilities:
- buying products which are made or traded by specialized enterprises or cooperatives of people with disabilities, or using their services for the duration of the non-fulfillment of the quota;
- buying directly products which are made or traded by self-employed people with disabilities, or using their services for the duration of the non-fulfillment of the quota;
- buying products, made or traded by social enterprises class A, which meet certain conditions, or using their services for the duration of the non-fulfillment of the quota.
The particularities regarding the implementation of these alternative measures are connected with proving that expenditures were made. Employers can prove the expenditures only with primary payment documents. The monthly expenses for buying the products or using the services should not be lower than double the amount of the monthly minimal salary, established for the relative calendar year, for every job vacancy for people with permanent disabilities.
In case employers fail to fulfill this obligation they owe a compensation payment in the amount of 30 % of the minimal salary for every job vacancy for a person with permanent disability. Unlike the other alternatives, the compensation payment does not lead to the fulfilment of the requirements for hiring people with permanent disabilities and does not free the employer from this obligation.
When a compensation payment is due, but is not made, a penalty amounting from BGN 1000 to BGN 2000 or property sanctions from BGN 2000 to BGN 5000 are imposed. If the violation is repeated, the sanction amounts from BGN 4000 to BGN 10000.
Taking the necessary actions for filling the quotas should be completed in a period of three months after the Statute Book is published. This means that until 02.07.2019 every employer has to assess whether the number of his employees is above the legal limit (50 employees/workers) and respectively how many people with permanent disabilities he has to hire and which of the above-mentioned measures will be used.
This information was prepared by: Emel Bekirova, Attorney-at-law