Nobody can deny that the inclusion of persons with disability within our education ranks has been a success. Similarly nobody can deny that the attempts to include them within the working population have been a flop.
As an individual previously entrusted with this sector to implement the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disability (UNCRPD), I consider it my civic duty to express myfeelings on the wide selection of emotions uttered in the media on the subject of disability employment quotas.
Back in March 2013 no ophthalmic surgical skills were needed to ascertain that neither thegovernment nor employers needed any magnifiers to see that Malta had failed miserably in integrating persons with disability into the workplace.
While the average percentage of persons with disability in employment hangs around 50 per cent in the European Union, the figure in Malta lies in the region of a meagre five per cent. While in most European countries persons with physical or sensorial disability or mild intellectual difficulties have over the years become an invaluable resource, in Malta this transformation failed to take off.
While it is apparent that up to the age of 16 or 18, our education system caters well for persons with disability, our society is failing them afterwards. Indeed their integration within the labour market has been an uphill struggle. During a meeting with the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, in January 2014, a full presentation was communicated to the council, followed by a three page-article in their monthly publication The Commercial Courier.
The numbers, both European and local, were made public. The legislation had long been in place in Malta and the details of each employer’s underemployment of persons with disability had long been readily available at the ETC. Time for discussion was up.
It was time for the implementation with sensitivity over a three-year period of a courageous policy consisting of a mix of incentives and disincentives that would ensure that the two per cent quota set by a Nationalist government in 1969 would finally be reached before that law’s 50th birthday. Better late than never.
This implementation has the potential to address this lacuna in the lives of persons with disability. It would, at least, double the amount of employment for such persons and also guarantee the creation of a further 1,400 new jobs for persons with disability over the next few years. This would have served to double Malta’s embarrassingly low employment rate for persons with disability to at least the low 15% averages of Hungary and Slovenia, though still far short of the UK’s, Germany’s and Austria’s averages of 50%.
Past experiences of other European countries were looked at and the disincentive to non-adherence to this almost half a century old law was found to be in the region of €10 to €15,000 per person. This contribution, which the Maltese employers choose to call it fine, the government has set at a mere €800 rising to €2,400 in the third year.
It is important to note that this disincentive, which has created a lot of fuss, has been combined with a series of incentives which would cover 35% of the salary of any currently employed registered persons with disability and 85% for new recruits. These include exemption from payment of the employer’s share of national insurance contribution and fiscal incentive to employers, apart from the subsidy of €125 per week for a full-time recruit for three years, a financial resource sourced from European social funds.
Lack of support for the implementation of this law from the Archbishop of Malta escapes me. It’s actually surreal
These fiscal incentives encouraging employment of a person with disability far exceededthe value of the contribution imposed in respect to the twoper cent quota underemployment. These contributions are meant to go into the Lino Spiteri fund that would be used to train persons with disability so as to improve their employability.
I have no qualms in saying that it is facetious of employers to highlight the well-known difficulties of employing persons with disability in dangerous activities such as quarrying, construction, equipment maintenance and others. Rather, enforcement agencies should look favourably at employers’ offers to fulfill their mandatory quotas within subsidiary or associated businesses such as hotels, entertainment venues etc, owned beneficially by the same company owners or by sub-contractingwork to social enterprise organisations as an alternative to their direct employment of personswith disability.
The European experience is that every employer benefits from the changes forced by the introduction of workers with disability. High-level employees are no longer allowed to continue to do repetitive work; as a result, they themselves become markedly more productive because the persons with disability release time to already high producers.
Persons with disability have a caring nature and a passion for detail which translates into better customer care.
Research also confirms a marked reduction in staff turnover, a noticeable improvement of general staff morale and a positive impact of the employer companies’ public image.
After all it’s about giving dignity to persons who may be less fortunate than others. Feeling useful and productive is very important and affects them profoundly. For this reason the rationale underlying the lack of support for implementation of this law from the Archbishop of Malta escapes me. It’s actually surreal.
People with disabilities are not for charity. Apart from their schooling, they want their independence without having to rely on their family, and therefore, earn a living of their own. They want to contribute to the economy and feel an integral part of the society. That’s what the current government is thriving to achieve. To call a spade a spade: five per cent employment is way too low to be acceptable by anybody in his or her senses.
Franco Mercieca is a Labour MP.