Employers have admitted that three out of every four disabled people are not treated fairly when being interviewed for a job, new research has found.

The study, conducted by the Malta Employers Association amongst its members, found that disabled people were still at a staggering disadvantage at the workplace when compared to those without a disability.

Morgan Parnis, the CEO of Business Leaders Malta, said the research, which has not yet been fully published, found that 72 per cent of employers felt disabled people were not treated fairly at work and were discriminated against in the interview stage.

He was speaking as part of a panel debate organised for the MEA’s 50th anniversary yesterday.

In this day and age we shouldn’t even be talking about this, we should just be employing many more people with disabilities

The research also found that nearly 60 per cent of employers disagreed with implementing legislation aimed at helping disabled people join the labour market. This, the employers said, was not because they did not want to employ workers, but because of “obstacles”.

Legislation introduced earlier this year means employers who do not abide by the legal quota of disabled workers must contribute €1,600 annually for each disabled person they do not give a job to. The measures have led to 24 disabled people finding a job every month since then.

Rhoda Garland, the executive director of the National Commission for Persons with Disability who also sat on the panel debate, said that, despite the measures introduced, only five per cent of the disabled community was employed.

This, she said, was a disappointingly low figure compared to more than 40 per cent average employment across the EU.

Weighing in, MEA president Arthur Muscat insisted employers were not against employing disabled workers but were grappling with genuine barriers to doing so.

Although he would not give examples of these restrictions, Mr Muscat said the association was holding talks with the government and stakeholders to find ways to overcome these obstacles.

General Workers Union chief Josef Bugeja said employers still saw disabled workers as a burden.

“They make all kinds of excuses not to employ more disabled people. In this day and age we shouldn’t even be talking about this, we should just be employing many more people with disabilities,” he said.