Social Structures
Authors: Hannah Casey, Léa Urzel, Matthew McKenna, Ideas In ALL Blog Editors
The European Commission (EC) has now unveiled its Disability Employment Package (DEP). This Package forms part of the Commission’s seven step Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2021-2030. The DEP aims to support Member States in their efforts to ensure people with disabilities have fair and equal access to employment. Currently, just 50% of people with disabilities of working age in the EU are employed, though this number has been rising slowly over recent years
This DEP attempts to address this inequality through actions in six key areas:
1. strengthening capacities of employment and integration services,
2.promoting hiring perspectives through combating affirmative action and combating stereotypes,
3. ensuring reasonable accommodation at work,
4. retaining persons with disabilities in employment: preventing disabilities associated with chronic diseases,
5. securing vocational rehabilitation schemes in case of sickness or accidents, and
6. exploring quality jobs in sheltered employment and pathways to the open labour market.
Each of these key areas have deliverables associated with them in the form of guidelines and positive actions. These will be provided to Member States by the Commission to ensure they have the necessary tools and information to comply with, and implement, the DEP. They will also facilitate Member States to set and implement targets for the employment of persons with disabilities in an effort to close the gap between persons with and without disabilities in the labour market. The EC has asked Member States to design and implement these targets to increase the participation of people with disabilities in the labour market, and ensure their national skills strategies include the needs of persons with disabilities. Through this, Member States will be able to ensure they can reach the target set out in the Skills Agenda, and in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.
The DEP has been lauded as a key policy milestone for the promotion of equal career opportunities for persons with disabilities within the EU. The European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR) says that the DEP ‘aims to improve labour market outcome for people with disabilities and ensure that they enjoy social inclusion and economic autonomy through employment’. The EC highlights that the DEP complements the policy goals of the Disability Rights Strategy.
Furthermore, the DEP and Disability Strategy will work in unison to reinforce the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights. They also will contribute to the implementation of Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) 2006 which states that ‘States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to work, on an equal basis with others; this includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work freely chosen or accepted in a labour market and work environment that is open, inclusive and accessible to persons with disabilities’. Moreover, the DEP takes into account the diverse nature of disability in physical, mental, psychosocial, intellectual and sensory aspects, and it also recognises the ‘increased prevalence of disabilities with age’. This undoubtedly represents a very positive development towards more inclusive and non-discriminatory employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the EU.
It is heartening to see that the EC recognises the challenges and ‘persistent barriers’ facing the implementation of the DEP. The DEP acknowledges the difficulties faced by persons with disabilities who continue to face adversity when seeking and retaining employment. The Joint Report on the implementation of the Employment Equality Directive and Racial Equality Directive (2021) highlights these obstacles, with the DEP stating that, ‘[t]he report also refers to a lack of public awareness of rights, underreporting of discrimination cases, a lack of equality data, gaps in access to justice and availability of remedies’.
Other key challenges identified by the Joint Report include a limited level of awareness of reasonable accommodation, and challenges among stakeholders in the interpretation of the notion of disability. The Joint Report indicates that the above factors present a continuous difficulty in the ‘practical implementation and application of the Employment Equality Directive’. Furthermore, with the DEP stating that success ‘is ultimately in the hands of employers and of private and public sector companies, who are the ones employing persons with disabilities’, some questions arise. Will this Disability Employment Package lead to effective and sustainable change on the ground? Will it have a positive impact on the labour inclusion of persons with disabilities in the European Union(EU)? The European Disability Forum (EDF) notes that the lack of underpinning legal requirements by the DEP presents a significant challenge to the practical implementation of the strategic policy among EU Member States. The absence of the legal and funding element to enhance practical implementation of the DEP will, according to the EDF, ‘require a huge effort – both from the institutions and Civil Society – to ensure its application at national level and, therefore, to achieve results’.
A further critical point to be made about the DEP lies in the mention of a set of measures to explore ‘quality jobs in sheltered employment’ Indeed, reading the DEP in light of the CRPD Committee’s General Comment No. 8 on Article 27, raises questions as to the DEP’s compliance with the CRPD. The CRPD Committee expressly states that segregated employment, including in sheltered workshops, does not comply with the right to work of persons with disabilities.
Nevertheless, the Disability Employment Package certainly remains a commendable initiative as it aims to unlock ‘the potential and talents of persons with disabilities (…) for the benefit of individuals, the economy, and for the cohesion of the society as a whole’. The envisioned measures will provide valuable guidance supporting the employment of persons with disabilities in the EU. Addressing key areas of action, such practical tools and guidelines represent a common reference point for all involved stakeholders; including Member States, social partners, organisations of persons with disabilities and employers in the public and private sector. It also comes in support of already existing legislation, such as the Employment Equality Directive, which prohibits discrimination in employment on a number of grounds, including disability, and requires employers to provide reasonable accommodation (see also the recent case-law of the Court of Justice of the EU in Tartu Vangla and Komisia za zashtita ot diskriminatsia). In this respect, the DEP represents a concrete step forward in realising the right to work of persons with disabilities.
Léa Urzel is funded by the project ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths – DANCING’. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No 864182).
