The Commission of Labor, Social Economy, Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations has given the green light this Thursday, in an extraordinary session and with full legislative competence, to the Bill for the promotion of labor inclusion of people with disabilities. The law increases the penalties for companies with 50 or more employees that do not respect the 2% job reservation quota for people with disabilities.
The report has moved forward with the support of all parliamentary groups, except for the PP, which abstained, and Vox, which voted against. During the processing in committee, a transactional amendment was incorporated, unanimously approved, which declares tax exemptions for aid directed to people affected by HIV or thalidomide. After this procedure, the text goes to the Senate to continue its parliamentary journey.
Article one of the proposition modifies the Law on Offenses and Sanctions in the Social Order. Thus, it is classified as a very serious offense, and not just a serious one, "the non-compliance in the area of labor integration of people with disabilities of the legal obligation to reserve jobs for people with disabilities, or the application of their alternative measures."
Article two introduces changes to Article 13 of the General Subsidies Law, which sets the conditions for obtaining the status of beneficiary or collaborating entity. Thus, access to subsidies is banned for those who incur a very serious offense for violating the obligation to reserve jobs for people with disabilities, in the terms outlined in the first article.
The initiative also incorporates three additional provisions. The first obliges public administrations to develop informational campaigns on the labor inclusion of people with disabilities. The second provides for specific campaigns by the Labor and Social Security Inspectorate over the next three years to "verify compliance with the legal obligation to reserve jobs for people with disabilities." The third establishes that the Government must present, within a maximum period of three years, a report evaluating the impact of the approved measures.
The Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI) values that this reinforcement of the sanctioning regime represents "a necessary measure to guarantee the effectiveness of a legal obligation in force for decades and still unfulfilled by a significant number of companies."
In this line, the entity expresses its desire that "the Senate quickly completes its processing, so that Spain has as soon as possible a more demanding and effective framework to promote the labor inclusion of people with disabilities."
The Spanish Council for the Defense of Disability and Dependency (CEDDD) has also positively welcomed the approval, although it warns that "the reinforcement of the sanctioning regime, by itself, is insufficient to correct a situation of labor inequality that has persisted for decades."
CEDDD emphasizes that, in the context of the reform of the employment reserve quota for people with disabilities, it conveyed to the parliamentary groups a broad package of proposals aimed at profoundly transforming the current system.
Among the proposed measures, it highlights "the increase of the mandatory quota from 2% to 4%", an initiative promoted by its associated entity National Confederation of Special Employment Centers (CONACEE) and "designed to respond to the serious deficits of labor inclusion that continue to affect the group."