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Placement of Job-Seekers with Disabilities
2. Policy and legislative framework for an effective placement service

International instruments and initiatives have played a key role in influencing policy and legislative frameworks at the national level to promote employment opportunities for disabled people. These international initiatives include:

• the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons, adopted by the United Nations in 1982
• the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons 1983 - 1992
• the United National Standard Rules for the Equalisation of Opportunities for People with Disabilities, adopted in 1993
• the International Labour Organization Convention No. 159 concerning Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) of 1983, its accompanying Recommendation (No.168), 1983 and Recommendation No. 99 concerning Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled of 1955
• the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons 1993-2002
• the Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development of 1995.

All these initiatives aim to promote the full participation of disabled persons in all aspects and sectors of society, with the Copenhagen Declaration moving a step forward, in viewing disability as a form of social diversity and pointing to the need for an inclusive response which aims to build a 'society for all'.

The ILO Convention views disability as a condition of occupational disadvantage which can and should be overcome through a variety of policy measures, regulations, programmes, and services. It calls upon countries to base their national policies on the principles of:

• equality of opportunity
• equality of treatment
• mainstreaming of training and employment opportunities
• community participation
• tripartite consultations involving public authorities, worker and employer representatives
• consultations with representatives of and for disabled persons.

ILO Recommendations 168 and 99 outline specific measures which might be introduced at the national level to promote employment opportunities for disabled people and call for these to conform to the employment and salary standards applicable to workers generally. The full text of ILO Convention 159 and Recommendations 168 and 99 is reproduced in Annex 1.

Some countries make a distinction between policy pronouncements and legislative interventions, and others consider policy and legislation to be one and the same. But there is some benefit in distinguishing between them because of their legal implications and related enforcement arrangements.

Policy

A policy concerning the employment of disabled persons usually refers to a written document that has three general characteristics.

• It is a broad statement of intention as presented in a parliamentary paper or ministerial document.
• It provides general guidelines for action and implementation, but does not provide the detail required to enable those guidelines to be effectively applied.
• In itself, it is not legally binding, requiring that legislation be introduced to give positive and detailed expression to the policy guidelines and enable the policy to be translated into meaningful action through legal compliance and enforcement.

Example:

The Government will encourage the employment of disabled persons through the introduction of a quota system requiring medium-sized and larger enterprises, both public and private, to allocate a fixed percentage of jobs to disabled persons.

This is a statement of intent that will require some detailed fleshing out if it is to become operational. The law provides this detail through specific legislation which includes:

• a definition of medium-sized and large enterprises
• a definition of disabled persons
• details of the size of the quota (e.g. 5% of all employees; 5% of all employees where the company employs 200 people or more)
• a compliance requirement on time limitations and the penalties for non-compliance
• enforcement procedures, including the relevant agency empowered to enforce the law and punish those enterprises failing to comply.

Example:

The Government will encourage the employment of disabled persons by increasing their opportunities for self-employment in both the formal and non-formal sectors.

This, too, is a statement of intention which, in itself, cannot be enforced because of the lack of operational detail. New laws or regulations will need to be in place if such a policy is to be effective.

• What is meant by self-employment?
• What is the definition of a disabled person?
• How will the Government provide encouragement? Will it give financial incentives, advisory services, or both?
• What will be the duration of the assistance?

Legislation

Legislation concerning the employment of disabled persons refers to laws, regulations, decrees, notices, and directives that are legally binding and thus give rise to a legal obligation for affected parties to comply.

Some laws include a preamble which sets out the purpose and objectives of the law and which, though included in the law, is more in the nature of a policy statement.

Legislation provides the legal support for policy initiatives, without which policy intentions would not be achieved.

Some examples of specific articles of laws concerning the employment of disabled persons are:

• Article 30 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Disabled Persons (1990) which states that state organs, non-governmental organizations, enterprises, institutions, and urban and rural collective economic organizations shall employ a certain proportion of disabled persons in appropriate types of jobs and posts, with the specific proportion being determined by the governments of provinces and autonomous regions
• Section 11 (1) of the Hong Kong, China, Disability Discrimination Ordinance which states that it is unlawful for a person ('the employer') to discriminate against another person with a disability (a) in the arrangements the employer makes for the purpose of determining who should be offered that employment; (b) in the terms on which the employer offers that other person that employment; or (c) by refusing or deliberately omitting to offer that other person that employment.
• Section 17 (2) of the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act (1991) of Thailand which specifies that employers or owners of private companies shall employ disabled persons suitable to the nature of work at an appropriate ratio to other employees
• Article 21 (1) of the Ordinance on Disabled Persons of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam which states that administrative and non-business agencies must not refuse job applicants who are disabled persons and who meet all the criteria for suitable jobs for which the agency has the need of recruitment.
• Article 14.5 of the Law for the Employment Promotion of Disabled Persons in Japan, which specifies that certain employers shall, once a year, in accordance with the Ministry of Labour Ordinance, report the employment situation of workers who are physically or intellectually disabled to the Minister of Labour (Law No. 123 of 1960 and Law No. 32 of 1997, revising this Law).

Effective legislation should:

• be clear and unambiguous (which is not always true in the examples shown)
• be sufficiently detailed to clearly identify who is covered by the law and who is excluded
• not provide for too many exceptions or exemptions
• stipulate the agency responsible for enforcement
• indicate the penalties for non-compliance.

Some countries concentrate on policy and education to encourage the employment of persons with disabilities (e.g. Singapore); others concentrate on legislation and enforcement (e.g. Japan), while others try to combine both approaches (e.g. Thailand).

Policy and legislation on employing people with disabilities will have no impact on job opportunities if they are not effectively implemented. An operational strategy is required to ensure that these have a practical impact.

Background information

Planning for the development of an effective and equitable placement service for disabled job-seekers requires certain background information about the dimensions of the service need. The most important questions to be addressed are:

• How many people with disabilities are there of working age?
• How many are capable of work?
• How many are already at work?
• How many are seeking jobs or wish to start a small business?

If this information is not readily available, it may be necessary to proceed based on estimates until a reliable survey can be conducted. Generally, an estimate of between 5 and 7 per cent of the labour force will give an indication of the number of disabled persons of working age, although some downward adjustment may be necessary since some disabled people may be unable to work.

The answers to these questions, together with resource availability, will influence decisions on various operational aspects of the placement service, including:

• strategic emphases
• components
• linkages to other agencies.

Strategic emphases

The operational strategy to implement the goal of promoting open employment opportunities for job-seekers with disabilities sets the framework for the placement service. In particular, it will indicate whether the service will:

• be a dedicated or multi-task service
• be a general or a special service
• take a collective or an individual approach
• involve direct service or self-service.

These strategic emphases will influence the shape of the placement service, and the extent and nature of its linkages with other service providers.

Dedicated or multi-task

In many countries, labour officials are required to undertake a range of tasks in addition to job placement. These include:

• labour inspection and law enforcement
• dispute resolution
• processing and investigation of worker complaints
• processing workers' compensation claims.

This multi-tasking is particularly common at provincial and district levels and reflects the limited staff resources available for labour administration at these levels.

But a dedicated service, in which labour officials are responsible for job placement and related services only, has a number of advantages. These include:

• improved opportunities for developing productive relations with enterprises and for providing them with a quality placement service
• avoiding the contradictory roles of multi-tasked labour officials who will be involved in inspection and law enforcement on one day, and persuasion and negotiation with the employer on another
• an increase in the number of placements due to available time being devoted to one task
• improved opportunity to develop technical expertise relating to placing disabled persons.

General or special

Policy-makers and managers need to decide whether the placement service for job-seekers with disabilities will be part of a general service, open to all job-seekers, or whether it will be a specialist service, open only to people with disabilities.

Traditionally, many countries have provided a placement service for disabled job-seekers using specialists. But attempts are now being made to integrate the service for people with disabilities into the mainstream service open to the general population. This shift in emphasis is due to:

• changes in the understanding of disability
• changes in the policy environment for people with disabilities
• the quantification of the number of disabled job-seekers.

The development of an integrated or general placement service has been combined in many countries with a special service for those disabled persons who need additional support. Many developing countries have only recently introduced an employment placement service for disabled persons. Often, though, the number of job-seekers with disabilities is so large that a small-scale special service needs to cooperate closely with the general employment service centres. This cooperation is essential if unemployment is to be significantly reduced in the foreseeable future.

In some countries, job-seekers with disabilities first attend the general employment service. If they have special needs which cannot be catered for within this service, they are referred to a more specialist service for people with disabilities only, or to job-seekers with special requirements, whether or not they have a disability (e.g. Sweden).

Collective or individual

Another strategic question is whether the employment service will be provided individually to disabled job-seekers and to employers, or whether it will work through organizations of employers or disabled people, so as to reach a wider audience with the same resources. Once again, the consideration here is one of effectiveness in finding jobs for all unemployed disabled job-seekers.

Under an individual approach, for example, job-seekers are prepared for jobs one-to-one, involving regular and direct contact with a placement officer, rather than through group sessions arranged for this purpose.

Under a collective approach, the placement service works through employers' organizations or networks to involve more employers in providing jobs and work trials. A collective approach would also include holding seminars and meetings to gain agreement from employer representatives on a partnership approach to improving employment opportunities for disabled persons.

Direct service or self-service

A further important question is whether the placement service officers should provide a direct service to all job-seekers who approach the service, or whether an element of self-service should be involved, with job-seekers gathering information first and then deciding whether they need to contact a placement officer.

If a direct approach is taken to service provision, all job-seekers will be:

• interviewed
• registered
• assessed
• matched (if possible)
• referred to an employer
• placed in a job, if the employer considers the applicant to be suitable.

This process will apply to all job-seekers who approach the placement service expressing interest in employment, even if they are capable of finding a job by themselves.

If the placement process is to include an element of self-service, jobseekers may:

• respond to job vacancy announcements displayed at the employment service without any assistance from a placement officer
• respond to a job vacancy on the Internet after being notified by the employment service but without any assistance from a placement officer
• select brochures and pamphlets displayed at the employment service to learn more about job preparation courses, special employment assistance programmes, or skill development opportunities
• view a video for guidance on career opportunities.

If additional information or advice is required after the initial self-service, the job-seeker can make an appointment with a placement officer and receive direct and individual assistance.

This approach, which is reflected in the recent trend to establish 'onestop shops', is likely to reduce the workload of individual job placement officers. As an initiative, however, its effectiveness in terms of outcomes needs to be monitored.

2. Policy and legislative framework for an effective placement service
Placement of Job-Seekers with Disabilities

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