According to a report by Smatree, amendments brought to legislation regulating the rights of the disabled people who are fit for work via government ordinance 60/2017, is making employers rethink their strategy on the topic.
In order to protect and promote the rights of disabled people, companies who employ at least 50 employees are compelled to ensure a 4 percent representation of this category of workers. Alternatively, companies could opt for the monthly payment to the state budget of an amount equivalent with 50 percent of the minimum gross wage, multiplied by the number of positions which were not occupied by disabled employees. Also, employers had the option to purchase products and services from protected units, for an amount equivalent to that owed to the state budget.
According to Smartree experts, after the ordinance was published, the amount owed to the state budget doubled, but the option to publish products from protected units was removed. Consequently, the activity of over 700 such units with protected status will be affected. Specifically, they will now have to compete with the rest of companies on the free market that do not have a protected status but provide the same type of products and services.
According to the new provisions, the protected units without juridical personality will only be able to function as part of public institutions. Specifically, a facility that regulated the existence of protected units without juridical personality, set up by a disabled person, authorised to run independent economic activities, is removed.
In the past years, the Smatree report argues, the number of companies that accessed the services offered by the protected units increased significantly, as well as the diversity of the services offered by these units. According to data provided by the Ministry of labour and Social Justice, most protected units are active in sales, packaging, as well as textiles manufacturing.