ACI Partners: Employment of Disabled Persons - What Employers Should Be Aware of

ACI Partners: Employment of Disabled Persons - What Employers Should Be Aware of

• 09.12.2015

This article deals with employment of people with impairments and specifically concerns any Moldovancompany employing more than 20 persons or intending to reach this number of employees in the near future.

Why should Moldovan employers be aware of the issues related to disability?

Both Moldovan companies and foreign investors doing business in Moldova should be aware of how to treat persons with impairments in terms of employment, since the law protects their rights and imposes certain specific conditions that businesses should be compliant with. Please read through this article and feel free to address any questions to our Employment and HR Service Line managed by Cristina Tiscul-Diaconu.

Is Moldova in line with the international standards of protection of disabled persons?

Moldova has made a serious step forward in developing its national legal framework for protection of persons with impairments. On 30 March 2007 Moldova has signed and on 21 September 2010 ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. As of November 2015, the Convention has already 160 signatories. The Convention serves as a main reference framework for the successful implementation of social protection reform, underway in our country.

One of the first steps towards implementation of the Convention was the adoption by the Moldovan Parliament of the Strategy for Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (2010-2013). This Strategy was adopted by Law No 169 dated 9 July 2010. In order to implement the Strategy the Parliament passed a Law on Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities, Law No 60 dated 30 March 2012 (“Social Inclusion Law”). 

The Social Inclusion Law establishes a general framework for security and social services in accordance with international standards on social inclusion of persons with disabilities. The Law provides equal rights for persons with disabilities and for other citizens, such as the right to social protection, health care, rehabilitation, education, employment, public life, environment, transport, information technologies and systems, communication and other utilities and services accessible to the public.

What does the term ‘person with disabilities’ mean?

The Social Inclusion Law defines the person with disabilities as the person with physical, mental, intellectual or sensorial impairment; when interacting with various barriers / obstacles may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.

What are specific duties of the Moldovan employers? 

Under the Social Inclusion Law, Moldovan employers have the obligation to undertake specific measures in order to ensure the inclusion in employment of persons with disabilities, such as:

- designing and adapting workplaces so that they become accessible to persons with disabilities;
- providing new technology and assistive devices, tools and equipment, to enable persons with disabilities to obtain and keep the job;
- providing appropriate training and support for these people, etc.

Does the employer have the obligation to hire persons with disabilities?

Based on the Social Inclusion Law, hiring of persons with disabilities will take place in the same conditions as for other applicants, according to the job requirements of the respective employer. The employers who have at least 20 employees shall create or reserve work places and hire persons with disabilities in an amount of at least 5% of the total number of its employees (Article 34 (4) of the Social Inclusion Law).

Employers that fall under this criterion will have the obligation:

- to notify the Territorial Employment Agency;
- to keep a special Register for all the applications of persons with disabilities, who apply for a job.

What are the sanctions for non-compliance with laws protecting persons with impairments?

Any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on disability which has the effect of limiting or undermining equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or dismissal and in the professional training, performed through any of the following actions, shall be considered administrative offence under Article 542 of the Administrative Offences Code:

- placing advertisements for employment with requirements and criteria that exclude or favour certain people;
- ungrounded refusal to hire a person;
- unjustified refusal of admission of persons to vocational training courses;
- differentiated retribution for the same type and / or workload;
- distributing differently and unreasonable workload, arising from the fact a less favourable status of individuals,

The administrative offence above is sanctioned with a fine from MDL 2,000 to MDL 2,800 applied to the natural person, and/or a fine from MDL 4,000 to MDL 7,000 applied to the responsible officer of the legal entity and/or a fine from MDL 7,000 to MDL 9,000 to the legal entity. However, currently the Moldovan law does not provide for any fines for the failure to create/reserve job positions for disabled people, in particular when there is no economic need in creating new jobs at the company. As the current law enforcement practice shows, the State Labor Inspectorate usually issues a prescription to the employer for observing the legal framework in this respect, including for the keeping of the Register of applications from the persons with disabilities.

The administrative fines for limiting the access to work for disabled persons, stipulated in Article 542 of the Administrative Offences Code as a general rule are applied by the State Labor Inspectorate only in cases of severe violations (e.g. when a person is qualified for a job, but is not hired because of her/his disability, or a person is dismissed for her disability, even though this fact does not impede her/him from performing her/his job responsibilities). However, please note that the laws and the law enforcement practice are subject to periodic changes and employers should be aware of up-to-date regulations and well prepared to face any compliance controls.

ACI Partners

ACI Partners is a dynamically growing Moldovan law firm with an expanding network of partners throughout Europe. ACI Partners was established by separation of the legal business from Ernst & Young Moldova and as such it draws from the latter|s long-acknowledged ability to offer competent advice. ACI Partners’ business strategy is to deliver a solid and reliable service, which the clients may turn to whenever they need. To reach this goal, ACI Partners employs a personalized approach to each client, showing a genuine respect for their values and unqualified commitment to their interests and needs, steadily investing in knowledge and data management and ensuring a working environment consistent with their clients’ quality demands and high expectations.