Knesset advances affirmative action for disabled in workplace

The Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee on Sunday approved for further plenum readings a bill that aims to boost the number of disabled people integrated in the workforce, by requiring large public bodies to meet quotas.

Under the terms of the bill, which passed its first reading in February, a government-funded body with more than 100 employers would be committed to ensuring that at least five percent of its workforce was employees with disabilities, including some with significant disabilities.

In addition, by the beginning of 2017, public bodies including the police, army and city halls with over 25 workers would be required to appoint a disabilities representative and to provide an annual disabilities plan listing available positions, and any projected future positions, that can be filled by people with disabilities.

The bipartisan bill, sponsored by MKs Itzik Shmuli (Zionist Union) and Yoav Kisch (Likud), will pass to the Knesset plenum for a second and third reading next week.

If signed into law, the regulations would come into effect within five years.

The “significantly” disabled include those with a disability of 40% or more, people who are certified blind, the hearing impaired who are entitled to communication support services, and people eligible for rehabilitation.

Committee chairman MK Eli Alaluf said the panel would look at ways to implement the law in coming years.

“The time has come for the entire population of Israel to be integrated into the workforce,” he said.

Avrami Turm, who heads the Commission for Equal Rights for People with Disabilities, said his organization would oversee the implementation of the law.

“We see the bill as another step toward advancing the employment of people with disabilities,” he said. “The different systems laid down in the law, which will be operated by the equality commissioner, will also bring public bodies to take the necessary steps to employ more disabled people.”

The disabilities commission will also be empowered to demand information from public institutes to prove that they are meeting the quotas as well as instruct on recommended actions. The commission will be authorized to levy a NIS 75,000 ($20,000) fine on noncompliant employers, with an additional fine for each day that passes until they meet the standards.

Israel Electric Corporation senior vice president of regulation Oren Helman, who has campaigned on behalf of disabled employment, praised the bill.

“It is very exciting,” Helman said, predicting that the inclusion of disabled workers in the workforce would have financial benefit for the country. “This is tremendous news for the 880,000 people with disabilities of a working age who are living here. We will all make NIS 5 billion a year from this law, and we will live in a healthy and integrated society.”

However, the removal of a clause in a previous version of the bill applying the 5% quota to institutes numbering as few as 25 workers, drew criticism from activists on behalf of the disabled.

The Hebrew-language Ynet news site, citing figures from the disabilities commission, said that only 42% of people with significant disabilities are employed.

In the civil service, only 2.2% of employees are disabled, of whom 42% were hired before they became disabled.