MPs approve law raising disability jobs quota from 2% to 4% to strengthen workplace

TDT | Manama

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

A push to double the disability jobs quota cleared Parliament yesterday, raising the rate from 2 to 4 per cent despite government warnings about pressure on hiring and budgets.

Under the law, based on a Shura Council proposal amending Law No. (74) of 2006, establishments with 50 workers or more must now employ persons with disabilities at a rate of at least 4 per cent of their workforce.

The text also requires the Labour Minister, in coordination with the Social Development Minister and the head of the Civil Service Bureau, to issue a decision naming government jobs in which qualified candidates with disabilities have priority in appointment.

Change

Parliament’s Services Committee said the change is meant to give fuller effect to rights granted under the Constitution and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Committee chairman Mamdouh Al Saleh reminded MPs that the elected chamber had already tried to raise the quota in the previous term, when a similar proposal fell in the Shura Council.

“Today the very same text comes from Shura,” he told the chamber, adding that MPs were looking at the issue “from the perspective of the interests of persons with disabilities, not out of stubbornness”.

Legal duty

 MP Ahmed Al Salloom pointed to Labour Ministry data as grounds for tightening the legal duty on employers.

He said more than 300 job-seekers with disabilities are registered with the ministry and told MPs: “These numbers call for a legislative move to absorb this group.”

He also drew comparisons with the region, noting that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait apply a 4 per cent quota, Oman has raised its rate from 1 to 2 per cent and Qatar has a floor of 2 per cent in the private sector.

Claims

Social Development Minister Osama Al Alawi used the debate to address claims that there are 15,000 jobseekers with disabilities.

He told MPs: “The figure of 15,000 is the total number of registered persons with disabilities across all age groups and categories. Those actually looking for work are far fewer than that number and just over 300.”

He said the ministry is moving ahead with a national strategy for persons with disabilities, expanding online services such as registration, reclassification and disability benefit certificates, and preparing to open a new integrated disability centre in A'ali.

According to the ministry, the new facility in A’ali will group several services for persons with disabilities on one site.

Consultations

 The minister said it has been designed after consultations with groups working in the field and is part of a wider plan to improve support, including services for people on the autism spectrum and other needs through partnerships with civil society.

The government had asked Parliament to reconsider the bill.

In a written opinion, it argued that the aims of the proposal are already being achieved under the existing law and the National Strategy for Persons with Disabilities (2023-2027), which covers rehabilitation and access to work.

Warning

It warned that fixing a 4 per cent quota in the public sector and issuing a binding list of reserved posts would run across Civil Service Law No. (48) of 2010, reduce room for judgement in the law and leave some posts unfilled if there are not enough candidates with disabilities, to the detriment of other jobseekers.

The Civil Service Bureau told MPs that it already works with the Social Development Ministry to identify job titles suitable for persons with disabilities.

It said 282 employees with disabilities currently work in government posts.