Slovenia: Legislation concerning disabled people and employment

EMPLOYMENT OF HARD-TO-EMPLOY PEOPLE IN SLOVENIA
Legislation and Some Programmes

The Slovenian version can be downloaded here.

EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIPS ACT
(Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs)

Protection of Certain Categories of Workers

1. PROTECTION OF WOMEN (Article 186 - Prohibition on Underground Work)

2. PROTECTION OF WORKERS DUE TO PREGNANCY AND PARENTHOOD (Article 187 - General; Article 188 - Protection of Data Related to Pregnancy; Article 189 - Prohibition on Work during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding; Article 190 - Protection during Pregnancy and Parenthood with regard to Night Work and Overtime Work; Article 191 - Parental Leave; Article 192 - Wage Compensation; Article 193 - The Rights of a Breastfeeding Mother)

3. PROTECTION OF WORKERS UNDER THE AGE OF 18 (Article 194 - General; Article 195 - Prohibition on Work; Article 196 - Working Time, Break, Rest; Article 197- Prohibition on Night Work; Article 198 – Extended Annual Leave)

4. PROTECTION OF DISABLED PERSONS (Article 199 - Employment, Training and Retraining of Disabled Persons; Article 200 - The Rights of Disabled Workers)

5. PROTECTION OF OLDER WORKERS (Article 201 - Definition; Article 202 - Part-Time Work; Article 203 - Restriction on Overtime and Night Work)

QUOTAS AND QUOTA SYSTEM
(Fund of the Republic of Slovenia for the Stimulation of Disabled Persons' Employment)

Pursuant to the work rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons act, the Government of Slovenia at the proposal of the Economic and Social Council determines with a decision the quotas for job placement of disabled persons. The quotas vary by different areas of employers’ activities but cannot be less than 2 percent or more than 6 percent of the overall number of employees of a particular company.

These quotas must be met by every employer who is an entity under public law, a private individual or a legal entity, except for foreign diplomatic and consular missions, disability companies and employment centres.

The decision sets out different levels of quotas by the areas of activity in accordance with the Decision on the Introduction and Use of Standard Classification of Activities. The quotas are calculated on the basis of data on the actual number of disabled persons employed in a particular activity as of 30th June 2005. The lowest quota of 2 percent is obligatory for public administration and non-commercial activities, the highest quota of 6 percent is obligatory for industrial branches, which already employ the highest numbers of disabled persons.
The decision also stipulates which disabled persons count towards the quotas and envisages the possibilities for meeting the quotas by means of a business cooperation contract with an employment centre or a disability company. The contracts must be send to the Fund for the Stimulation of Disabled Persons' Employment, which monthly verifies whether the quotas are met.

The decision also envisages rewards for employers employing more disabled persons than required by the quota.


ACTIVE EMPLOYMENT POLICY PROGRAMMES
2007 – 2013
(Employment Service of Slovenia)

The main challenges in the field of employment and unemployment that the Employment Service of Slovenia reacted to with the envisaged Active Employment Policy measures (AEP) are as follows:

- high percentage of the longterm unemployed, whose numbers further increased in the last ten years,
- structural unemployment: poor educational structure of the unemployed, high percentage of the unemployed without education or with low levels of qualifications,
- extremely low number of people in employment and aged between 55 and 64,
- relatively high number of young unemployed persons (between 15 and 24 years of age),
- growing numbers of unemployed persons with higher levels of education,
- growing numbers of unemployed women.

Basic strategic goals of the AEP programmes are as follows:

- increase employment and decrease unemployment and long-term unemployment,
- decrease structural unemployment: increase employability by increasing the levels of education, qualifications and skills attained (improve the educational structure of the unemployed),
- increase adaptability and competitiveness of the employed,
- stimulate new employment (increase the number of supported projects for the development of new employment options),
- strengthen social inclusion (lower the number of recipients of financial support and aid amongst the unemployed).

Steps of the AEP programmes are:

1. Vocational guidance, counselling and help at job-seeking
2. Training and education
3. Stimulation of employment and self-employment
4. Programmes aimed at increasing social inclusion


PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMMES
2007 – 2008
(Employment Service of Slovenia)

The aim of the Public Works Programme 2007 - 2008 (PWP) was to activate unemployed persons and ensure their socialisation, i.e. social inclusion, preservation and development of working skills and stimulation of creating new jobs. The target group for the PWP are long-term unemployed persons who have failed at regular job-seeking. The priority in placement into the programmes is given to the recipients of financial support and aid.

The unemployed can join a public works programme for one year at the most, except for the following categories of people:
- disabled persons (classified as disabled with a written decision of a relevant agency), whose inclusion in these programmes can be extended if a proper job cannot be found;
- women over 53 and men over 55 years of age who can be included in these programmes until they fulfil the conditions for retirement.

For the participants in a public works programme a 30-hour working week is considered to be full time work.

Purposes of the PWP are:
- activation of unemployed persons, their socialization and social inclusion,
- preservation and development of work skills,
- creating new jobs and
- to actively engage local communities in dealing with the issue of unemployment in their areas.

Goals of the PWP for 2008 are:
- monthly, to include on average 2700 unemployed persons in the PWP (or 3800 annually),
- to include 5 percent of the unemployed on the programme into the programmes of training and education for the needs of executing public works,
- to include at least 50 percent of the unemployed who receive financial support and aid into the PWP,
- ensure that within six months of finishing the programme (30th June 2009), 25 percent of the participants will become regularly employed,
- 10 percent of the PWP participants in 2008 will find employment (between 1st January 2008 and 31st December 2008).

The target group of the PWP are the unemployed who find it the hardest to find a job, namely the long-term unemployed, who have been registered at the Employment Service of Slovenia for 12 months in the last 18 months. This target group includes:
- persons over the age of 50,
- persons with 1st and 2nd levels of education,
- first-time employment seekers,
- persons with special obstacles to finding employment (members of the Roma community, persons from disadvantaged backgrounds and/or with decreased working capacities, etc.),
- disabled persons, whose disability has been determined with a written decision of a relevant agency.