Training Outline

4.2 Standard Lecture: A Binding Quota without an Effective Sanction (20 minutes)

• Using Transparency 66, explain to participants that under this kind of system, employers are obliged through legislation to employ a quota of persons with disabilities, but that this obligation is not backed up with any effective sanction - either because it does not exist or the sanction is not enforced. This lack could be due to the fact that the legislation does not provide for an effective sanction or because the public authorities have decided not to prosecute in cases where the quota obligation is not met.

• Use Transparencies 67-68 to illustrate this point with the examples from the United Kingdom and Thailand. Conclude by stating that it is not merely enough to impose a quota - provisions must be made for an effective enforcement mechanism if the quota is to have a practical impact.

  In the United Kingdom in 1993, less than twenty per cent of British employers met the three per cent quota established under the Disabled Persons (Employment) Act of 1944. The main reason for the failure of the British quota was the unwillingness or inability of successive governments to enforce the quota by strictly policing the granting of exemption permits and prosecuting errant employers through the courts. Few prosecutions occurred. The quota was abolished in 1996 when the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 came into force.

  In Thailand, a quota obligation was established for private employers by the Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons Act of 1991. Those who failed to meet the quota were obliged, under law, to pay a levy. No enforcement mechanism existed, however, and the impact of the quota was limited. The Persons with Disabilities Empowerment Act of 2007 that replaced the 1991 Act, provides for an employment quota for public and private employers, subsequently specified by Ministerial decree as one employee with a disability for every 100 employees. Non-complying employers may offer a business concession, provide sales or services, or offer occupational training for persons with disabilities. Those who do not comply with these options are required to make a compensatory payment. As a form of social sanction, information on compliance or non-compliance with the law can be made public.