Who is a disabled person?
A disabled person is a person whose physical, mental or mental condition permanently or temporarily impedes, limits or makes impossible the fulfillment of social roles, in particular the ability to perform professional work, if he or she has obtained an appropriate certificate.
How to get a disability rating?
A certificate on the degree of disability is issued by the relevant adjudicating institutions at the request of the interested person. These are poviat teams for adjudicating on disability and provincial teams for adjudicating on disability (as the second appellate instance).
There are three degrees of disability:
- Significant degree of disability equivalent to the first disability group.
- Moderate degree of disability equivalent to the second disability group.
- Mild degree of disability equivalent to the third disability group.
What help can a disabled person registered with the employment office expect?
A disabled person may be registered at the District Labor Office as:
- Unemployed – a person who has an established disability, but is not entitled to, among others, to work incapacity pension, social pension, permanent benefit.
- I am looking for a job – a person who, in addition to the established disability, is entitled, among others, to: to work incapacity pension, social pension, permanent benefit.
A person with a certified degree of disability who is able to take up employment at least half of the working time and has the status of „unemployed” may use all the services of the employment office and instruments provided for an unemployed person.
In addition, a disabled person registered at the district labor office as a job seeker who is not employed may also use the following services or instruments specified in the Promotion Act on the same terms as the unemployed:
- Training and internship vouchers
- Intervention works
- Vocational preparation of adults
- Medical or psychological examinations referred to in Art. 2 section 3 of the Promotion Act;
- Reimbursement of costs referred to in Art. 45 section 1, 2 and 4 of the Promotion Act;
- Financing the costs referred to in Art. 45 section 3 of the Promotion Act;
- Postgraduate studies
- Training based on tripartite training agreements concluded between the starosta, the employer and the training institution
- A settlement voucher
- Training voucher
For disabled people who have the status of „job seeker” and are not employed, there are employment office services and instruments financed from PFRON funds. These instruments are addressed directly to disabled people, as well as to their employers.
Rights of an employer employing a person with a certified degree of disability
- Monthly subsidy to the employee’s salary.
- Reimbursement of the costs of adapting the workplace.
- Reimbursement of costs of workplace equipment.
- Reimbursement of employee training costs.
- Reimbursement of the costs of employing an employee helping a disabled employee at work.
- Exemption from payments to PFRON.
- Refund of part of the salary or social security contributions.
Rights of a person with a certified degree of disability who is able to work, has the status of „unemployed” or is looking for a job
- Help in finding employment (job placement).
- Possibility to acquire, supplement and improve professional qualifications and gain professional experience (training, postgraduate studies, internship).
- Assistance in choosing the right place of work, taking into account professional predispositions and health possibilities as well as requirements in a given work environment (career advisor).
Disabled people starting and running a business or agricultural activity
- Financial support for starting a business or agricultural activity or contributing to a social cooperative.
- Subsidies for bank loan interest.
- Refund of ZUS contributions.
The type of support granted will depend on the profiled assistance provided during a visit to a client advisor at the District Labor Office.
What privileges does a disabled person have at work?
The basic normative act regulating the rights and obligations of employers employing disabled people, including the rights of a disabled employee, is the Act of August 27, 1997 on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of disabled people (Journal of Laws of 2018, item 511, as amended). later changed). In labor relations, as with all other employees, the rules are regulated by labor law, primarily the Labor Code.
Mild degree of disability
- Working time cannot exceed 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week.
- A disabled person cannot be employed at night or overtime.
- A disabled person has the right to an additional break from work for exercise or rest; the break time is 15 minutes and is included in the working time.
Moderate and significant degree of disability
- Working time cannot exceed 7 hours a day and 35 hours a week.
- A disabled person cannot be employed at night or overtime.
- A disabled person has the right to an additional break from work for exercise or rest; the break time is 15 minutes and is included in the working time.
- A disabled person is entitled to additional leave of 10 working days per calendar year.
- A disabled person has the right to time off from work while retaining the right to remuneration for up to 21 working days in order to participate in a rehabilitation stay or to perform specialist tests, medical or rehabilitation treatments, if these activities cannot be performed outside working hours.
Attention!
The above-mentioned working time restrictions for all disabled persons do not apply:
- to persons employed in guarding and
- when, at the request of an employed person, the doctor conducting preventive examinations of employees or, failing that, the doctor taking care of the person gives consent.
How can a disabled person get help looking for a job?
Persons with a certified degree of disability may seek employment both on the open labor market and in sheltered workshops, depending on the indications contained in the certificate on the degree of disability. Classifying a person as having a significant or moderate degree of disability does not exclude the possibility of employing that person with an employer who does not have the status of a sheltered workshop in the case of:
- The employer adapting the workplace to the needs of a disabled person;
- Employment in the form of remote work.
The list of sheltered workshops is available on the website: www.zpchr.pl
Both offers from the open labor market and sheltered workshops may be submitted to labor offices. A disabled person may contact the employment office directly or by telephone to obtain information about job offers. All job offers for people registered at the employment office are also available on the website.
Employment of a support worker
Disabled people can also benefit from the support of a support worker. Detailed information on this subject can be found on the PFRON website: Employment of a support worker.