Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2015, publiée 105ème session CIT (2016)

Convention (n° 159) sur la réadaptation professionnelle et l'emploi des personnes handicapées, 1983 - Allemagne (Ratification: 1989)

The Committee notes the observations of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB) received on 4 September 2015 concerning, inter alia, the deficits in achieving the mandatory quota of employees with severe disabilities in the private sector and that opposed to the general trend the unemployment rate of persons with severe disabilities has increased. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Articles 1–7 of the Convention. National policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities. In reply to the previous comments concerning the measures taken in the context of the national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities, the Government indicates that a total of 7,548,965 persons with severe disabilities were registered in December 2013, out of which 3,697,397 were women. Out of the total number, 3,329,474 persons with disabilities were of working age (between 15 and 65 years of age). The Committee notes the overview provided by the Government of the measures implemented to facilitate the reintegration of persons with disabilities, including the “Job4000” programme. Building on the “Jobs Without Barriers” initiative, Jobs4000 ran from 2007 to 2013 and focused on the professional integration of persons with severe disabilities as well as young persons and high school graduates into the general vocational training and labour market by providing incentives to employers to employ or train more persons with disabilities than legally required. This programme resulted in the creation of 2,147 additional jobs and 4,438 training positions. Furthermore, since 2004 a legal requirement exists for employers to offer an active in-company integration management for persons on sick leave for more than six weeks for which the social partners have to render in-company support. The Committee notes the Government’s awareness that some measures are mainly effective in larger companies as small and medium sized-enterprises (SMEs) often lack the personnel and professional resources. Several pilot projects to assist SMEs in this regard have been launched. The Committee also notes that in 2011 the Government initiated the “Inclusion Initiative” for persons with severe disabilities aimed at providing professional orientation for pupils, promoting the creation of new vocational training positions in the general labour market and employment positions for persons above 50 years of age, as well as fostering the inclusion competence of chambers of commerce. The Government indicates that in the reporting period, out of the 40,000 envisaged professional orientation measures, 17,422 have been undertaken; 4,000 were employment positions were envisaged, of which 1,912 were created; and 825 persons of the 1,300 foreseen have commenced vocational training programmes. The Committee notes from the background information provided by the Federal Employment Agency in May 2015 that persons with severe disabilities have greater difficulties than persons with non-severe disabilities to find employment in the open labour market and fewer of them benefited from active labour market policy measures. Moreover, the length of their unemployment spells and their percentage of the long-term unemployed are significantly higher than that of persons with non-severe disabilities. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the measures adopted to enable persons with disabilities and persons with severe disabilities to obtain and retain employment and to advance in their professions. Please also include information on how the views and concerns of the social partners and representatives of organizations of, and for, persons with disabilities are taken into account in the formulation and implementation of the policy and the measures designed to promote vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2016.]