A parliamentary question raised by member of parliament Graziella Galea, revealed that in the first five months of 2023 (end of May), 2,304 companies employed persons with disability.
This statistic reflects a four per cent increase compared to figures representing the 12 months of 2022. Answering MP Galea’s questions, Minister for Finance and Employment Clyde Caruana explained that in 2021 a total of 1,971 companies employed persons with disability whilst in 2022, the figure was that of 2,213 companies.
The Persons with Disability (Employment) Act in Chapter 210 of the Laws of Malta came into effect in 1969, almost 55 years ago. This law obligated companies to maintain a registry of employees with disabilities and prohibited unfair dismissal on the basis of disability. This act ensured a two per cent quota for companies with more than 20 employees.
Despite being in the Constitution for some time, the law was not enforced by Government until stricter reform was re-implemented in 2015.
The Government committed itself to enforce the quota and established that companies with 20 or more employees, that do not have two per cent of their workforce made up of persons with disabilities, are required to make an annual contribution of €2,400 for every person with disabilities that should be in their employment.
Asked how many companies did not meet the quota, Minister Caruana stated that in:
- 2023 figures are still to be published.
This amounts to 2,050 companies.
Despite so, Minister Caruana clarified that in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, to ease the financial burden on companies’ contributions accumulated by companies in 2021 (calculations based on 2022) Jobsplus did not send any requests for contributions.
However, come next year, Jobsplus is expected to collect contributions on calculations based on 2023.
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