CLA urges firms to employ more disabled personnel

This article was published by the Taiwan Headlines on April 24, 2006. It reports that the Council of Labor Affairs recently urged the public to provide employment opportunities to the disabled and the handicapped.

The government also pledged to increase the number of employed disabled people. It plans to increase the budget for promoting the employment of the disabled by 20 percent, from NT$890 million in 2006 to NT$1.07 billion in 2007.

According to the Council of Labor Affairs, in 2006, it aims to reach the goal of increasing the number of jobs made available by the council for the disabled and handicapped people by 20 percent, from about 7,000 to 8,400. Another important goal in 2006 is to reduce the shortfall of the number of the disabled and handicapped people that companies should have employed by 20 percent, from 3,400 to 2,700.

Under current laws that protect handicapped people, at least 2 percent of the employees of government organizations, public schools or public enterprises with 50 employees or above must be disabled. Furthermore, according to the laws, private schools, organizations or companies with more than 50 employees should have at least 1 percent handicapped employees as part of their workforce.

If organizations or institutions violate the aforementioned laws, they have to pay penalties that will go to the funds controled by local governments. The funds will be used to subsidize employment promotion activities for the disabled.

Now, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the implementation of the Protection Law for the Handicapped and Disabled, the government wants to remind the public of the rights and interests of the disabled and to encourage the disabled to develop their potentials to work.

According to the Council of Labor Affairs, there are currently 47 handicapped people employed in the council's telephone service center. These people deal with 93 percent of cases successfully.

According to the Council of Labor Affairs, companies should give priority to the disabled in jobs such as telephone servicemen and call operators, in order to give physically or mentally challenged people an opportunity to contribute to the society.