The practice of paying people with disabilities below the legal minimum must be stopped as part of the rollout of the EU minimum wage directive. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) is making the call during European Disabilities Week.
The situation in the European labour market is dire for people with disabilities, with an employment rate of 51.3% compared to 74.6% for the general population. And persons with disabilities who are in work are more likely to face in-work poverty than people with no disability, according to Eurostat.
France and Portugal are among member states which allow people with disabilities to be paid below the minimum wage. But the text of the EU directive on minimum wages also states that people with disabilities often “receive in practice a remuneration below the statutory minimum wage due to non-compliance with existing rules.”
The ETUC is calling on member states to use the implementation of the EU directive on minimum wages to eliminate discriminatory pay laws and ensure payment of at least the minimum wage or collective agreement, and the right to collective bargaining for genuinely fair pay, is enforced for all workers.
The European Commission should also make binding the employment measures in its European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which include the right to reasonable accommodation at the workplace and job retention schemes. To consider this, it is high time to review the European strategy for the rights of persons with disabilities launched in 2021, where social partners and civil society organisations should be formally consulted.
ETUC Confederal Secretary Tea Jarc said:
“The fundamental concept of a minimum wage is being undermined across Europe by discriminatory loopholes and a lack of enforcement which allows shameless employers to treat people with disabilities, as well as young people and migrants, as cheap labour.
“Instead of helping the most vulnerable in society get into work, the EU’s own data shows these exclusions from statutory minimum wage and collective agreements are helping to keep millions of people in poverty.
“The implementation of the minimum wage directive is an opportunity to end these discriminatory practices and replace them with policies which genuinely help people with disabilities into work.
“Employers must be required to provide reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities. The European Commission's well-intentioned employment package within the European Strategy for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities must be transformed into binding legislation to ensure real impact.”
ETUC Confederal Secretary Giulio Romani added:
“Unacceptable discriminatory practices are steadily on the rise in the world of work, hidden behind the mantra of efficiency and competitiveness.
“But when given the proper opportunities, workers with disabilities make an important contribution to the success of our companies and the economy.
“The re-emergence of ideologies that make the discrimination its own focal point must be countered starting from the workplace.”
