Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Italy (Ratification: 2000)

Promotion of employment opportunities for workers with disabilities. Reasonable accommodation. The Committee notes the Government’s information and statistics provided in November 2013 in reply to its 2011 observation. The Government indicates that the 2010–11 period was marked by the continuance of the economic and employment crisis which affected the whole country, and which has also had an impact on the mandatory placement system for persons with disabilities. As a result of the implementation of Act No. 68/99 on the right to work of persons with disabilities, 22,360 persons were placed in jobs in 2010 and 22,023 in 2011; both years higher than the historic low in 2009, with 20,830 placements. From the statistics provided, the Committee notes the disparity between the country’s regions in regards to registration and placements; as the recovery seems to have positively affected most regions, except in the South. It also notes that over half of the job placements were established under fixed-term or other types of contracts, excluding contracts of employment of indeterminate duration. Among the measures that were implemented is the inclusion of a dedicated section to the employment of persons with disabilities on the job placement website of the Ministry of Labour. Moreover, the Committee notes the establishment of the National Observatory on the Condition of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee notes with interest that the Government adopted Legislative Decree No. 76 of 28 June 2013, converted into Act No. 99 of 9 August 2013, which provides that employers in the public and private sectors are required to take appropriate steps to ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided in the workplace, as defined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to ensure equality of persons with disabilities with other workers. The Committee encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts to promote employment opportunities for persons with disabilities in the open labour market so as to ensure that they secure, retain and advance in employment. It requests the Government to provide an assessment supported by statistics, disaggregated by sex, where available, of the impact of the national policy on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities on effectively increasing labour market participation for the persons concerned (Articles 3 and 7 of the Convention). Please also provide information on the impact of the existing legal framework on the employment of persons with disabilities, including on reasonable accommodation, and on the activities of the National Observatory on the Condition of Persons with Disabilities in relation to the matters covered by the Convention.