03.05.2017

This Bill is mainly designed to help disabled people with serious health problems find work, as well as placing new obligations on social services.

Under this proposal, the list of services provided by employment agencies will include helping an unemployed disabled person find work, creating a suitable working environment, and facilitating rapid professional adaptation in the workplace. According to the Ministry of Labour, the Bill focuses on disabled people with serious health problems as this group of people is in increasing need of help.

The Bill places special emphasis on the journey that a disabled person has to make to and from work, as well as enabling them to move comfortably around an office.  Employers and specialist NGOs will also be able to help people with particular health problems get to work and in moving safely around a building. In addition, the workplace will need to have facilities that cater for a disabled person’s needs in line with current employment legislation.

A disabled person’s written consent will be required to enable them to start looking for a job. The Bill states that “the consent of a disabled person for help in seeking work can be sent to employment services using a “personal online account” on the national information system’s Federal Disabled Register.

Once the statement has been processed, and having taken into account the person’s limitations regarding certain types of work, staff from specialist medical and social institutions will send the details to the employment service who will then contact the person seeking work. Having checked the person’s education profile, professional experience and work preferences, the employment service will select a suitable vacancy from their database. The prospective employee will then meet their future employer.

The Bill states that employment services will “set a timescale of 3-12 months to allow an employer to take steps to facilitate the employment of a disabled person which reflects their level of professional training, as well as taking the recommendations of the individual’s rehab/habilitation programme into account”.

If an employee no longer wishes to continue working in a former specialism (profession), the employment services must give him/her the opportunity to undergo professional or additional vocational training to help them find work in another specialist area.

The Bill went out for public consultation in January this year and is now being prepared for submission to the Russian Government. Once approved by the Ministerial Cabinet, the Bill will be presented to the State Duma.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2017/05/03/zakon-trudoustrojstvo-invalidov/