New law mandates hiring of PWDs

President Aquino signed into law Republic Act 10524 (An Act Expanding the Positions Reserved for Persons with Disability) last month, which amended the 1992 Magna Carta for Persons with Disabilities. The edict makes it mandatory for government agencies and government-owned corporations to reserve one percent of their workforce for disabled persons.

Pres. Aquino signed RA 10524 on 12 May 2013.

Section 5 of the Magna Carta state that “No persons with disability shall be denied access to opportunities for suitable employment;" and that “a qualified employee with disability shall be subject to the same terms and conditions of employment and the same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe benefits, incentives or allowances as a qualified able bodied person.”

The new law also encourages private companies with more than 100 employees to hire disabled persons and set aside at least one percent of their workforce for them.

The Department of Labor, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfard and Development, National Council on Disability Affairs, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and Governance Commission for government-owned or government-controlled corporations have been instructed by the President to formulate the implementing rules and regulations.

Posted in: employment,government