A presentation on the approaches to achieving inclusive employment in Uganda - employment quotas and non-discrimination; and recommendations to maximizing outcomes for persons with disabilities through effective employment quotas.

2. Background
•Uganda has a disability prevalence of 12.4%, 80% of whom are of
working age and live in long-term poverty with limited access to
education, health facilities and employment services.
•Several studies highlight inequalities in access to the open labour
market for persons with disabilities, characterized with
stereotypes and discrimination.
•Government has expressed vivid commitment to end
discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment,
though little or no achievements are documented.

3. Approaches to Inclusive Employment
Equality of Opportunity Approach
•Commonly in use by the U.S., based on anti-discrimination laws,
and mandates employers to provide reasonable accommodations
for persons with disabilities.
•The approach guarantees remedies against discrimination and
allows for flexible responses to specific circumstances.
•However, it creates problems for employers in determining what
constitutes discrimination.

4. • This approach in Uganda is evident through international, regional and national
legislations. International instruments include the UDHR, and the CRPD.
• Regional instruments include the ACHPR, and the EALA Act and Policy on Disability.
• National legislations include the Constitution; Persons with Disabilities Act;
Employment Act; National Policy on Disability; National Employment Policy;
Employment Regulations.
• Uganda has also established institutions to enforce and monitor the implementation
the anti-discrimination approaches, including the National Council for Disabilities;
Equal Opportunities Commission; Uganda Human Rights Commission; and the
Department of Disability and Elderly at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social
Development.

5. Approaches to Inclusive Employment
Employment Quotas
• Based on employment quota systems, premised on a distinction between people
with disabilities and people without disabilities, and mandates the employment of
people with disabilities according to established numerical standards.
• The approach is able to secure positive effects within certain parameters, but is
characterized by an inadequate perspective on the equal treatment of people with
disabilities and on prohibitions against their discrimination, and lacks a sense of
association between disabilities and job performance.
• It involves imposing hiring quotas with the possibility of rewards for fulfillment, or
severe penalties for breach.

6. • The setting of a quota means that the state establishes a minimum number of jobs to
be ensured by the employers to hire persons with disabilities.
• The quota is set as a percentage of each employer's personnel, without account for
jobs involving heavy work or work with harmful or hazardous labour conditions.
• Quotas can be introduced by law or through a government decision or regulation.
• Under a quota-levy scheme, a binding quota is set and all covered employers who do
not meet their obligations are required to pay a levy. The money raised through such
a quota scheme is transferred into a fund to support the employment of Persons
with disabilities.
• Countries effectively implementing the quota system include Rwanda, Kenya,
Austria, France, India, China, Germany and Japan.

7. •In Uganda, Section 9(6) of the Persons with Disabilities Act (as
amended) gives the Minister authority to determine a quota or
percentage of Persons with disabilities to be employed.
•An employer of with employees with disabilities can be allowed
deductions of up to ten percent on the chargeable income.
•Initially, the law provided for a 15% tax deduction for all employers
who employed 10 or more persons with disabilities..

8. Approaches to Inclusive Employment
Anti-discrimination laws
• Laws and policies in many countries prohibit disability-based discrimination in all
matters related to employment, the greatest shift in the area employment of
persons with disabilities.
• Unlike quotas, legislations assume the fact that persons with disabilities are able to
compete for jobs on their merits, provided the environment in which they do so does
not discriminate against them because of their disability and that they are provided
reasonable accommodations as needed.
• IN Uganda, the Constitution, Employment Act, and Persons with Disabilities Act
prohibit disability-based discrimination in employment processes.

9. Limitations of both Approaches in Uganda
• Low sensitization about the anti-discrimination laws. Almost no enforcement as well.
It is impossible to determine what constitutes indirect discrimination.
• There has been no enforcement of Section 13(3) of the Persons with Disabilities Act,
hence, no employment quota is implemented in the public sector.
• Low sensitization about the existing private sector quota and its application.
• There are no clear regulations in regards to implementation of Section 17, or its
amendment.
• Gains from the existing private sector quota are not documented.
• There is no exemplary action from government in regards to employment of persons
with disabilities.

10. Recommendations
• Benchmark practices from nearby States implementing employment quotas
alongside anti-discriminatory laws;
• Undertake a situational analysis on the employment of persons with disabilities in
the public sector;
• Enforce the implementation of Section 13(3) to promote public sector employment
of persons with disabilities;
• Create awareness amongst employers on the potentials and rights of persons with
disabilities in the workplace;
• Develop stringent administrative policy guidelines for the implementation of private
sector employment quotas for persons with disabilities;

11. •Develop a mechanism for periodic reporting on the situation of
persons with disabilities in employment;
•Develop an elaborate employment affirmative action program for
persons with disabilities in the public sector;
•Provide for representation of persons with disabilities at the Public
Service Commission and District Service Commissions;
•Determine employment quotas for foreign investors establishing
new businesses in the country.

12. Beyond Limits Initiative
Sseguku, Entebbe Road
Email: info@beyondlimitsinitiative.org Tel: +256 780 457308
Website: www.beyondlimitsinitiative.org