Companies employing 50 or more workers are obliged to ensure that 2% of the workforce is made up of people with some form of disability. This calculation is performed on the whole workforce of the company, regardless of the number of work centres and regardless of the type of employment contract between the employees and the company.
However, on 2 June 2015, Decree 86/2015 was issued clarifying and regulating some aspects relating to the declaration of exceptionality and alternative measures.
Companies may be exceptionally exempt from the obligation to contract persons with a disability, by adopting some of the substitute measures. To do so, they must request the declaration of exceptionality from the public employment services prior to the adoption of the alternative measures.
Some of the alternative measures to contracting are the following:
- The signing of a service or civil contract with a special employment centre, or with self-employed worker with a disability, for the supply of raw material, machinery, capital equipment, or any other type of goods necessary for the business activity.
- The signing of a service or civil contract with a special employment centre, or with self-employed worker with a disability, for the provision of services that are external and complementary to the normal activity of the business.
The annual amount of the abovementioned measures must be at least three times the annual IPREM [Spanish Public Indicator of Multiple Effect Income] for each worker with a disability not contracted below the quota of 2%.
- Making donations and performing charity actions of a monetary nature for the development of employment market integration and the creation of employment for persons with disabilities. The beneficiary entity of these actions must be a foundation or association of public interest, the business purpose of which being professional training, employment market integration or the creation of employment for persons with disabilities.
The annual amount of this measure must be at least 1.5 times the annual IPREM for each worker with a disability not contracted below the quota of 2%.
The penalty for non-fulfilment of the obligation to reserve work posts for persons with disabilities or application of alternative measures, varies between EUR 626 and EUR 6,250.
