The law establishing an employment quota system for people with disabilities dates back to 2019 and mandates all companies with 75 or more employees to hire individuals with disabilities, with the required percentage varying according to the total number of workers on staff.
The legislation applies to individuals with a disability degree of 60% or higher. However, a new labor revision proposed by the government, known as Work XXI, aims to reduce this percentage to 33% or higher.
“I find this concerning because we see now that the majority of people with disabilities reported in companies, particularly in the private sector, have between 60% and 80% disability,” stated Paula Campos Pinto in comments to Lusa.
According to the professor and researcher, most workers with disabilities in private companies are at the threshold of 60%, the minimum required to apply the quota law.
“I fear that by reducing [the degree of disability] in this way, it might widen the spectrum of those workers who are already in companies and may have acquired some form of disability, potentially creating greater exclusion for individuals with congenital disability and those acquired in childhood from accessing the labor market,” she warned.
She also criticized that this change was unexpectedly included in the draft proposal without any prior consultation with associations or organizations for people with disabilities.
According to Paula Campos Pinto, individuals with disabilities working in the private sector currently have high educational qualifications, a moderate degree of disability between 60% and 80%, and are of an older age group.
For the professor and researcher, “this is concerning,” as it could indicate that companies are not actively recruiting people with disabilities but rather classifying existing employees who acquire disabilities, due to chronic illnesses, aging, or oncological diseases, as disabled under the multi-use incapacity certificate.
Portugal has one of the lowest disparities in employment between people with and without disabilities in the European Union, yet individuals with disabilities remain more vulnerable to unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment, running counter to the trend in Europe.
Lusa | 06:32 – 10/12/2025
