Disability Rights 9: Rights at work

In addition to the human rights laws in the Constitution of Uganda there are several other rights granted to persons with disabilities (PWDs). These rights are given by law in the Persons With Disabilities Act 2006 (PWDA) which is modeled on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Whether you are a PWD or not, these laws apply to you.

These sections of the PWDA deals with the rights of PWDs at work.

• Section 14 says an employer is not allowed to subject a PWD to a medical examination of their disability unless all employees are required to have a health examination.
• Section 15 says an employer should not discriminate against an employee that opposes discrimination or testifies against an employer.
• Section 16 says that no PWD should be put at a disadvantage because of problems accessing work areas.
• Section 17 says that if an employer employs more than 9 PWDs they are entitled to a tax reduction of 15% on all taxes paid.
• Section 18 says that an employee's contract is void if they are required to do anything that is against the PWDA.

Not only is it illegal to discriminate against PWDs, if your work contract asks you to do anything to discriminate against a PWD it is void.

If you are a PWD this means that any business employing 10 or more employees is entitled to a 15% tax reduction on all taxes paid.

Employment is about what you can do, not what you can't do.

Mobility Appliances by Disabled Women Entrepreneurs (MADE) is a non-profit manufacturing organization, established with the primary objective of providing means of mobility to persons with disabilites.

This law is written like this in sections 14 to 18 of the Persons With Disabilities Act 2006:

14. Discriminative medical examination

(1) An employer shall not conduct any test or examination to establish whether an applicant is a person with a disability or as to the nature or severity of the person's disability.

(2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall not prevent an employer from making pre-employment inquiries into the ability of an applicant to perform job related functions.

(3) An employer may require medical examination after an offer of employment if—

(a) all newly appointed employees are subject to such examination;

(b) the examination is required for the health programme available in the employment.

15.Discrimination against employees 

(1) An employer shall not discriminate against any employee on ground that the employee—

(a) opposes acts or practices discriminating against persons with disabilities; or

(b) testified, assisted or participated in an investigation, proceedings or hearing of a case against discrimination of a person with a disability.

16. Access to work premises 

It shall be the duty of the employer to ensure that the physical features of the premises occupied by an employee do not place an employee with a disability at a disadvantage. 

17. Tax reduction 

Private employers who employ ten or more persons with disabilities either as regular employees, apprentice or learner on full time basis shall be entitled to tax deduction of fifteen percent of all pay able tax upon proof to the Uganda Revenue Authority.

18 Void contracts 

Any contract of employment or other agreement is void if the contract--

(a) requires a person to do anything prohibited under this Act;

(b) excludes or limits the operation of any provision of this Act; or

(c) prevents any person from lodging a complaint under section 41 of this Act.