Disabled workers may request an adaptation of their position.

The two objectives of the rule approved this morning by the Council of Ministers are to eliminate automatic dismissal for severe disability and at the same time, allow disabled workers to demand that the company adapt their job.

It is a project promised and agreed by the Ministry of Labor with the Spanish Committee of Representatives of People with Disabilities (Cermi), which is now beginning its process after this morning’s decision by the Government. It is a reform that will adapt Spanish legislation to a recent ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, which declared that article 49 of the Workers’ Statute in its reference to sudden disability is contrary to European law.

Specifically, this article 49 establishes that the termination of the employment contract occurs due to “death, severe disability or permanent total or absolute incapacity of the worker.” This is going to change, so that recognition of this disability will be eliminated as an automatic cause for termination of the employment relationship. Furthermore, what is expected is that it will be mandatory for companies to make “reasonable adjustments” so that these people with disabilities can work. That is, an adaptation of the job in the event that the disability occurs when they are already performing these functions.

For the Ministry of Labor, this measure represents “a new protection of the rights of people with disabilities,” and eliminates discrimination such as that which involved automatic dismissal in certain situations of disability. Now, it will be time to prioritize adapting the job or changing to other functions.

Another significant change is that the decision to terminate the contract, until now in the hands of the company, will be conditional on the will of the worker.