Supported employment enterprises on the decline

As Alicja Baczyńska reports, legal regulations changing the status of supported employment enterprises in Poland have many observers fearing the new legislation jeopardises the jobs of disabled staff members. Others, however, claim that the declining number of such companies, triggered by the new regulations, is not necessarily bad news.

“Employers from the mainstream labour market enjoy the same powers as those from the supported employment enterprises,” says Jan Zając, head of the Polish Organisation of Disabled Persons’ Employers. “However, in the case of the latter, restrictive policies remain valid, leaving them in a worse-off economic position compared to other employers,” he adds.