Workplace discrimination against disabled people and earnings gaps

Disadvantages in employment opportunities and discrimination in the workplace are significant issues for Canadians with disabilities.  Perceived discrimination in the workplace can encompass the following situations and experiences:

• ·      refused an interview
• ·      refused a job
• ·      refused a promotion
• ·      given less responsibility
• ·      paid less than co-workers
• ·      denied accommodation  
• ·      denied work-related benefits.

The level of apparent discrimination varies by type and severity of disability. People with learning, psychiatric and cognitive disabilities and people with mental health issues are more likely than people with disabilities in general to express feelings and experiences of unfair treatment in employment because of their condition. “Regardless of the nature of the discrimination, the finding is that the extent of the discrimination increases as level of limitation increases” (Furie 2010, 29).

In a troubling trend, research indicates that “between 2001 and 2006, there was a decline in provision of some workplace accommodations by employers: in 2006, 65 percent of workers with disabilities who felt they required a job redesign had received one, down from 80 percent in 2001; [and] provision of human support declined from 83 percent in 2001 to 55 percent in 2006” (HRSDC 2010, 11).

Workers with disabilities are more likely to receive lower pay, even after adjusting for full or part time and full or part year employment, and are more likely to have fewer promotions (Garlarneau and Radulescu 2009, 12). It is important to point out that when people have a disability that limits them other than at work, there is no apparent earnings gap.

When the annual employment income for people with disabilities and people without disabilities are divided into quintiles, as Furie (2010) did, results show that 27% of employees with disabilities are in the lowest quintile compared to 19% of employees without disabilities. Only 15% of employees with disabilities are in the highest quintile, compared to 20% of employees without disabilities. In terms of total household income in quintiles for 2005, 33% of people with disabilities were in the lowest quintile compared to 18% of people without disabilities, while in the highest income quintile were 11% of people with disabilities contrasted by 21% of people without disabilities.

References

Furie, A. 2010. “Towards a better understanding of the dynamics of disability and its impact on employment: Final Report,” Ottawa:  Adele Furrie Consulting Inc.

Galarneau, D., and M. Radulescu. 2009. “Employment among the disabled.” Perspectives on Labour and Income 10 (5) 5-15.

Human Resources and Skills Development Canada. 2010. “Labour Market Participation of Persons with Disabilities in Canada: an overview.”

Diversity and severity of disability

In Canadian public policy, the diversity and the severity of disability needs to be better recognized.

The actual phenomenon of disability is heterogeneous in character. The term signifies people with developmental or intellectual, mental health, physical, visual or sensory conditions. As described in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, disability refers to physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis.

Definitions of disability in public programs in Canada tend to incorporate medicalized dichotomies that a person is either able-bodied or disabled. Although definitions do vary among programs (and also among social surveys) the general effect, because of a shared medical orientation, is to individualize and pathologize a person’s condition, to emphasize the inability to work rather than focus on work capacity, to ignore fluctuating or episodic conditions, and consequently to exclude some people from qualifying for specific programs.

About half of working-age adults with disabilities are outside the labour force, while others are unemployed, and still others are employed or involved in employment preparation activities of varying circumstances.

In Canadian disability policy, employment relates to a number of different sectors, organizational settings and particular arrangements, not all of which involve paid work and participation in the conventional labour force.

Employment preparation of a rudimentary kind may take place in adult day programs and activity centres, where the emphasis is usually on social services, recreation and leisure, and life skills training. Vocational training and support services can take place in ability centres and sheltered workshops and local employment service agencies may facilitate work experience placements for clients with disabilities. More integrated labour force participation takes place through worker cooperatives, social enterprises, self-employment, and what is called supported employment.  

Supported employment is paid and meaningful work in the labour market obtained and maintained with appropriate supports such equipment or job coaching assistance.

“Employment first” is a preferred idea and claim expressed by Canadian disability organizations. It is also an emergent policy commitment by some provincial governments that gainful employment should be the first priority and the anticipated outcome for people with disabilities. The expected result is real work for real pay in an inclusive work setting. That is to say, meaningful work to the individual and valued by others, paid at the industry or sector standard, where employees with disabilities enjoy the rights of other employees and are protected by legislated employment and safety standards on an equal basis with other workers.