A SUMMARIZED REPORT ON EMPLOYMENT WITH DISABILITY – LABOUR ACT

2003 (ACT 651)

Outline
1.0 Definition of terms………………………………………………………………………..2
1.1 Employment
1.2 Disability
2.0 Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………2
3.0 Article sections ……………………………………………………………………………3
3.1 Registration of persons with disability
3.2 Special incentives
3.3 Notification of employment of persons with disability
3.4 Particulars of contract of employment
3.5 Persons with disability in public service post
3.6 Employment not to cease upon disablement
3.7 Length of notice of termination
3. 8Transfer of persons with disability
3.9 Training
3.10 Other relevant enactments
4.0 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………………..4
5.0 Reference ………………………………………………………………………………..4

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Definition of Terms
Employment: Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other
being the employee. It is a state of being employed or having a job
Disability: A disability according to Americans with Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) is a physical
or mental impairment that causes substantial limitation to one or more major life activities for an
individual, a record of impairment for an individual, or an individual who is regarded as being
impaired.

Abstract
In recent times, disability issues have become the major concern for advocacy groups, teachers,
school administrators, and policy makers in many countries. There is much work currently being
done in many countries in order to find the most appropriate placement for persons with
disabilities, particularly in the areas of education, training, and employment. However, there is
evidence to suggest that these efforts have been continuously thwarted by the nature and type of
labels societies place on individuals with disabilities. These labels vary in nature according to the
perceptions, traditions, cultures and beliefs of different societies.
With the proclamation and reaffirmation of the right of the disabled child in Salamanca, Spain in
1994, many countries have intensified efforts to find the best educational option and social
placement for persons who are labeled as disabled. Despite this dramatic development, and
positive achievements by some countries such as United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, in
other countries, particularly Ghana in sub-Saharan West Africa, not much has been done in this
regard. Research conducted in Ghana points to the fact that this situation is partly due to the
labeling discourse that is firmly rooted in the dominant culture of the people (Avoke, 1997, 2001;
Oliver-Commey, 2001; Agbenyega, 2002; Ocloo et al., 2002).
The title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 formerly introduced the concept of protected class and
unlawful employment practices. The Act outlaw’s discrimination based on race, color, religion,
sex, national origin and later sexual orientation and gender identity.
Wiping total discrimination in employment and providing equal employment opportunity for all,
there became the need to safeguard the right of certain classes of people which he title VII of the
Civil Right Act of 1964 did not cover. This inevitable need created the persons with disability
section of the Labor Act.
The Act clarifies that individual who are able to demonstrate that they have been the subject of
prohibited activities, whether or not they actually have some type of impairment are legally
protected.

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Article sections
A person with disability gets registered by applying to the Centre of registration. He or she is then
issued a certificate in a form determined by the Chief Labour Office. Special incentives are
provided to employers who employs persons with disability and also a person with disability
engaged in a business or enterprise; both determined by the Minister. An employee who employs
a person with disability notifies the nearest Centre of employment and should incase the employer
fails to do so, the Chief Labour Officer directs him or her to comply.
A contract of employment with a person with disability includes the working hours, amount of
remuneration, transport facilities, etc. which are the particulars of the job, and also any special
privileges which the person would be accorded by virtue of the employment. Persons with
disability who enters the public services shall be appointed on the terms which are same as those
without disabilities. Irrespective of whether they are allowed to work fewer hours and would be
classified in accordance with their previous period of qualifying service for the purposes of
promotion and other public service awards.
The employment of a person who suffers disability after the employment, shall not cease if his or
her residual capacity for work is such that he or she can be found employment in the same or
corresponding job in the same undertaking. But if no such corresponding job can be found, the
employment is terminated by choice. The length of the notice of termination is required to be given
in the case of a person with disability which should not be shorter than one month.
Considering the transfer of persons with disability he or she is subject to subsection, he or she is
transferred to another job within the same undertaking if the other job can be regarded in the light
of all relevant circumstances as a corresponding job. The relevant circumstances in subsection in
relation to a person with disability includes: the person’s qualifications, the person’s physical
condition, the person’s place of residence and whether the transfer would worsen the conditions in
which the person entered the employment. An employer at his or her own expense is supposed to
provide or arrange training or retraining for the person with disability in order for him or her to
overcome any aspect of his or her disability to be able to cope with any aspect of the person’s
employment.
The above is read as one with any enactment on the employment of persons with disability and
where there is a conflict, the provisions of this part shall prevail.

Conclusion
Although Ghana signed the Union Nations Convention on the Right of Persons with Disability in
March 2007, the government tool until August 2012 to ratify it. An estimated five million
Ghanaians have disabilities, of which 2.8 million have a mental disability, however only one
percent of the country’s health budget is earmarked for mental health services. In 2013, legislation
prohibited the killing of newborn babies with disabilities, so called ‘spirit children’.

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The Ghana Federation of Disability organization is an umbrella group, founded in 1987 of smaller
organization representing various persons with disabilities in Ghana.
Some of their success so far have been at the political level, such as the ‘introduction of tactile
ballot system’, allowing blind citizens to vote on their own since 2004; voter registration and
participation for those in psychiatric hospitals since 2012; and advocacy for the 2006 Persons with
Disability Act (Act 715) and the 2012 Mental Health Act (Act 846).
The Ghana Federation of Disability currently includes the Ghana Blind Union, Ghana National
Association of the Deaf, Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Ghana Association of Persons
with Albinism, Mental Health Society of Ghana and Burns Survivors Association as well as
Inclusion Ghana which specialize in intellectual disability and Share Care Ghana which specialize
in auto – immune and neurological disorders.

Reference
Act, L., 2003. Act 651. National Labour Commission.
Agbenyega, J., 2003, December. The power of labeling discourse in the construction of disability
in Ghana. In A paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education
Conference, Newcastle, Association of Active Educational Researchers (AARE) (Vol. 16).
Reed, S.M. and Bogardus, A.M., 2012. PHR/SPHR professional in human resources certification
study guide. John Wiley & Sons.

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