Disability and Employment—A Contemporary Disability Human Rights Approach Applied to Danish, Swedish and Eu Law and Policy

This book defined a contemporary disability human rights approach for the field of employment. Based on an analysis of the newly-adopted UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and present-day interpretations of international and European human rights instruments, the book identifies four main requirements as characterizing the contemporary disability human rights approach on the labor market: 1) substantive equality founded on inclusive general structures, 2) a definition of disability which recognizes that disability results from the interaction between impairment and social structures and that all persons may, at one time or another, be disabled, 3) involvement of organizations of disabled persons in law and policy-making, and 4) a rights-based approach. It examines Danish and Swedish employment law and policy, as well as their compliance. In addition, EU law and policy is examined. The analysis and comparison of Danish and Swedish law and policy concentrates on four different areas of employment law and policy: disability equality, employers' obligations towards employees with disabilities and/or reduced working capacity, employment promotion for unemployed persons with disabilities, and income-replacement for persons with disabilities outside the labor market. The comparison shows that the main difference between Danish and Swedish disability employment law lies in the level of employers' obligations under employment protection law, as well as health and safety law. It is argued that this difference leads to more inclusive general structures on the labor market in Sweden and constitutes the main explanation for the extreme difference in employment rates for persons with disabilities and reduced working capacity in Denmark and Sweden. (Series: School of Human Rights Research - Vol. 43)