+385 (0)1 5508 320 
+385 (0)1 5508 320
On January 1, 2015 the new law on professional rehabilitation and employ-ment of people with disabilities comes into force which, inter alia, provides the rights of people with disabilities in the employment.
Employers with 20 or more employees are obliged to fulfill the quota of em-ployment in accordance with the law on professional rehabilitation and em-ployment of people with disabilities and have the following options:
According to the above mentioned law, employers with at least 20 employees are obliged to employ a certain number of people with disabilities, depending on the total number of employees and the company's activities.
The quota is determined on the basis of the company's activities according to the National Classification of Economic Activities 2007 – “NKD 2007” as shown in the following table:
|
2 % quota |
3 % quota |
6 % quota |
|
G) Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles |
F) Construction |
A) Agriculture, forestry and fishing |
|
I) Accommodation and food service |
H) Transport and Logistic |
B) Mining and quarrying |
|
J) Information and communication |
L) Real estate |
C) Manufacturing |
|
K) Finance and insurance activities |
P) Education |
D) Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply |
|
M) Professional, scientific and technical activities |
E) Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities |
|
|
O) Public administration and defense; obligatory social insurance |
N) Administrative and |
|
|
R) Arts, entertainment and recreation |
Q) Health and social care |
|
|
S) Other service activities |
||
|
T) Activities of households as employers; activities of households that produce various goods and perform various services for their own use |
||
|
U) Activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies |
The quota can be different, but cannot be less than 2% nor more than 6% of the total number of employees. In the case that the value of the quota is less than 0,5 % it is rounded down and if the value of quota is 0,5 % or more it is rounded up. For employers who employ less than 50 workers, the quota will be reduced by one percentage point, but cannot be lower than 2%.
For example:
According to the NKD 2007 real estate agency falls under section L (real es-tate) and is subject to the 3% quota for the employment of people with disabilities. Assuming that a real estate agency employs 50 persons, it is obliged to employ one person with disabilities (50 x 3% = 1,5 rounded up to 2) while ensuring that the wage cannot be lower than the minimum wage, which is published on an annual basis (the minimum wage in 2014 amounts HRK 3.017,61).
Employers are required to submit evidence of fulfilling obligations of the quota of employment of persons with disabilities to the Department of expertise, professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities (Zavod za vještačenje, profesi-onalnu rehabilitaciju i zapošljavanje osoba s invaliditetom) within seven days from the date of fulfillment of the employment.
Newly established companies are not subject to this law for the first 24 months.
Employers with less than 20 employees which have employed a person with disability as well as employers who employ more disabled people than the quota requires, are entitled to receive a financial bonus which is, 15% of the minimum wage per month for a period of six months for each of these em-ployees with a disability.
The employer can fulfill the obligation of quota employment by using recruit-ing a prescribed number of persons with disabilities or to use a replacement quota in one of the following ways described below:
Every employer must register employed persons with disabilities in the Register i.e. Croatian Pension Insurance Fund. The Croatian Pension Insurance Fund is in charge for the Register of employees with disabilities based on the applica-tion of the employer. Any employer who employs persons with disabilities in 2014 must register these persons until 31 October 2014 to HZMO (Croatian Pension Insurance Fund) so that this person can be included in the quota from 1 January 2015. Employers who want to use a replacement quota, have to report this to HZMO by 31 December 2014.
If the employer will next year for the first time employ a person with a disabil-ity, they must report this person to HZMO by using M-1P and M-3P forms (change of data, if the employer finds out that his employee has any kind of disability) and mark on those forms that it is a person with disability.
If the employer who is obliged to, do not employ a person with a disability and do not use a replacement quota, he is obligated to calculate and pay a fee in the amount of 30% of the minimum wage for each person with disability the employer was obliged to employ. This fee is being calculated and is due on the last day of the month for the previous month. In simple terms this means the following:
Fee = quota x minimum wage x 30%
For example:
Quota: 2 employees
The minimum wage in 2014: HRK 3.017,61
Fee: 2 x HRK 3.017,61 x 30% = HRK 1.810,57
Company obliged to pay the fee shall prepare and submit a report within eight days on a form provided by the Department of expertise, professional rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities.
Besides all above mentioned information, employers can achieve the incen-tives for employment of persons with disabilities paid by Department of exper-tise, professional re-habilitation and the employment of persons with disabili-ties. Incentives can be obtained only if the person is in the Register. We would like to mention that according to Art. 29 of the law on professional rehabilita-tion the employment of disabled persons are prescribed benefits and the fi-nancial incentives that can be found in the law.
