Support To Sheltered Workshops for The Employment of The Disabled

A regulation was published in the Official Gazette in order to support the legislation on sheltered workshops with different incentives, which has been in force since 2013 in Türkiye. According to the published regulation, provided that the employers employ a certain number of disabled workers and obtained a sheltered workshop certificate, they will be able to benefit from wage incentives up to TL 700.00 per employed worker.

Sheltered Workshop refers to a place of work specially designed in consideration of the special conditions of the disabled employees and supported by the government both financially and technically with the purpose of creating employment for people with mental or physical difficulties restricting them to work as a labor force in the market.

The employers of the workplaces where a minimum number of 8 disabled workers are employed may apply to the Provincial directorate of Family and Social Policies and obtain sheltered workshop status. The proportion of the number of disabled persons working in the workplaces within the scope of sheltered workshop cannot be less than 75% of the total number of workers.

For example, a workplace which has 20 employees should employ at least 15 disabled workers to be entitled to receive sheltered workshop incentives. It is mandatory to employ personnel who have completed vocational and technical training with the director of the workplace or has the competence as a qualified instructor. The disabled persons should meet some conditions in order to be employed within the scope of this incentive.

• The worker should have a minimum 40% mental disability.
• The worker should be older than 15 years.
• He/she should be registered with the Turkish Employment Agency.

The disabled persons who meet these conditions should apply to sheltered workshops in person or via Provincial Directorates of the Labor and Employment Agency. Sheltered workshops are liable to notify the Provincial Directorate of the Labor and Employment Agency and Provincial Directorate of Family and Social Policies within one month at the latest upon employing the subjected personnel.

As a result, work places that have sheltered workshop status will be able to benefit from the incentive in the amount of approximately TL 490.00 individually for each personnel, provided that they employ disabled personnel as not less than 75% of the total employees. This amount increases by 20% for the sheltered workshops that are located in the priority regions for development as determined by the Council of Ministers and they can benefit from incentives of TL 588.00. If the sheltered workshops employ disabled workers at more than 75% of the personnel, then the amount of the incentive per additional worker becomes approximately TL 700.00. The employers of the sheltered workshops that are entitled to receive the subjected incentive should pay the wages on time and in full.