The employment integration of people with disabilities: collective bargaining as a way to achieving effective equality

Abstract

The employment integration of people with disabilities continues to be one of the main challenges in the Spanish labor market, despite the significant regulatory developments of recent years. Barriers to accessing and maintaining employment do not stem exclusively from disability itself, but from structural factors such as employer prejudice, accessibility deficits, insufficient organizational adaptation, and the limited implementation of available inclusion tools. In this context, collective bargaining emerges as a strategic instrument to transform formal equality into effective equality. The international and European legal framework has consolidated a rights-based paradigm grounded in non-discrimination, universal accessibility, and reasonable accommodation, further reinforced in Spain by the reform of Article 49 of the Constitution and the recent amendment to Article 49 of the Workers’ Statute, which prioritizes job preservation in cases of newly acquired disability. This regulatory shift moves the focus from the automatic termination of employment contracts toward professional readaptation and job retention, requiring a more active role for collective agreements in defining procedures, safeguards, and monitoring mechanisms. All of this underscores the need for greater protection of people with disabilities through collective agreements.