Filenews 18 February 2026 - by Evangelia Sizopoulou
The numbers that were put before the Labour Committee of the Parliament regarding the recruitment of people with disabilities in the Public Service, not only did not satisfy MPs, but also raised concerns about possible gaps and distortions that occur in the system, its methodology and its implementation. This is because, while the legislation provides that people with disabilities are hired in the wider public sector at a rate of 10% of the number of positions to be filled, the numbers given by official, competent bodies to the Commission were considered to be very small.
Specifically, based on the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, in 2024 (which was the 15th year of implementation of the current legislation), a total of 41 people with disabilities were hired, of which 37 positions were related to the Educational Service and the other four to the Public Service.
In total, from 2010, when the 10% legislation was implemented, until 2024, the total number of people with disabilities hired amounted to 389. 291 in the Educational Service, 44 in the Public Service, 10 in permanent hourly paid positions in the Public Service, 34 fixed-term employees in the Public Service and 10 employees in Semi-State Organizations.
"The data confirm that the system is not working and the legislation is not being implemented effectively. It is for this reason that we underlined the need for the Department for the Integration of Persons with Disabilities, as the competent Authority, to take action, consult with all competent bodies and propose changes to make the framework more effective. Changes are needed on issues related to the methodology of evaluation by the Special Multidisciplinary Committee, reasonable adjustments to the examination process and the working environment, and other changes in the legislation more broadly. An example is the need to cover employment in positions other than those classified as introductory grade", said the chairman of the parliamentary Labour Committee, Andros Kafkalias.
It is noted that the session was held together with the Education Committee, as the issue also concerns the employment of people with disabilities in Public Education, which is implemented by the Educational Service Committee.
However, in addition to the above data, the two Committees expect within the next few days additionally, from the competent Services, as it was said at the meeting, it is important to mention how many people with disabilities applied for positions, in order to determine whether the 10% was applied in all cases.
The need to resolve distortions that occur so that people with disabilities can be integrated into the productive fabric of the country, was stressed by the president of KYSOA, Themis Anthopoulou, pointing out, among other things, that in several cases there are evaluations that do not give the possibility of integration into the labour market. "We have evaluations that either find a severe form of disability in people, as a result of which they do not include them in the special lists that exist, or mild disabilities that again exclude them," said Ms. Anthopoulou, adding that it is important to understand that there are disabilities that are not shown in the picture, but have serious ramifications and dimensions in a person.
On the part of SEK, its representatives stated that there should be a control mechanism for the implementation of the legislation and the parameters it includes on this issue, a position which was also supported by the representative of EQUALITY.
OELMEK and POED stated that the legislation is complied with in Education, however they stressed the need to support people with disabilities but also to provide facilities and reasonable adjustments.
