Neustrukturierung des Sonderarbeitsmarkts für Menschen mit Behinderung durch die Reform des Reha-Rechts - Folgen für die Werkstatt für Behinderte

The legal basis for employment of people with disabilities in sheltered Workshops for the Disabled (Werkstatten fur Behinderte, WfB) had hitherto been shaped by the 1961 Federal Social Assistance Act, the 1969 Employment Promotion Act, the 1974 Severely Disabled Persons Act with the related Workshop Ordinances of 1980 and 1996. The Act on Combating Unemployment of Severely Disabled Persons, effective as of Oct. 1, 2000 has now created a new legal foundation, which also is aimed at enhancing Workshop employees' horizontal mobility into the general job market, inter alia providing for access to Supported Employment arrangements and for availability of selective placement and support services (Integrationsfachdienste, IFD) throughout Germany. These Services also are intended as points of contact in the counselling of severely disabled school leavers in relation to placement opportunities in competitive jobs and/or integration projects or firms. Discussed from a legal perspective are the differences in sociolegal respects between such projects for severely disabled persons and employment in Workshops for the Disabled, as well as implications for the Workshops' own economic activity, also making reference to the forthcoming Book 9 of the Social Code.