According to the Act on Promoting Employment (IV of 1991) employers of all segments of economy are obliged to pay rehabilitation fee in case the average number of their employees is above 20 and the ratio of employees with disabilities does not reach 5%. The amount to be paid has been significantly changed from 177 600 HUF/year to 964 500 HUF/year as of 1st of January, 2010 in order to raise efficiency. A lot more companies have decided not to pay the rehabilitation fee rather employ people with disabilities than it was expected. Last year instead of employing more than 84 thousand the fee was paid. This ratio has significantly fallen in the first quarter of 2010: after only 19 thousand employees have the companies paid the rehabilitation fee. My research discovers how agricultural and food industry companies have reacted to the increased rehabilitation fee. Does the decrease in the amount of fee paid mean increase in the employment of people with disabilities? What solutions do companies have in place?
