The IMM recommends that the Government:
94. Consider the development of a more comprehensive rights-based national disability specific employment strategy that:
a. provides for solutions by tāngata whaikaha for tāngata whaikaha;
b. proactively addresses disabled people’s inequitable employment outcomes;
c. is co-designed by disabled people and employers;
d. facilitates local innovation and ownership;
e. lifts investment; and
f. includes time-specific milestones, measurable actions and a monitoring framework.
95. Pending the fuller review referred to in recommendation 10, consider an immediate amendment of the Human Rights Act 1993 to explicitly define reasonable accommodation in an employment context, create a positive duty for Making Disability Rights Real | Whakatūturu Ngā Tika Hauātanga 35 its provision and provide guidance for interpretation of undue burden, informed by Article 2 of the Disability Convention and General Comment 6 on equality and non-discrimination.
96. Initiate affirmative actions or temporary special measures to increase the employment of disabled people within the public service. This could include establishing a quota or target, but could also include the following actions:
a. undertake to short-list and interview all appropriately qualified disabled applicants;
b. explore ways to incentivise investment by employers in universal design and accessible infrastructures—for example, tax rebates or concessions; and
c. consider how government procurement processes, or investments such as the Provincial Growth Fund, could positively contribute to disabled people’s employment by requiring vendors or recipients to explicitly demonstrate how their initiative is inclusive of, and accessible to, disabled people.
97. Implement the 2014 recommendation to amend the Minimum Wage Act 1983 to eliminate minimum wage exemption permits.