Social Justice, Recognition and Integration of Disabled Workers in the Public Service through the Legal Reservation of Job Vacancies in Public Tenders

Brazil is one of the countries that apply legal reserve lists of job vacancies as a strategy to promote access of workers with disabilities into the labor market. In the public service legislation ensures the reservation of at least 5% of the available vacancies in calls for public tenders, to be filled preferably by disabled workers. Although the reservation of vacancies in public tenders in Brazil is regulated, little is known about the implementation of this policy. This work aims to discuss the legal reservation of vacancies for people with disabilities in public tenders, in the context of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). At first, the Brazilian regulations that establish the legal reservation of vacancies for people with disabilities in the public service are presented, as well as the international mechanisms that reinforce access to work as a fundamental factor to promote human dignity. The recognition theory is emphasized as a possible approach to understand the achievement path in this field. The analysis of calls for public tenders for admission of professionals in the careers of Higher Education Teaching; Middle School and Certificate Program Teaching, and Administrative Technician are presented in order to verify the offer of vacancies to be filled preferably by workers with disabilities, and the actual filling of these job positions. Subsequently, the integration of people with disabilities in the researched institution was discussed, based on reports and documents issued by the Equipe Multiprofissional de Acompanhamento aos Servidores da UFSC com Deficiência e em Estágio Probatório (EMAPCD). Although the reservation of vacancies for people with disabilities in public tenders presents a positive course, it reflects professional integration that is still distant from the percentages expected by the Brazilian legislation, as well as great inequality in the access to work, taking into account the different disabilities.