Everything about PFRON (part 1) - A source of financial support for companies

PFRON is a special purpose fund, the legal basis of which is the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons. PFRON carries out its tasks, among others by supporting activities that employ people with disabilities. Unfortunately, employing disabled people is still a rare phenomenon - one of the reasons is the poor knowledge of entrepreneurs about the privileges associated with hiring such a person. We are talking about various forms of funding and financial exemptions for contributions to PFRON.

Employment of the disabled - co-financing of remuneration from PFRON

Employing the disabled is associated with monthly payments to the salaries of these people. In order to receive support, such an employee must be registered in the register of employed disabled persons kept by PFRON. Registration is made when submitting the first application for a monthly grant. This kind of support is a kind of compensation for the increased costs generated by employing disabled people.

Employment of the disabled - reimbursement of costs for adapting the workplace to PFRON

In order to be reimbursed for equipment costs, the employer must meet the following conditions:

• the activity must be carried out for at least one year,
• the economic situation of the company must be good and meet the criteria defined in EU law on granting state aid,
• you should employ a disabled person registered in the PUP as unemployed or unemployed looking for a job (the minimum duration of employment of a disabled person is 3 years).

An employer should be understood as an organizational unit (also one that does not have legal personality) and a natural person - if they employ employees (employment contract, cooperative employment contract, appointment, appointment, election).

Employing the disabled is associated with co-financing from PFRON - one position can be equipped with a maximum of 15 times the average monthly salary in the national economy in the last quarter, from the first day following the announcement by the President of the Central Statistical Office.

The amount of support for employing the disabled is precisely defined in the civil law agreement concluded between the employer and the staroste. Such an agreement also takes into account the conditions for securing the return of the reimbursement amount from PFRON and the date when the received support should be settled. The rules of de minimis aid apply here.

Employment of the disabled - co-financing of ZUS contributions

In order for contributions for disabled employees to be financed by PFRON, the employer should submit an application to ZUS using the ZUS DRA form. This form of support is regulated by Art. 25 of the Act on Vocational and Social Rehabilitation and Employment of Disabled Persons. An employer or a disabled person running a business may receive a partial subsidy (from PFRON and the budget) to social security contributions. ZUS informs the entity entitled to such support about the extent to which PFRON did not cover the contributions and how much additional fees have to be paid.

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Support is granted both in the case of employing disabled people on the basis of an employment contract, and as part of homework - the condition is that these employees present a certificate of the degree of disability.

Employment of the disabled - reimbursement of training costs

Employing the disabled is also associated with the possibility of reimbursement of training costs from PFRON. Such support may amount to a maximum of 80% of the expenses incurred - but not more than twice the average monthly salary per one person.

The scale of co-financing from PFRON also depends on the type of training and the size of the entrepreneur:

• a small entrepreneur for general training can be reimbursed up to 80% of costs, for specialized training up to 55%;
• medium entrepreneur for general training - reimbursement up to 80% of costs, specialist training - reimbursement of up to 45%;
• a large entrepreneur for general training - reimbursement of up to 70% of costs, specialized training up to 35%.

PFRON reimbursement may be subject to:

• the remuneration of the trainers;
• remuneration for a sign language interpreter or teacher for the blind or a guardian of an employed person with a physical disability, classified as a severely disabled person;
• travel costs of trainers and trainees;
• travel costs of a guide or guardian of an employed disabled person classified as severely disabled;
• costs of accommodation and meals for trainers and training participants, as well as a sign language interpreter or a teacher for the blind;
• costs of advisory services related to a given training;
• administrative and office costs constituting current expenses related to the implementation of the training;
• costs of renting rooms directly related to the implementation of the training;
• depreciation costs of tools and equipment to the extent that they are used for the training purposes, excluding tools and equipment purchased with public support in the seven years prior to the training;
• cost of training materials.

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In order to obtain a refund from PFRON, an application must be submitted to the competent starost (due to the seat of activity).

Employment of the disabled - reimbursement of the employment of an assistant

The tasks of a work assistant for a disabled person are:

• facilitating its communication with the environment,
• assistance in performing certain activities - impossible or difficult to perform independently.

In this case, the reimbursement from PFRON is based on the reimbursement of the costs of working time, which was spent solely on the aid described above. The amount of reimbursement from PFRON is:

minimum wages x (number of hours in the month devoted solely to helping the disabled / number of working hours of the disabled person in a month

The number of hours devoted solely to supporting a disabled employee may not exceed 20% of the number of working hours of this employee on a monthly basis.