An official probe by the Labour Ministry has concluded that some enterprises failed to fully comply with laws and caused Bt14 million in damage to the fund for the physically challenged.
The same probe also did not find any officials negligent or corrupt.
Labour Minister Police General Adul Sangsingkeo announced the probe results on Friday.
“We have found 12 cases of contract non-compliance,” he said.
He said some enterprises conducted fewer hours of training for the physically challenged than what they had initially promised in their proposals, and they also covered fewer trainees.
The Labour Ministry launched the probe after a network advocating the rights of the physically challenged spoke up last month about alleged irregularities.
By law, big enterprises are required to hire some physically challenged persons or contribute an amount to the fund to promote improvement in the quality of life of the physically challenged, or support them in other forms such as providing training or space for them to run their small stalls.
Adul said there were 1.9 million physically challenged people in Thailand and enterprises were required to hire 64,570 of them.
However, only 36,315 physically challenged persons were hired. Many enterprises chose to make contributions to the fund, amounting to about Bt1.5 billion a year. Some other enterprises chose to provide occupational support to the physically challenged in other forms.
