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El Ciudadano

Original article: La inclusión no puede esperar a que la burocracia despierte

By Andrea Zondek, President of Fundación TACAL

Chilean companies find themselves in a deadlock. The Labor Inclusion Law 21.015 mandates that at least 1% of the workforce must consist of individuals with disabilities. However, for this employment to be recognized, the individual must have official certification from COMPIN. This is where the problem arises: the State is failing to fulfill its role.

A recent article in El Mercurio clearly outlined the extent of the bottleneck: certification requests can take 8 months or longer, whereas the law requires COMPIN to issue a decision within a maximum of 30 days.

The result is absurd: individuals with disabilities are left without credentials, thus lacking access to basic social benefits; simultaneously, companies cannot prove compliance to the Labor Director, leaving them vulnerable to fines, even if they make hires.

The paradox is brutal. The State, which should be the guarantor of rights, becomes the main obstacle to exercising them. COMPIN, overloaded and slow, blocks access to subsidies, scholarships, pensions, and technical assistance. At the same time, it hinders effective labor inclusion, as without credentials, there is no valid record.

Thus, the law that was meant to open doors ends up closing them.

We are on the verge of a new process where companies must report their compliance with the Inclusion Law. How many companies will be marked as non-compliant despite having hired individuals with disabilities?

The risk is clear: unjust fines penalizing those who are genuinely trying to comply while state bureaucracy lags in fulfilling its legal obligations.

Companies face an impossible dilemma: hire individuals with disabilities and risk penalties for not being able to certify them, or refrain from doing so to avoid fines. In both cases, inclusion is weakened. It is not a lack of will from companies; it is a failure of state management. The consequence is a vicious cycle that erodes trust in the law and discourages inclusive hiring.

Labor inclusion cannot depend on a procedure that the State is unable to resolve. If COMPIN does not certify, the law becomes a dead letter. And most critically: it violates the rights of individuals with disabilities to be recognized, to work, and to access the benefits to which they are entitled.

The issue does not lie with the companies. The problem is with the State. Until it assumes its responsibilities, it will continue to penalize those who try to comply and will continue to deny rights to those who need them most.

It is urgent for the government and COMPIN to act now: simplify processes, increase resources, and ensure effective timelines. Inclusion cannot wait for bureaucracy to wake up.

Andrea Zondek, President of Fundación TACAL

La entrada Inclusion Cannot Wait for Bureaucracy to Wake Up se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.