On 8 May 2025, the President assented to the Persons with Disabilities Act, 2025 (the Act). The new law replaces and consolidates previous provisions governing disability rights, embedding equality and accessibility firmly within Kenya’s employment framework.
The Act directly impacts both employers and employees, signalling a significant policy shift from voluntary inclusivity to legally mandated obligations.
One of the most significant changes, is the expansion of the definition of disability. Unlike the Disability Act 2003, the current Act is broader and more flexible. It recognises conditions that may not be severe at first but are likely to persist in the long term and interfere with the daily life of an individual, including their work life.
For the first time, the Act also expressly includes psychological impairments such as stress-related disorders, burnout, anxiety, or grief-related conditions. In doing so, the Act firmly brings mental health within the scope of employment law and ensures that such conditions are not neglected.
The Act also imposes binding obligations on employers. Any employer with twenty or more employees must now reserve at least 5% of jobs for persons with disabilities. Employers must report annually to the National Council for Persons with Disabilities on how they are meeting this requirement.
They are also under a duty to provide reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. This includes making physical changes to the workplace, restructuring jobs, adjusting working hours, reassigning roles, adapting training programmes, providing assistive technology or interpreters, and generally ensuring that the work environment is accessible. Failure to provide reasonable accommodation is a form of discrimination.
In addition, the Act introduces the concept of an “assistive allowance.” This is meant to cover the extra expenses that persons with disabilities often face, such as the cost of a personal assistant, specialised transport, or communication aids. By making this allowance an obligation of the employer, the law recognises that equality at work is not achieved by infrastructure changes alone but also requires financial support to meet ongoing disability-related costs.
Another important reform concerns retirement. Persons with disabilities are now entitled to retire five years later than the normal retirement age. For public servants this means retirement at 65 years rather than 60 years, and private employers are encouraged to adopt the same standard. The Act also expands tax incentives. Employers can claim deductions not only for salaries and workplace modifications, as was previously the case, but also for expenses on assistive devices and adaptive technologies.
For employees with disabilities, the Act provides greater protection and opportunity. They benefit from increased access to jobs through the mandatory quota, stronger rights to fair treatment and accommodation at work, an extended retirement age, and, significantly, the right to seek redress directly before the High Court if any of their constitutional rights are violated.
Conclusion
The Persons with Disabilities Act, 2025 represents a major step forward in Kenya’s employment and equality law. It places clear and enforceable duties on employers to create inclusive workplaces and ensures that persons with disabilities have stronger protection and effective remedies.
Employers are therefore required to review their policies, adjust their workplaces, and comply with the new obligations to avoid both legal liability and reputational harm. Employees, in turn, are empowered with rights that are now firmly supported by the law.
This alert serves the purpose of general guidance and is not intended to constitute specific legal advice. For tailored advice, please contact our Partner at Abdulhafeez.Noorani@CMS-DI.com.
*Contributors
> Racheal Oruta – Associate
> Oliver Manyasi – Head of Business Development, Relationships, and Marketing
> Rehema Mwaka – Trainee Advocate
