CRPD/C/GC/8 disabilities, programmes and financial support for the provision of personal assistance is critical to ensuring their right to work. 75. Respect for privacy (art. 22) is important factor in life and often involves sensitive personal issues. Respect for the privacy of employees with disabilities requires employers to obtain the consent of an employee with disabilities before sharing – with human resources staff, for example – disability- or impairment-related information that is disclosed to them. The requirement to protect confidential information extends throughout the employment cycle and includes protection from the use of genetic information that could indicate a potential predisposition to certain impairments. 76. Inclusive education (art. 24) plays a vital role in ensuring that persons with disabilities are able to exercise their right to work and employment that is freely chosen on an equal basis with others. Quality inclusive education prepares persons with disabilities for work and employment through the acquisition of the knowledge, skills and confidence necessary for participation in the open labour market. 61 However, a third of out-of-school children worldwide are children with disabilities. Many Governments officially promote inclusive education, but, in practice, children with disabilities, especially girls with disabilities, are either excluded or segregated in special schools, 62 which will negatively affect their enjoyment of the right to work and employment that is freely chosen on an equal basis with others. The transition from secondary or tertiary education to employment needs particular attention to realize the right to work. It is important to ensure that pathways into the open labour market are promoted for persons with disabilities, and that persons with disabilities are not channelled into segregated settings of work. Lifelong education is a key component to ensuring and fostering the continued career development of persons with disabilities. 77. Employers have a fundamental responsibility to protect the health and safety of workers (art. 25). Comprehensive habilitation and rehabilitation services and programmes (art. 26) are vital for the employment of persons with disabilities. When persons with disabilities are injured at work or when a person acquires a disability through work, it is essential that rehabilitation and return-to-work measures fully respect the choice and preferences of the person and are not used to promote employment in segregated work settings. 78. Persons with disabilities are entitled to social protection (art. 28) to cover the loss or lack of earnings due to the inability to obtain or maintain freely chosen employment on an equal basis with others. The social protection system must ensure adequate protection of unemployed workers with disabilities on an equal basis with others. The right to social protection extends to part-time workers with disabilities, casual workers with disabilities, seasonal workers with disabilities and self-employed persons with disabilities, and persons with disabilities working in the informal economy. Benefits should include the continuation of support payments until such time that it is clear that the employment is sustained, and cover periods of loss of earnings when employees with disabilities are requested not to report for work during a public health or other emergency.63 Where employment ceases, support payments should be immediately reinstated. Support payments related to essential disabilityrelated expenses should be continued throughout employment, to ensure employment on an equal basis with others. The support provided should also cover individuals, including primary caregivers (who are overwhelmingly female) and relatives, who support persons with disabilities. 64 Concepts such as “inability to work” and “fitness to work” are not components of the design of social protection systems. The diversity of personal circumstances, needs and barriers that persons with disabilities experience in seeking, retaining and returning to paid employment requires the design of flexible social protection systems that are responsive to individual situations.65 61 62 63 64 65 16 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 4 (2016), para. 56. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 36 (2017), paras. 43–44. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 18 (2005), para. 37. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 5 (1994), para. 28. CRPD/C/15/4 and CRPD/C/15/4/Corr.1, para. 102.