• Sign-On Letter
  
  
• NCIL Calls for Waxman to Investigate the Failure of Federal Government
  to Employ People with Disabilities
  
  
• NCIL Calls for NCD Review of Federal Hiring of People with Disabilities
  
  
• CIL Schedule A Recommendations / Fact Sheet

Sign-On Letter Calling on Waxman to Investigate the Failure of Federal Government to Employ People with Disabilities

The Honorable Henry Waxman, Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Sent via fax and email: ATTN: Daniel Davis
Fax: (202) 226-3348

Dear Chairman Waxman:

As organizations representing more than 50 million Americans with disabilities across the lifespan, we are extremely concerned that in a workforce of 2.6 million federal employees, less than one percent are people with “targeted” disabilities. We write to ask you to conduct a hearing on the status of employment of people with disabilities in the federal government, which should include review of incentives for hiring managers and nondiscrimination laws that government agencies routinely fail to implement and properly enforce.

In conducting this hearing, we urge your Committee to review and analyze the employment of people with targeted disabilities in the federal workforce, with detailed focus on use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority. Schedule A enables hiring managers to hire qualified applicants with disabilities expeditiously through a non-competitive process.   It is important to provide an overall assessment of the federal government’s compliance with Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as Amended, with the objective to enhance the recruitment, hiring, placement, and advancement opportunities for people with disabilities “by each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of Government.”

However, in a report issued in January 2008, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reported that of the 2.6 million federal1 employees, less than one percent – 0.94% - are people with “targeted disabilities.” 2 Even during time of net increase in the federal workforce (5.48% between FY 1997 and FY 2006), the number of federal employees with targeted disabilities still decreased during the same ten-year period by 14.75%. Items noted by the EEOC as common obstacles of federal agencies included:

• Inadequate coordination between the federal agencies and/or programs that were created specifically to meet the employment needs of individuals with disabilities;
  
  
• Within the federal government, unfounded fears, myths and stereotypes persist regarding the employment of people with disabilities and may unlawfully influence employment decisions;
  
  
• Few agencies have developed strategic plans to improve the recruitment, hiring and retention of people with targeted disabilities;
  

• The federal application process is especially daunting to individuals with disabilities;
  
  
• Agency officials lack knowledge about how to use/implement the Schedule A appointing authority;
  
  
• Agency officials lack knowledge about how to appropriately respond to reasonable accommodation requests and how to implement retention strategies for people with targeted disabilities, and;
  
  
• There is insufficient accountability among all levels of the federal government in setting and attaining goals to hire people with disabilities.

In sum, we urge you to conduct an oversight hearing and probe the substance of this report, which would include an analysis of the federal government’s compliance with Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the understanding and use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority and other incentives to hire people with disabilities in the federal workforce.

Thank you for your consideration. We look forward to working with you to fully implement the letter and spirit of federal nondiscrimination law to reverse the decline in federal employment of people with disabilities. For further information, please do not hesitate to contact Deb Cotter, Policy Analyst at the National Council on Independent Living by email Deb@ncil.org or phone (202) 207-0334, ext. 1008.

Sincerely,

References:

Targeted disabilities (and the codes that represent them on the Office of Personnel Management’s Standard Form 256) are: deafness (16 and 17); blindness (23 and 25); missing extremities (28 and 32 through 38); partial paralysis (64 through 68); complete paralysis (71 through 78); convulsive disorders (82); mental retardation (90); mental illness (91); and distortion of the spine (92).   2 EEOC, 2008. Improving the Participation Rate of People with Targeted Disabilities in the Federal Workforce

NCIL Calls for Waxman to Investigate the Failure of Federal Government to Employ People with Disabilities

January 15, 2008

The Honorable Henry Waxman, Chairman
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Sent via fax and email: ATTN: Daniel Davis
Fax: (202) 226-3348

Dear Chairman Waxman:

We write on behalf of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) to ask you to conduct a hearing on the status of employment of people with disabilities in the federal government, which should include review of the Schedule A Hiring Authority. Schedule A enables hiring managers to hire qualified applicants with disabilities expeditiously through a non-competitive process.

NCIL members remain extremely concerned that in a workforce of 2.6 million federal employees, less than one percent are people with “targeted” disabilities. NCIL does not accept this data as anything close to what we might describe as successful employment statistics for the United States. If the federal government were to carry out the mandate of the Rehabilitation Act and hire qualified people with disabilities, it could serve as a model employer to states and private sectors and help end decades of stagnant employment rates, which perpetuate painful economic consequences for people with disabilities.

In conducting this hearing, we urge your Committee to review and analyze the employment of people with targeted disabilities in the federal workforce, with detailed focus on use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority. It is important to provide an overall assessment of the federal government’s compliance with Section 501 of The Rehabilitation Act, with the objective to enhance the recruitment, hiring, placement, and advancement opportunities for people with disabilities “by each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of Government.”  

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports that among cabinet level agencies, the Department of the Treasury has the most employees with targeted disabilities and that Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the State Department are rated as the agencies that employ the least number of people with targeted disabilities. The Department of State has trailed all cabinet level agencies since 2004.

The hearing could:

1. Call on the federal government to lead and increase its engagement levels on the stagnant employment rates of Americans with disabilities in and out of the federal government;
   
   
2. Highlight factors supporting the economic importance and business success of hiring people with targeted disabilities;
   
   
3. Show best practices of agencies that have successfully hired more people with targeted disabilities;
   
   
4. Provide a forum to discuss ways to ensure improvement in all agencies, including staffing at the 15 Cabinet level Agencies (66% of the federal work force);
   
   
5. Assess the collection and dissemination tools used for annual data and information collected from each agency indicating their compliance with the Rehabilitation Act, EEOC regulations and MD 715, and;
   
   
6. Review Office of Program Management (OPM) activities to ensure the effective and appropriate use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority throughout the federal government and suggestions for improving their online application process.

Individuals with disabilities who have been denied employment with the federal government, despite their education and experience, would provide valuable and practical testimony about the barriers that prevent them from obtaining federal employment. As noted in our NCIL Fact Sheet on Schedule A, most federal managers are either unaware of or do not appropriately use this critical tool, which has the potential to measurably increase the number of federal employees with disabilities. (www.ncil.org/news/ScheduleA.html).

NCIL was pleased that the National Council on Disability (NCD) focused a recent report on “Empowerment for Americans with Disabilities: Breaking Barriers to Careers and Full Employment.” However, we were dismayed that the federal workforce was not discussed in this report. Conducting a hearing on the recruitment, hiring, retention, and advancement of people with targeted disabilities in the federal government would fill this serious omission in the NCD report.

We urge you to contact EEOC Commissioner Christine M. Griffin, who created the initiative LEAD – Leadership for the Employment of Americans with Disabilities. LEAD focuses on the declining rate of employment of people with targeted disabilities in the Federal Government. Christine has extensive information and data about current employment rates and expert ideas on how the federal government, working with its partners, can work to improve the current situation.

NCIL members and staff are also available as resources to you and your Committee staff to help prepare for said Hearing. 

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. For further information, background and assistance, please contact NCIL Policy Analyst Deb Cotter by email or phone: deb@ncil.org or phone (202) 207-0334.

Sincerely,

John Lancaster                                              Kelly Buckland
Executive Director                                          President


CC: Rep. Tom Davis, Ranking Member

NCIL Calls for NCD Review of Federal Hiring of People with Disabilities

Following a meeting with National Council on Disability (NCD) Executive Director Michael C. Collins, the NCIL Employment/Social Security Subcommittee formally requested that the NCD develop a White Paper on Federal government hiring practices for people with disabilities, including a review of the Schedule A Hiring Authority, which enables hiring managers to quickly hire qualified applicants with disabilities through a non-competitive process.  The National Council on Disability (NCD) is an independent Federal agency making recommendations to the President and Congress to enhance the quality of life for all Americans with disabilities and their families. Earlier this year, the NCD issued the report “Empowerment for Americans with Disabilities: Breaking Barriers to Careers and Full Employment”. Although this report reviewed current trends in the employment of people with disabilities in the private sector, it did not consider the Federal workforce of 2.6 million. NCIL remains deeply concerned that less than one percent of federal workers are people with disabilities. Researching and writing said White Paper would go a long way towards identifying problems the Federal government is having hiring qualified employees with disabilities and serving as a model employer.

December 17, 2007

John R. Vaughn, Chairperson
Mike Collins, Executive Director
National Council on Disability
1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850
Washington, DC  20004

Dear John and Mike:

The National Council on Independent Living continues to focus our attention on the lack of progress with decades of stagnant employment rates, which perpetuate painful economic consequences for people with disabilities. We write to request that the National Council on Disability (NCD) craft and disseminate a White Paper on the employment of people with targeted disabilities within the Federal government. We discussed our concerns with Mike Collins on December 3. We remain disappointed that within a workforce 2.6 million federal employees, less than one percent are people with targeted disabilities. NCIL does not accept this data as anything close to what we might describe as successful employment statistics in the United States.

In developing this White Paper, the Council should review and analyze the employment of people with targeted disabilities in the Federal workforce, with detailed focus on the use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority. It would be important to provide an overall assessment of the Federal government’s compliance with Section 501 of The Rehabilitation Act, with objectives to enhance the recruitment, hiring, placement, and advancement practices of people with disabilities “by each department, agency, and instrumentality in the executive branch of Government.”  

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports that among the cabinet level agencies, the Department of the Treasury has the most employees with targeted disabilities and that Homeland Security, the Justice Department and the State Department are rated as three agencies which employ the least number of people with targeted disabilities. The Department of State has trailed all cabinet level agencies since 2004.

The White Paper could:

• Call on the federal government to lead and increase its engagement levels on the stagnant employment rates of American with disabilities in and out of the federal government;
  
  
• Highlight factors supporting the economic importance and business success of hiring people with targeted disabilities;
  
  
• Show best practices of agencies that have successfully hired more people with targeted disabilities;
  
  
• Provide a forum to discuss ways to ensure improvement in all agencies, including the staffing at the 15 Cabinet level Agencies (66% of the entire federal work force);
  
  
• Assess the collection and dissemination tools used for the annual data and information collected from each agency indicating their compliance with the Rehabilitation Act, EEOC regulations and MD 715, and;
  
  
• Review Office of Program Management (OPM) activities to ensure the effective and appropriate use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority throughout the Federal government and suggestions for improving their online application process.
  

Individuals with disabilities who are denied employment with the Federal government, despite their education and experience, would provide valuable and practical testimony about the barriers that prevent them from obtaining federal employment. As noted in our NCIL Fact Sheet on Schedule A, most Federal managers are either unaware of or do not appropriately use this critical tool with its potential to measurably increase the number of Federal employees with disabilities. (www.ncil.org/news/ScheduleA.html).

NCIL was pleased that the NCD focused a recent report on Empowerment for
Americans with Disabilities: Breaking Barriers to Careers and Full Employment.
However, we were dismayed that the Federal workforce was not discussed in this report. Developing a White Paper on the recruitment, hiring, retention, and advancement of people with targeted disabilities in the Federal government would fill the serious omission in your earlier report and serve objectives in this letter.

We urge you to contact EEOC Commissioner Christine M. Griffin, who created the initiative LEAD – Leadership for the Employment of Americans with Disabilities. LEAD focuses on the declining rate of employment of people with targeted disabilities in the Federal Government. Christine has extensive information and data about current employment rates and expert ideas on how the federal government, working with its partners, can work to improve current situation. 

Thank you for your time and consideration of this request and the rationale for it. To discuss the needs in this letter further please contact NCIL Policy Analyst Deb Cotter by email or phone: deb@ncil.org or (202) 207-0334.


Sincerely yours,

John Lancaster                                Kelly Buckland
Executive Director                            President

CC: Bryon MacDonald, Marcie Goldstein

NCIL Schedule A Recommendations / Fact Sheet

Making the Federal Government the Model Employer of People with Disabilities: Compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

BACKGROUND:
The percentage of Federal employees with targeted disabilities hit a 20-year low in Fiscal Year 2006 when the participation rate fell to 0.94% of the federal government’s total work force. In addition to declining numbers, the average grade for people with targeted disabilities was 8.5 – a full grade and a half below the government wide average of 10. Year after year, the Federal Government fails to demonstrate that it is a model employer when it comes to the hiring, placement and advancement of people with targeted disabilities (PWTD, please see Endnote 1).

Indeed, the Federal Government has never been a model employer of people with targeted disabilities, despite requirements under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to develop and maintain an affirmative action program with the goal of hiring and advancing people with disabilities – a requirement that has been in place for 34 years!

Yet, the Federal government is on the brink of experiencing the most significant exodus of experience and talent in history. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) estimates that the Federal government will lose 40 % of its total workforce by 2010 as the baby boomer generation begins to retire. People with targeted disabilities currently experience an unemployment rate of 70% and represent a significant untapped pool of talent.

Now is the time for Federal agencies to be held accountable and required to satisfy their legal obligation to become a model employer of people with targeted disabilities.

THE FACTS:

• The percentage of federal employees with targeted disabilities has declined each year since reaching a peak of 1.24% in fiscal years (FY) 1993 & 1994. (EEOC Annual Report FY 2006);
  
• In FY 2006, the participation rate of PWTD fell to 0.94% of the federal government’s total work force - in a federal workforce of 2.6 million, only 24,442 are federal employees with targeted disabilities. (EEOC Annual Report FY 2006);
  
• From FY 1997 to FY 2006, the total federal workforce increased by 135,732 employees, a net change of 5.48% while the number of federal employees with targeted disabilities decreased from 28,671 to 24,442, a decrease of –14.75%. (EEOC Annual Report FY 2006), and;
  
• In FY 2006, the average grade level for PWTD was 8.5, a full grade and a half below the government-wide average of 10. More than 51% of the federal employees with targeted disabilities were employed in grades 1 to 8, as compared to only 32% of the total work force. (EEOC Annual Report FY 2006). 

THE LAW:

SCHEDULE A:
Schedule A appointing authority was designed to provide job opportunities to persons with "severe physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and/or mental retardation". In FY 2006, there were 234,612 new employees hired and only 326 individuals were hired under Schedule A - 0.14% of all new hires. When used appropriately, Schedule A is a critical tool that furthers the Federal Government’s goal of becoming a model employer of people with targeted disabilities.

Using the Schedule A Hiring Authority, 5 CFR § 213.3102(u), qualified candidates who meet the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) guidelines can be hired non-competitively without the typical recruitment headaches (e.g., without posting and publicizing the position; and without going through the certificate process). However, too few agencies have staff knowledgeable about this important hiring authority that was designed to specifically help agencies comply with the Rehab Act and its mandate to increase the hiring of people with "severe disabilities".

THE BARRIERS:

• There is a critical lack of leadership and accountability in setting and attaining goals to hire people with disabilities as required under the Rehabilitation Act. (EEOC regulations and Management Directive 715);
  
  
•  A culture exists in the Federal Government where fears, myths and stereotypes about the employment of people with disabilities are permitted to illegally influence employment decisions;
  
  
• Agency officials lack clear information about the Schedule A appointing authority and how to appropriately use the Schedule A appointing authority;
  
  
• Although required by EEOC MD715, very few Federal agencies establish any type of goal, numerical or non-numerical goal to increase the employment of people with targeted disabilities, and;
  
  
• The federal application process is intimidating to most individuals with disabilities, especially those without significant employment experience.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

NCIL Urges Congress to hold an Oversight Hearing to determine what Federal agencies are doing to meet the Rehab Act’s goal of becoming a model employer of people with targeted disabilities.

An oversight hearing would:

• Highlight the importance of hiring people with targeted disabilities;
  
  
• Show best practices of agencies that have successfully hired more people with targeted disabilities;
  
  
• Provide a forum to discuss ways to ensure improvement in all agencies, including the 15 Cabinet level agencies, whichmake up 66% of the entire federal work force;
  
  
• While the top positions among cabinet level agencies belong to the Department of the Treasury, Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the State Department were rated as employing the least number of people with targeted disabilities. The Department of State has trailed all cabinet level agencies since 2004, and;
  
  
• Provide Members of Congress an opportunity to question EEOC officials about their obligation and authority to enforce the collection and dissemination of annual data and information from each agency indicating their compliance with the Rehab Act, EEOC regulations and MD 715, and;
  
  
• Review OPM activities to ensure the effective and appropriate use of the Schedule A Hiring Authority throughout the Federal Government and suggestions for improving their online application process;
  
  
• Individuals with disabilities who are routinely denied employment with the Federal Government, despite their education and experience, would also provide valuable testimony about the barriers that prevent them from obtaining federal employment.

NCIL Urges Congress to establish a mandatory goal of 4 percent by 2010, the 20th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Meeting the goal of four percent by 2010 means that every federal agency must recruit, hire, and retain at least four percent of their employees with targeted disabilities by FY 2010. While four percent does not represent the percentage of people with targeted disabilities found in the general population, it is a modest, achievable goal. Indeed, reaching this goal would more than quadruple the number of people with targeted disabilities in the federal workforce from 24,442 to approximately 104,000.

For additional information, please contact Deb Cotter, NCIL Policy Analyst at (202) 207-0334, ext 1008 or deb@ncil.org.

1. Targeted disabilities are those disabilities that the federal government, as a matter of policy, has identified for special emphasis. The targeted disabilities (and the codes that represent them on the Office of Personnel Management's Standard Form 256) are: deafness (16 and 17); blindness (23 and 25); missing extremities (28 and 32 through 38); partial paralysis (64 through 68); complete paralysis (71 through 78); convulsive disorders (82); mental retardation (90); mental illness (91); and distortion of limb and/or spine (92).