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.