[Nfbf-l] Fw: [acb-l] FW: White House Issues Executive Order for FederalDisability Employment

[davidw]

David Wermuth
www.atozadaptiveaidz.com
Email / David at atozadaptiveaidz.com
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Baracco, Andrew W" <Andrew.Baracco at va.gov>
To: <acb-l at acb.org>
Cc: "Discussion list for ACB human service professionals" <acb-hsp at acb.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 2:06 PM
Subject: [acb-l] FW: White House Issues Executive Order for 
FederalDisability Employment


>
> The White House
> Office of the Press Secretary
> For Immediate Release
> July 26, 2010
>
> Executive Order - Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with
> Disabilities By the authority vested in me as President by the
> Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order
> to establish the Federal Government as a model employer of individuals
> with disabilities, it is hereby ordered as follows:
>
> Section 1. Policy. Approximately 54 million Americans are living with a
> disability. The Federal Government has an important interest in reducing
> discrimination against Americans living with a disability, in
> eliminating the stigma associated with disability, and in encouraging
> Americans with disabilities to seek employment in the Federal workforce.
> Yet Americans with disabilities have an employment rate far lower than
> that of Americans without disabilities, and they are underrepresented in
> the Federal workforce. Individuals with disabilities currently represent
> just over 5 percent of the nearly 2.5 million people in the Federal
> workforce, and individuals with targeted disabilities (as defined below)
> currently represent less than 1 percent of that workforce.
>
> On July 26, 2000, in the final year of his administration, President
> Clinton signed Executive Order 13163, calling for an additional 100,000
> individuals with disabilities to be employed by the Federal Government
> over 5 years. Yet few steps were taken to implement that Executive Order
> in subsequent years.
>
> As the Nation's largest employer, the Federal Government must become a
> model for the employment of individuals with disabilities. Executive
> departments and agencies (agencies) must improve their efforts to employ
> workers with disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring, and
> retention of these individuals. My Administration is committed to
> increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in the Federal
> workforce through compliance with Executive Order 13163 and achievement
> of the goals set forth therein over 5 years, including specific goals
> for hiring individuals with targeted disabilities.
>
> Sec. 2. Recruitment and Hiring of Individuals with Disabilities. (a)
> Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Director of the Office of
> Personnel Management, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor, the
> Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Director
> of the Office of Management and Budget, shall design model recruitment
> and hiring strategies for agencies seeking to increase their employment
> of people with disabilities and develop mandatory training programs for
> both human resources personnel and hiring managers on the employment of
> individuals with disabilities.
>
> (b) Within 120 days of the date the Office of Personnel Management sets
> forth strategies and programs required under subsection (a), each agency
> shall develop an agency specific plan for promoting employment
> opportunities for individuals with disabilities. The plan shall be
> developed in consultation with and, as appropriate, subject to approval
> by the Director of the Office of Personnel Management and the Director
> of the Office of Management and Budget, and shall, consistent with law,
> include performance targets and numerical goals for employment of
> individuals with disabilities and sub goals for employment of
> individuals with targeted disabilities.
>
> (c) Each agency shall designate a senior-level agency official to be
> accountable for enhancing employment opportunities for individuals with
> disabilities and individuals with targeted disabilities within the
> agency, consistent with law, and for meeting the goals of this order.
> This official, among other things, shall be accountable for developing
> and implementing the agency's plan under subsection (b), creating
> recruitment and training programs for employment of individuals with
> disabilities and targeted disabilities, and coordinating employment
> counseling to help match the career aspirations of individuals with
> disabilities to the needs of the agency.
>
> (d) In implementing their plans, agencies, to the extent permitted by
> law, shall increase utilization of the Federal Government's Schedule A
> excepted service hiring authority for persons with disabilities and
> increase participation of individuals with disabilities in internships,
> fellowships, and training and mentoring programs.
>
> (e) The Office of Personnel Management shall assist agencies with the
> implementation of their plans. The Director of the Office of Personnel
> Management, in consultation with the Director of the Office of
> Management and Budget, shall implement a system for reporting regularly
> to the President, the heads of agencies, and the public on agencies'
> progress in implementing their plans and the objectives of this order.
> The Office of Personnel Management, to the extent permitted by law,
> shall compile and post on its website Government wide statistics on the
> hiring of individuals with disabilities.
>
> Sec. 3. Increasing Agencies' Retention and Return to Work of Individuals
> with Disabilities. (a) The Director of the Office of Personnel
> Management, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor and the Chair of
> the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, shall identify and assist
> agencies in implementing strategies for retaining Federal workers with
> disabilities in Federal employment including, but not limited to,
> training, the use of centralized funds to provide reasonable
> accommodations, increasing access to appropriate accessible
> technologies, and ensuring the accessibility of physical and virtual
> workspaces.
>
> (b) Agencies shall make special efforts, to the extent permitted by law,
> to ensure the retention of those who are injured on the job. Agencies
> shall work to improve, expand, and increase successful return to work
> outcomes for those of their employees who sustain work-related injuries
> and illnesses, as defined under the Federal Employees' Compensation Act
> (FECA), by increasing the availability of job accommodations and light
> or limited duty jobs, removing disincentives for FECA claimants to
> return to work, and taking other appropriate measures. The Secretary of
> Labor, in consultation with the Director of the Office of Personnel
> Management, shall pursue innovative re employment strategies and develop
> policies, procedures, and structures that foster improved return to work
> outcomes, including by pursuing overall reform of the FECA system. The
> Secretary of Labor shall also propose specific outcome measures and
> targets by which each agency's progress in carrying out return to work
> and FECA claims processing efforts can be assessed.
>
> Sec. 4. Definitions. (a) "Disability" shall be defined as set forth in
> the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
> (b) "Targeted disability" shall be defined as set forth on the form for
> self identification of disability, Standard Form 256 (SF 256), issued by
> the Office of Personnel Management, or any replacements, updates, or
> revisions thereto.
>
> (c) Not less than 1 year after the date of this order and in
> consultation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the
> Department of Labor, and the Office of Management and Budget, the Office
> of Personnel Management shall review the effectiveness of the definition
> of targeted disability set forth in SF 256 and replace, update, or
> revise it as appropriate.
>
> Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed
> to impair or otherwise affect:
> (i) authority granted by law to a department or agency, or the head
> thereof; or
> (ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
> relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
>
> (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
> subject to the availability of appropriations, and shall not be
> construed to require any Federal employee to disclose disability status
> involuntarily.
>
> (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
> benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by
> any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or
> entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
>
> BARACK OBAMA
> THE WHITE HOUSE,
> July 26, 2010.
>
> ------------------------- 
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