Reports Highlight Successes, Challenges in Hiring Disabled Workers into Federal Government
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released two reports on how the federal government is doing when it comes to hiring and accommodating workers with disabilities.
In the first report, “Promising Practices for Using Schedule A to Recruit, Hire, Advance, and Retain Persons with Disabilities,” EEOC looked at how agencies are using Schedule A hiring authority to appoint job applicants with certain disabilities to federal positions.
Schedule A hiring authority lets agencies avoid the lengthy competitive hiring process and instead appoint candidates non-competitively.
Most agencies responding to the EEOC survey said they were satisfied with the process for using that authority. Satisfaction was highest among medium sized agencies.
However, some agencies reported confusion with Schedule A including:
· A lack of familiarity with the process for both officials and applicants
· Lack of qualified staff to process hiring actions under Schedule A
· Leadership not holding staff accountable for using Schedule A
· Difficulty in reviewing and determining medical documentation to support applicant eligibility
· Whether Schedule A applicants are required to compete for internal opportunities
· How Schedule A relates to Veterans Preference
· Two-year Schedule A trial period
“It’s a little confusing at times, and I don’t blame agencies — it can be a confusing situation,” Wendy Doernberg, a senior attorney advisor in EEOC’s Office of Federal Operations, told Federal News Network.
The report identified promising practices that some agencies are using and urged other agencies to consider adopting them.
Some agencies say that coordination between EEOC, HR, and Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) offices is paying dividends. Some are also opting out of USAJOBS for certain positions and instead collecting hiring lists and distributing those lists for certain jobs.
Telework Impact
A second report, “The Impact of Telework on Personal Assistance Services,” found that agencies are delivering once workers with disabilities are in the door. The report found that over 88 percent of agencies provided Personal Assistance Services (PAS) to employees. And 90 percent said the expansion of telework during the COVID-19 pandemic did not hamper their ability to provide such services.
PAS helps current workers with targeted disabilities—such as deafness and paralysis—perform major life activities during work hours, such as eating and caring for themselves.
“The pandemic, as bad as it was, augmented the program. We found that we can accommodate [employees] a little bit better under telework than we can in the building,” EEOC Office of Federal Operations senior program analyst Rodney Yelder, who noted that remote work allows for the ability of family members to continue to care for their loved ones with disabilities, while on the job, and cuts down on commuting hassles.
Under Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, and additional EEOC regulations, federal agencies are required to have 12 percent of their workforce made up of Persons With Disabilities (PWD) and two percent of their workforce made up of Persons With Targeted Disabilities (PWTD).
EEOC says the federal government is not hitting the mark but is making progress.
