The EEOC has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking describing specific actions for agencies to take to comply with their obligation to engage in affirmative action in employment for individuals with disabilities.
The proposal would centralize “longstanding requirements found in a variety of sources, including management directives and Executive Orders. This will provide clarity for federal agencies for the development of their affirmative action plans,” the EEOC said.
It further would require agencies to adopt a goal of achieving a 12 percent representation rate for individuals with disabilities, and a 2 percent representation rate for individuals with “targeted” disabilities.
For this purpose, the rules would define “disability” in the same way as the Americans With Disabilities Act–an impairment, either physical or mental, that “substantially limits” one or more major life activities. “Targeted” disabilities are those that the government has, for several decades, placed special emphasis on in hiring because they pose the greatest barriers to employment—including blindness, deafness and certain other physical conditions, as well as certain intellectual or psychiatric conditions.
The goals would apply at all job levels; while overall the government already meets those percentages, those with disabilities tend to be concentrated at lower levels, it said.
