employment

July 2014 – The Department of Justice has resolved its investigation of Hubbard, Oregon’s alleged violations of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The Settlement Agreement reads, “The United States alleges that the City has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination under the ADA by requiring applicants to disclose disabilities and/or medical information in their applications prior to making a conditional offer of employment.”  The City of Hubbard has since withdrawn all disability-related questions from job applications and agreed to the following:

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has made nearly $15 million available for state workforce agencies in an attempt to “develop flexible and innovative strategies to increase the participation of people with disabilities in existing career pathways programs in the public workforce system.” These grants are the fifth round of funds made available through the Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) from the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration and the Office of Disability Employment Policy.

May 2014 – The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is interested in revising the regulations implementing Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which directly “governs employment of individuals with disabilities by the federal government.” The EEOC is looking to the public for input on how to improve federal hiring of people with disabilities.

April 2014 — RespectAbility has released a report entitled “America at Risk: Job Crisis for People with Disabilities – Views on Solutions from 3839 People on the Front Lines.” The report compiles data from a nationwide survey and focus groups of people with and without disabilities to highlight the current attitudes and practices regarding employment of people with disabilities. Findings from the report highlight that despite the disparity seen in the low employment of people with disabilities; approximately 71% of survey respondents noted the importance of employment and independence.

April 2014 — Presentations from the State of the Science Conference, sponsored by the University of New Hampshire, the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center for Evidence Based Practice in Vocational Rehabilitation (RRTC-EBP-VR) and the Kessler Foundation, are now available. Held April 8-9, 2014 in Bethesda, Maryland, the conference addressed employment disparities experienced by people with disabilities and presented research from three NIDRR-funded employment rehabilitation research and training centers.