History of Federal Disability Employment Efforts

Equal Employment Opportunity Management Directive 715 requires that all federal agencies design model recruitment and hiring strategies for people with disabilities and implement programs to retain these workers. To ensure transparency and accountability, agencies must report on their progress in hiring people with disabilities, and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) posts the results of agencies’ efforts online for public evaluation.

In 2000, President Clinton issued Executive Order 13163 to prompt the addition of 100,000 employees with disabilities to the federal workforce within five years. As a part of Executive Order 13163, each agency was directed to prepare a plan to increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities at all levels and occupations within government. This included utilizing available hiring authorities, expanding outreach efforts, and accommodating individuals with disabilities. However, by 2010, employees with disabilities still only represented five percent of the nearly 2.5 million workforce, and those with targeted disabilities constituted less than one percent.

In light of the lack of gains in disability employment following Executive Order 13163, in 2010 President Obama issued Executive Order 13548, which recommitted the Federal Government’s commitment and emphasized greater compliance and accountability, including performance targets, numerical goals and sub-goals for individuals that have targeted disabilities (including deafness, blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism).

Consequently, executive departments and agencies were required to develop plans to improve upon their efforts to employ workers with disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring and retention. Furthermore, OPM was charged with designing model recruitment and hiring strategies for agencies and developing mandatory training programs for both human resources personnel and hiring managers on the employment of people with disabilities. Other components of Executive Order 13548 included:

Designation of senior-level agency officials to be accountable for developing and implementing employment goals in recruitment, training and advancement of individuals with disabilities, including targeted disabilities.

Utilization of the Schedule A Hiring Authority and increased participation in internships (including through the Workforce Recruitment Program), training and mentoring programs for individuals with disabilities.

Institution of a reporting system to track agency progress in implementation of objectives.