EEOC issues guide for hiring, promoting disabled employees

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Tuesday published a guide to help agencies identify opportunities to hire and promote individuals with disabilities.

The online guide responds to frequently asked questions about hiring flexibilities and legal requirements.

"The EEOC is doing everything it can to provide agencies with useful guidance on how to be the nation's model employer, providing equal opportunity to all Americans, including those with disabilities," said Naomi Earp, the commission's chairwoman.

The publication highlights special regulations that allow federal agencies to hire qualified individuals with severe disabilities without going through the usual competitive process.

The guide also outlines requirements for providing disabled job applicants and employees reasonable accommodations, and discusses how to handle accommodation issues when entering into relationships with other agencies or contractors.

In addition, the publication details the types of questions agencies can ask about an applicant's or employee's disability. And federal agencies can use it to determine how their obligations under the 1973 Rehabilitation Act relate to responsibilities under other federal laws.

The percentage of federal employees with targeted disabilities, which are severe physical or mental disabilities that historically have resulted in barriers to employment, has declined each year since reaching a peak of 1.24 percent in fiscal years 1993 and 1994. In fiscal 2007 it dropped to a 20-year low of 0.92 percent.

EEOC Commissioner Christine Griffin is leading an initiative to raise the portion of federal employees with disabilities to 2 percent by 2010.

"Even though the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 has long required federal agencies to engage in affirmative action to hire and advance individuals with disabilities, the federal government has failed to meet this challenge," Griffin said. "This question-and-answer guide will help agencies make concrete progress."