U.S. Office of Personnel Management - Ensuring the Federal Government has an effective civilian workforce

The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has a six-step process for integrating people with disabilities into the workforce. The process consists of:

1. Commitment - Let the people in the agency know of the commitment to employ, advance and retain people with disabilities. Workforce diversity includes people with disabilities.
2. Recruitment - Let the Personnel/Human Resource Office and Disability Employment Program Managers know that you are aggressively seeking job candidates with disabilities. Send agency vacancy announcements to disability- related organizations and Federal employers. State the agency's interest in receiving applications from people with disabilities on the job announcement.
3. Interviewing - Look at the essential functions and competency requirements of the job, the qualifications of the individual, and the availability of reasonable accommodations. Do not let the disability distract you from evaluating the candidate's qualifications.
4. Placement - Test accommodations and adaptations once the person is on the job. Ask the employee with the disability to help in the process.
5. Training - Any employee's success hinges on proper orientation and training. Insure that all such agency programs are available and accessible to employees with disabilities. This includes training programs that may lead to upward mobility and career advancement.
6. Awareness/Sensitivity - Train managers, supervisors, and employees about disability myths and misconceptions. An educated workforce will be better able to ensure the success of employees with disabilities.

Interviewing people with disabilities is the same as interviewing people who do not have disabilities. In general, the selecting official should ask all applicants about their qualifications, experience, and skills for doing the job. However, there are some guidelines that are specific to people with disabilities. Unless an individual is seeking appointment under one of the special excepted appointment authorities, a selecting official should ask questions only about the person's ability to do the job. The office should make sure that all questions are job-related. The focus of the interview should be on the individual's ability to successfully perform the essential functions of the job and demonstrate the competencies or knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to perform the job. Understanding what are the job's essential functions and the competencies required to perform those functions is particularly important to prepare for applicant interviews.

If the person volunteers that he or she has a disability which makes it difficult to perform particular functions of a job, or if the selecting official believes that a person's readily-apparent disability might make it difficult to perform certain job functions, the selecting official may ask job-related follow-up questions, such as, "Describe how you can perform the job." The answer to such questions will indicate whether a reasonable accommodation is needed to enable the individual to perform the essential functions of the job. In addition to asking a job applicant with a visible disability how he or she can perform the job, an employer may also ask, "Do you need a reasonable accommodation?"

It is the responsibility of the job applicant to inform the employer of any accommodation needs, but once the issue has been raised, the employer and prospective employee should discuss the job functions and how they can be accomplished. Employers should not make general assumptions that an individual with a disability will be unable to do a certain part of the job or that a reasonable accommodation will be needed, unless the applicant could not perform the essential job functions without a specific reasonable accommodation that was so expensive that it would impose an undue hardship on the agency. Hiring decisions should not take into account the additional costs associated with providing a reasonable accommodation to an applicant with a disability.

One of the major problems facing many people with disabilities is underutilization of their knowledge, skills, and abilities. Employers can use developmental details and reassignments as a means of on-the-job training, which will enhance promotion opportunities. In addition, it is easy to fall into the trap of isolating employees with disabilities from others. Employees with disabilities should have opportunities not only to work with others on group projects, but also when appropriate, to take on leadership roles.

Federal employers should ensure that employees with disabilities are given full consideration for inclusion in upward mobility programs and that they are aware of career counseling. Employers should recognize that people with disabilities have career goals. Agency managers should sit down with employees and talk about goals. If it is the practice of your office to identify role models and mentors for employees, be sure to include employees with disabilities in that process. Every effort should be made to ensure that employees with disabilities, like others, are given the opportunity to reach their maximum potential.

Employees with disabilities will be held accountable for their work performance. Supervisors are responsible for communicating performance expectations to their employees and monitoring and appraising their work. When the individual with a disability begins a job, he or she should be given a clear description of all job functions, including those that are essential. All employees should be provided with encouragement and feedback regarding their work performance. It is important to ensure that when evaluating people with disabilities, aspects of their physical or mental disabilities are not held against them. They should be evaluated for their ability to do the job with appropriate reasonable accommodations. For example, it would be inappropriate to negatively evaluate an individual who uses a wheelchair for not attending a meeting held in a physically inaccessible building.

If an employee with a disability cannot satisfactorily perform the essential functions of his or her job after a full and fair trial period and with appropriate reasonable accommodations, then his or her employment may be terminated. The same job-related performance criteria should be applied to employees with disabilities that is applied to others. If it becomes necessary to terminate the appointment of an employee with a disability, the agency's Human Resources or Personnel Office should help in making this decision and taking appropriate action.

People with disabilities should have equal opportunity to receive incentive awards (special achievement/act or performance), quality step increases, and all other agency sponsored or non-agency sponsored awards. Do not limit efforts to special awards programs geared specifically to employees with disabilities.

Give employees with disabilities an equal chance to benefit from training and development opportunities. Hold classes in accessible facilities; make materials available in electronic format, large print, Braille, or audio cassette for persons with vision impairments; provide trained note-takers and qualified sign language interpreters or computer-assisted real-time transcription services for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; provide assistive listening systems and devices for persons who are hard of hearing; and make other appropriate reasonable accommodations. Encourage any training that would provide growth opportunities to allow employees with disabilities to advance in their careers. Such training could include developmental detail assignments, lateral reassignments, and leadership training.