What's In and What's Out

What's cool one day may be "so last season" the next. And that doesn't just go for shirts and shoes. We've got your association and non-profit round-up of what's passé and what's here to stay (at least until next year).

OUT: It's all about the cause IN: It's all about the jobs Ok, your cause is still important. But being able to show how that cause helps create jobs is even more important, especially for organizations that rely on government funding for themselves or their industries. As government at all levels has looked for ways to cut spending, more organizations are emphasizing their role in job creation. We've seen many industries commission studies on their economic and workforce imprint, and others making jobs the focal point of their lobbying efforts, grant proposals, and general messaging. Need further proof? Just look at the giant banners outside the US Chamber of Commerce. check out this site for more interesting news on "Whats in and Whats out" http://www.bisnow.com/washington_dc_trade_association_news_story.php?p=20017

JOB BANK FOR DISABLED VETS

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JOB BANK FOR DISABLED VETS

On November 11, the nation paid tribute to the country’s veterans. But veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan need more than just a celebratory show of support — they need jobs.

The unemployment rate for these veterans is higher than the average for the general population, and for many — especially those returning with disabilities — transitioning to the civilian workforce can be daunting, despite the fact that veterans are a ready source of qualified candidates with transferable skills proven in real world situations.

Now, a new tool can help businesses support veterans by specifically targeting them in workforce recruitment efforts.

The recently launched Veterans Job Bank on NRD.gov offers veterans quick and easy access to hundreds of thousands of private-sector job opportunities, specifically targeted to veterans, by providing a list of current openings based on search criteria such as zip code and military occupational code (MOC).

Businesses of all sizes and in all industries can participate in the Veterans Job Bank by tagging job announcements as "Veteran Committed" to ensure they are discoverable by the search engine. To learn how to do so, read Instructions for Employer Participation.

The Veterans Job Bank is powered by the National Resource Directory (NRD), a collaborative effort among the U.S. Departments of Labor, Defense and Veterans Affairs.

THE FINE NINE

The National Organization on Disability (NOD) cited nine companies that made hiring of employees with disabilities a corporate priority.

The “Fine Nine” are:

• Sam’s Club, one of the first companies to fund the NOD’s “Bridges to Business” program.
• J.B. Hunt, the trucking company that was the first employer to join the consortium and enlist the NOD to assist with policy review, personnel training and connections to disability placement agencies for 50 new positions.
• Tyson Foods, for training recruiting managers and looking to implement best practices on a national level.
• Lowe’s, which has a long-time commitment to hiring people with disabilities and builds awareness of the company’s job opportunities for people with disabilities.
• Aetna, one of several New Jersey employers seeking to build a pipeline of candidates with disabilities.
• Sodexo, also of New Jersey, which has identified 15 sites across the state to recruit candidates with disabilities.
• ADP, which developed a process for identifying and recruiting qualified job candidates with disabilities.
• Saint Barnabus Health Care System, which made a commitment to actively recruit and hire people with disabilities.
• Toys R Us, for launching a disability employment effort in two of its distribution centers.

THE 7 PERCENT RULE

The Labor Department proposed a rule on December 8 that would require most companies with federal contracts to set goals of having disabled workers make up 7 percent of their workforce.

Labor officials hailed the plan as an economic game-changer at a time when a staggering eight of 10 working-age Americans with disabilities are out of the workforce entirely.

The government long has used the leverage of federal spending to promote affirmative action in the hiring of women and minorities. The new rule would, for the first time, give similar treatment to people with disabilities.

Some businesses have indicated concern about increased costs, including for record-keeping and other paperwork. And Republican lawmakers have complained frequently about the costs that new regulations impose on businesses.

The Labor Department will take comments on the rule for 60 days before it considers final approval this year.

Read about it at:http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/sec503/Sec503

Disabled get a start from Shags

Barbara Miller reported this story on Monday, January 23, 2012 12:18:00

Listen to MP3 of this story ( minutes)

Alternate WMA version | MP3 download

ELEANOR HALL: The Federal and state governments say their plan to introduce a National Disability Insurance Scheme will dramatically change the lives of people with disabilities.

Studies show the new scheme should help several hundred thousand more Australians with disabilities to enter the workforce - but one young disability advocate isn't holding her breath.

Laura O'Reilly has set up her own company specifically to employ people with disabilities. It's a venture that was inspired by the experience of her brother Shane, who had cerebral palsy.

Reporter Barbara Miller visited the start-up in Sydney's northern beaches.

GEORGIA COOPER: We're getting different numbers from different schools and basically there is…

BARBARA MILLER: Eighteen-year-old Georgia Cooper, who has cerebral palsy, explains what her work for the day will be. She's one of 10 people with disabilities working at the Sydney start-up.

GEORGIA COOPER: I'm really loving it here. It is great. I love all the people here, I love socialising. It is fantastic and it is good to get, you know, those internet skills on the computer. It is fantastic.

BARBARA MILLER: Georgia's mother Michelle Cooper is loving it too.

MICHELLE COOPER: She is just happier and she seems to be more positive and she is learning. Even at home she said I'll problem solve that. Now that is a big thing for an 18-year-old to say I'll problem solve something so that is obviously something they do here. So she is bringing those skills into the house as well. I think this is going to be fabulous for Georgia and anyone else that is involved with it.

(Sounds of general talking)

BARBARA MILLER: The first initiative of the start-up is a product called Shags. That stands for shoe bag - a brightly coloured cloth bag for women to carry their heels in while walking to work. It's a cheeky name for a bold venture.

It's born out of the Fighting Chance charity, and run by 25-year-old Laura O'Reilly.

Fighting Chance was set up to give people with disabilities opportunities to enter the workforce and was inspired by Laura O'Reilly's brother Shane.

LAURA O'REILLY: So Shane was assessed as unemployable. He was very profoundly physically disabled despite being very smart and very bright and switched on and he loved computers. So he was at a day program but he used to say that he found it quite boring and it wasn't stimulating or challenging for him and as a young person with two siblings who were both going off into employment he wanted that option.

BARBARA MILLER: Shane died suddenly last year, but Laura O'Reilly pushed on.

LAURA O'REILLY: Yeah, the day that he died me and my other sibling Geordie who I run this project with, we did look at each other and we had just signed the lease on the building, we'd just got the computers in. Shane actually did see his desk and where he would be working although we hadn't yet got to the stage where he could start and Geordie and I did look at each other and think what are we going to do now. For about 30 seconds that thought crossed our mind.

But then our resolve came back and we just haven't really looked back since then and we continue to do it in his memory but we continue to do it for the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people just like him who need the same opportunities and the same chance.

BARBARA MILLER: The office is tucked away at the back of an industrial estate near a shopping mall. It was here that Laura O'Reilly finally found a space that was totally accessible for people with disabilities.

Even then they had to modify the bathroom.

LAURA O'REILLY: It is a, I guess, a reflection of the struggles that people with disabilities have which is that if you can't even find an office to start your business how can you work?

BARBARA MILLER: There are other challenges too.

LAURA O'REILLY: Some of the younger people with disabilities don't come into the office space work ready in the sense that many of them haven't been socialised around the expectation of ever getting employment. Many have sort of been told that that is not the path they are going to go down and so they haven't had any of the training that the rest of us just sort of almost take for granted as we go through our teens.

So there was work to be done around just explaining what the work environment is, the code of conduct, how you behave.

For example, you can go on social media in your lunch hour but you can't do that when we are working.

(Sounds of general talking)

BARBARA MILLER: Mark Wadsworth describes himself as the elder statesman of the business. A builder by trade, the 52-year-old has been in a wheelchair since the age of 40, due to the effects of a rare genetic disorder. He's optimistic about the project's chances of success:

MARK WADSWORTH: I do think it'll work because nobody else is doing it. There are activities for disabled people to go to to fill in their time. This is making them feel worthwhile because even if they're not earning a great deal of money, it makes you feel worthwhile if you are earning something. Makes you feel as though you are contributing.

BARBARA MILLER: The business started just before Christmas. Georgia Cooper is looking forward to her first pay cheque.

GEORGIA COOPER: When I get my first pay I would like to go on a trip overseas or something, to Paris, Italy, Europe or Rome. I've actually been to England and New Zealand and it is fantastic.

(Sounds of general talking)

BARBARA MILLER: Laura O'Reilly's been working round the clock. She has no illusions about the task she's set herself - and no regrets.

LAURA O'REILLY: I read a quote recently that if you do something that you love you will never work a day in your life and that's how I feel. I suppose you could say I work 15 hours a day but really I don't work at all because I love what I do.

ELEANOR HALL: Good on her. Laura O'Reilly from the Fighting Chance initiative. That report by Barbara Miller.

Advocate Speaks for Individuals with Disabilities

As a young girl, I was in awe of Helen Keller. This amazing woman, born in 1880 in Tuscumbia, AL, lost her both her vision and hearing following an illness at 19 months. She went on to become an author and political activist following completion of her formal education at Radcliffe College in Cambridge, MA. She was the first person with deafblindness to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree. I love this quote of hers:

I seldom think of my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.

The message resonates and reminds me of my reasons for choosing a career in disability advocacy many years ago, promoting opportunities for individuals who faced multiple challenges and barriers to independence.

Most of these challenges had less to do with the person with a disability, and more to do with innumerable barriers in the community. At the time, many of those barriers were fairly easy to solve. Install some curb cuts, designate some parking spaces and retrofit public bathrooms to accommodate users in wheelchairs. Voila! We increased access for many citizens who could not previously get around.

But other challenges were harder to solve, such as attitudinal barriers. We’ve come a long way, but some employers are still resistant to hiring a worker with a disability, fearing liability, low productivity and accommodation costs. Most of these fears are baseless, but attitudes are hard to change. And the problem is amplified for individuals with “invisible” disabilities such as diabetes, epilepsy, autoimmune diseases and other less apparent conditions. Then we have the many stigmas and misconceptions associated with mental (emotional) and cognitive (intellectual) disabilities.  

The problem is not just individual attitudes and perceptions. As communities, we have yet to fully embrace the view that disability is an environmental phenomenon, not just a physiological one. What that means is that individuals with physical, emotional and intellectual differences should no longer be viewed by an outdated medical model in which the goal is to “fix” them, then introduce or return them to society if they manage to “fit in.” Yes, persons with disabilities have responsibilities as community members. But functional limitations are too often increased by barriers in the environment. And it is those barriers that deserve our time and attention.

I learned a lot about this perspective from my former colleague Mark Johnson, Director of Advocacy at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, a world-renowned medical, rehabilitation and research hospital for spinal cord injuries and brain injuries. Every time I talk about Mark, I turn all hero-worshipper, which is exactly the opposite of what he wants.

But understand that Mark is a pioneer of the national disability rights movement, and he continues to work 24/7 to make a difference. And make a difference he has, less through charm and more often through aggressive action to hold communities and policy makers accountable for ensuring access for individuals with disabilities. Years ago, he shared a story that set my own thinking straight. Here it is:

Imagine Joe, a young man with mental retardation who goes to high school and has a lot of special educators and other professionals coming together with Joe and his family to create an individualized education plan to ensure that Joe graduates with an agreed-upon set of basic skills. One of those skills is money management. Everyone wants to make sure Joe knows how to manage his money in the future, and that includes balancing a checkbook.

So Joe receives weekly instruction in checkbook balancing. And every one meets periodically to review his progress in balancing his pretend checkbook. But Joe fails to master this particular skill. Unfortunate, because it’s one of the skills deemed important for moving on to employment in the real world.

So after graduation, Joe attends a local center for vocational training and adult education. Consistent with high school, one of Joe’s educational goals is to learn how to balance a checkbook. This skill, along with others, is still deemed important for moving on to a real job.

Along comes Mark Johnson, or some other disability advocate, who understands the need to flip the problem. The advocate accompanies Joe to the local bank and asks to speak with the bank manager. The advocate explains that Joe will soon go to work and earn a modest amount of money per month. Joe would like to deposit this money at this manager’s bank, but could use some help balancing his checkbook each month. Is this possible, or, should Joe go down the street to another bank?

Most of the time, problem solved.

And the lesson here is that it’s less about fixing Joe and more about finding reasonable ways to accommodate his differences and support him as he strives for independence in the community. When Joe is reasonably accommodated, we all win.

Now think of the public policy implications of Mark’s seemingly simple example. If we view disability as influenced by environmental barriers, where should we put our public dollars as we strive to address the needs of citizens with disabilities? I could research funding at the national, state and local levels and determine how much goes into programs aimed at fixing the person and how much goes toward creating environmental change. But I don’t need to do the research.

After years immersed in the disability service systems and related public policy at the community, state and national levels, I know the answer. We still spend lots of money trying to fix people whose major problem is a society that doesn’t know how to accommodate them.

(A side note to my special education friends. You are needed! Individuals with disabilities need multiple supports and my above thoughts are not a criticism of your work. But it’s critical that we address the right things. I’ve heard many of you lament that your students could succeed, if only they had more parental support. Your concerns affirm the notion that the problem does not rest solely with the child, but with the environment in which the child has been raised and is trying to function.)

Regular readers know that I write about a range of family matters in our community. Disability is a natural part of the human experience and, therefore, something eventually faced by every family. What is your perspective of our community’s commitment to increasing access for our family members who happen to have a disability?

About this column: Mother, wife and careerist, Dee Locklin offers stories, advice and a forum for women to share their similar experiences as well. This column appears every Monday.

Social Security Disability Benefits Recipients Should Get Advice From Lawyers Not Laypeople, Says Social Security Disability Attorney Larry Disparti

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 24, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- Lawyers - not laypeople - are the best representatives for persons who are making claims to get Social Security disability benefits, saysSocial Security disability attorney Larry Disparti, whose office has been representing people with disabilities for more than 30 years in Florida and across the United States.

"Several years ago, Congress began allowing non-lawyers to represent people in Social Security disability claims. But that hasn't worked out well as some 'Social Security advocates' have been caught lying about health reports and wound up defrauding the government and getting their clients in trouble," said Disparti, whose law firm specializes in Social Security disabilities law.

"People who file Social Security disability claims should use an attorney because lawyers are held to a higher ethical standard than non-practitioners," he said. "We could lose our license to practice law if we give illegal advice or make untruthful claims. So you know attorneys have your best interests in mind."

It makes financial sense to hire an attorney because social security limits the amount of money attorneys or advocates can be paid on a case to the lesser of $6,000 or 25%.

"Since it costs the same, you are better off working with a person who has the most experience possible to represent you, as well as an attorney who can fight on your behalf all the way through federal court," said Disparti.

People should consider these questions when they ask, "How can I hire an attorney in a Social Security disability case?"

1. Do you specialize in Social Security disability cases? If not, they might not know the latest laws or procedures, which could harm your case.
2. How many cases have you done? You want to hire someone with experience.
3. How much of your firm is devoted to Social Security disability cases? It can be helpful for an attorney to review matters with other attorneys on staff.
4. How many years have you done this? You don't want to hire a novice.
5. What percentage of your cases have you won? You want to work with a winner.
6. Is this a major part of your firm? Or is it an add-on service? You want to find real experts who know everything about this area of law and have other attorneys they can rely on for difficult questions.
7. Who will handle your case - a new attorney, or one with years of experience? You want to work with someone who has many years of experience who can provide the best service.

Disparti pointed out four other reasons lawyers are better than advocates in Social Security Disability insurance cases. 

1. Lawyers can appeal a final decision to a U.S. Federal Court. Advocates cannot appear in federal court.
2. Attorneys are bound to an ethical standard so you know that your case will be handled properly.
3. Lawyers could lose their licenses to practice law if they make mistakes.
4. Judges who decide cases feel more comfortable dealing with attorneys because they follow the same rules of evidence and legal procedures.

"People with disabilities need ethical, legal representation," he said. "That kind of honest representation is guaranteed with a licensed attorney with years of experience."

More people than ever are looking to hire attorneys to represent them in Social Security disability claims because high unemployment and an aging workforce have led to many more people filing claims.

People from any state can call for information at 1-800-633-4091 or go to www.dispartilaw.com

A new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL)

Rule Would Set Disability Hiring Goal for Federal Contractors 

 

12/9/2011  By Kathy Gurchiek      A new rule proposed by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) would require that persons with disabilities have at least 7 percent of jobs with federal contractors and subcontractors. The DOL announced the proposal during a Dec. 8, 2011, news conference in Washington, D.C. The proposed rule, which was to be published in the Dec. 9, 2011, Federal Register, invites the public to make comment to the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) through Feb. 7, 2012. The proposed changes detail actions that federal contractors and subcontractors would have to take in recruiting, training, record keeping and policy dissemination, similar to what has been required to promote workplace equality for women and minorities. The rule would mandate annual employer self-reviews of their recruitment and outreach efforts and would require federal contractors to list job openings to increase their pools of qualified applicants, according to the DOL. That includes listing openings in the nearest Employment One-Stop Career Center and entering into three linkage agreements, which are connections between the contractor and what the DOL considers an appropriate recruitment and/or training source. The OFCCP plans to provide a sample linkage agreement on its web page. Additionally, the contractor must document its review of outreach and recruitment efforts. The aim of the proposed changes is to strengthen the affirmative action requirements established under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which predates the Americans with Disabilities Act and which has remained unchanged for four decades, according to Seth D. Harris, deputy secretary of labor. Currently, federal contractors and subcontractors “merely have to show good faith efforts to comply … but without a particular goal in mind” toward hiring Americans with disabilities, he said during the news conference. The current framework “has not significantly increased the employment of people with disabilities as Congress intended,” Harris said. The government estimates in its proposed regulation that the unemployment rate for working-age individuals with disabilities was 14.8 percent vs. an unemployment rate of 9.4 percent for those without disabilities. Under the proposal, he said, “good-faith efforts will be replaced with clear measures. We’ve heard from the business community that when they have a clear goal they will perform in a way that will meet that goal.” Patricia A. Shiu, director of the OFCCP, called Dec. 8, 2011, a historic day for the DOL and OFCCP. The 7 percent hiring goal for every job group in contractors’ and subcontractors’ workforces is “meant to be a yardstick to help employers assess how they’re doing and help us better evaluate their efforts,” she said. OFCCP is requesting comment on using 7 percent as its hiring utilization goal, as well as on a hiring range of between 4 percent and 10 percent. “The lower and upper bounds of this range are designed to take into account the variability across the EEO-1 categories, the potential for geographic variation in availability, and whether or not a discouraged worker effect should be taken into account,” according to wording in the proposed rule change. She noted that addressing all the components of hiring and retention of workers with disabilities—including job postings and outreach, data collection and accommodation requests—gives everyone “a fair shot at competing for and staying in meaningful jobs.” Other changes in the proposed rule include alterations to the definition of “reasonable accommodation,” addressing the increased use of telecommuting and work arrangements that do not require a physical office setting, and changes to the description of types of conduct that would violate the nondiscrimination requirements of Section 503. The regulation would clarify that it would be impermissible for a contractor to reduce the amount of compensation it provides to an individual with a disability because of the “actual or anticipated cost of a reasonable accommodation the individual needs or requests.” “We’re trying to give businesses clarity so they know what we are looking for and what we expect,” Shiu said. Details on how to make comment can be found in the rule’s posting in the Federal Register. Kathy Gurchiek is associate editor for HR News.

Telework as ADA Accommodation on the Rise

Often, working remotely is the simplest accommodation for a host of impairments 

11/17/2011  By Joseph Marks       The use of telework as a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has increased in recent years, experts say. It’s unclear, though, how much of the increase was spurred by 2008 amendments that brought many short-term disabilities and illnesses under the act’s jurisdiction and how much is attributable to the boom in businesses’ adoption of telework, they said. That boom was spurred partly by technological advances that make it easier for employees to mimic their work environment at home and for employers to keep tabs on distant subordinates. Experts say a mandate by the Obama administration that federal agencies implement telework plans by June 2011 played a role. It was spurred, too, by companies’ drive to save money on energy and real estate. IBM, for instance, has saved an estimated $50 million in real estate costs through telework. Sun Microsystems has saved $68 million. Many companies have telework policies that are easy to turn to when it’s time to find an ADA accommodation or they can envision how such a program would work, said Linda Batiste, an attorney and principal consultant with the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service of the U.S. Labor Department that advises companies on reaching ADA accommodations. Before passage of the ADA Amendments Act in 2008, about 1 percent of questions employers posed to JAN dealt with telework, said Beth Loy, a JAN consultant and researcher. That figure jumped to 3 percent after the amendments act became law in 2009. It has remained steady since then, Loy said—even after a final round ofEqual Employment Opportunity Commission regulations clarifying the act’s reach was published in March 2011. Those EEOC regulations don’t change which employees are eligible for telework as an accommodation, said Sharon Rennert, a senior attorney advisor in the commission’s ADA division. But the widening of the act’s scope means that more accommodations are happening overall and telework is heavily represented. Many of the disabilities covered under the guidance for the first time are short-term impairments such as recovering from an injury or surgery that would hinder an employee from driving into work but not from putting in several hours at a home computer, she said. In addition, the March 2011 regulations broadened the meaning of disability to include impairments that don’t restrict major life activities significantly or do so only periodically, such as epilepsy or cancer that isn’t in remission. The rules expand protections for employees who are “regarded as” being disabled—even if there’s not a clear-cut argument for disability status under other portions of the law. Offices that don’t have established telework policies might create a one-time arrangement to accommodate an employee, Batiste said. For companies with telework policies, a reasonable accommodation might mean expanding the number of days an employee can telework each week, she said, or allowing an irregular telework schedule as, say, pain from a chronic condition ebbs and flows. Not having a telework program isn’t a valid reason to deny an accommodation request, Batiste said, but employers can refuse a telework request that’s unduly burdensome, such as if the employee handles highly sensitive data that would be too expensive or too risky to secure on a home computer. For employers that are uncomfortable with telework, Rennert recommended that they draw up a plan for precisely how the employee will do his or her work remotely and how a supervisor can monitor that work. Then, she said, the employer and employee can try out telework for a few weeks without committing to it as a long-term accommodation. “Maybe some issues will come up that will require modifying the telework agreement in some way,” she said, “and they can talk those things through and change the accommodation. It’s important to remember that this has to work for both sides.” Joseph Marks is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

Workshop Helps Older Workers Deal with Age Issue

Press Release

Date: 1/11/2012 Information Contact 1: Sharon O’Toole : (208) 364-7781 ext 3728 :   Information Contact 2: Bob Fick : (208) 332-3570 ext 3628 : Workshop Helps Older Workers Deal with Age Issue The Idaho Department of Labor’s Canyon County office has developed a workshop to help older workers deal with the issue of age during their job search. “A recent survey conducted by our office found 50 percent of the respondents believe age is a primary reason they can’t find a job,” Department of Labor Workforce Consultant Sharon O’Toole said. “Some of the people in these classes had been working for the same company, sometimes in the same position, for years and have not looked for work recently. Now the whole process of applying for a job and presenting what they have to offer to an employer seems a bit daunting.” The next workshop is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 18 at the Canyon County office, 4514 Thomas Jefferson St. in Caldwell. Additional sessions will be held Feb. 1, Feb. 15, March 7 and March 21. The workshop emphasizes the fact that older employees bring to the job wisdom and judgment that comes with maturity and experience - something younger workers do not have. Participants are urged to: • Remain confident about their job search. • Update their image in terms of clothing and hairstyle because it can have an impact on how they are perceived. • Be open to changing the way they do things to accommodate the ever-changing workplace. • Upgrade their skills if they feel technology has left them behind. • Target their résumés to each job they apply for, highlighting past career accomplishments and how they can bring value to a prospective employer. • Remember it is very likely they will be interviewed by – and if hired work for – someone much younger so understanding the differing views of other generations is important. To register for the workshop, call the Canyon County Idaho Department of Labor office at 364-7781.