[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 146 (Friday, July 30, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 45039-45041]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-18988]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 146 / Friday, July 30, 2010 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 45039]]
Executive Order 13548 of July 26, 2010
Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals With
Disabilities
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, and in order to establish the Federal
Government as a model employer of individuals with
disabilities, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Policy. Approximately 54 million Americans
are living with a disability. The Federal Government
has an important interest in reducing discrimination
against Americans living with a disability, in
eliminating the stigma associated with disability, and
in encouraging Americans with disabilities to seek
employment in the Federal workforce. Yet Americans with
disabilities have an employment rate far lower than
that of Americans without disabilities, and they are
underrepresented in the Federal workforce. Individuals
with disabilities currently represent just over 5
percent of the nearly 2.5 million people in the Federal
workforce, and individuals with targeted disabilities
(as defined below) currently represent less than 1
percent of that workforce.
On July 26, 2000, in the final year of his
administration, President Clinton signed Executive
Order 13163, calling for an additional 100,000
individuals with disabilities to be employed by the
Federal Government over 5 years. Yet few steps were
taken to implement that Executive Order in subsequent
years.
As the Nation's largest employer, the Federal
Government must become a model for the employment of
individuals with disabilities. Executive departments
and agencies (agencies) must improve their efforts to
employ workers with disabilities through increased
recruitment, hiring, and retention of these
individuals. My Administration is committed to
increasing the number of individuals with disabilities
in the Federal workforce through compliance with
Executive Order 13163 and achievement of the goals set
forth therein over 5 years, including specific goals
for hiring individuals with targeted disabilities.
Sec. 2. Recruitment and Hiring of Individuals with
Disabilities. (a) Within 60 days of the date of this
order, the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management, in consultation with the Secretary of
Labor, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, and the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, shall design model recruitment
and hiring strategies for agencies seeking to increase
their employment of people with disabilities and
develop mandatory training programs for both human
resources personnel and hiring managers on the
employment of individuals with disabilities.
(b) Within 120 days of the date the Office of
Personnel Management sets forth strategies and programs
required under subsection (a), each agency shall
develop an agency-specific plan for promoting
employment opportunities for individuals with
disabilities. The plan shall be developed in
consultation with and, as appropriate, subject to
approval by the Director of the Office of Personnel
Management and the Director of the Office of Management
and Budget, and shall, consistent with law, include
performance targets and numerical goals for employment
of individuals with disabilities and sub-goals for
employment of individuals with targeted disabilities.
[[Page 45040]]
(c) Each agency shall designate a senior-level
agency official to be accountable for enhancing
employment opportunities for individuals with
disabilities and individuals with targeted disabilities
within the agency, consistent with law, and for meeting
the goals of this order. This official, among other
things, shall be accountable for developing and
implementing the agency's plan under subsection (b),
creating recruitment and training programs for
employment of individuals with disabilities and
targeted disabilities, and coordinating employment
counseling to help match the career aspirations of
individuals with disabilities to the needs of the
agency.
(d) In implementing their plans, agencies, to the
extent permitted by law, shall increase utilization of
the Federal Government's Schedule A excepted service
hiring authority for persons with disabilities and
increase participation of individuals with disabilities
in internships, fellowships, and training and mentoring
programs.
(e) The Office of Personnel Management shall assist
agencies with the implementation of their plans. The
Director of the Office of Personnel Management, in
consultation with the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget, shall implement a system for
reporting regularly to the President, the heads of
agencies, and the public on agencies' progress in
implementing their plans and the objectives of this
order. The Office of Personnel Management, to the
extent permitted by law, shall compile and post on its
website Government-wide statistics on the hiring of
individuals with disabilities.
Sec. 3. Increasing Agencies' Retention and Return to
Work of Individuals with Disabilities. (a) The Director
of the Office of Personnel Management, in consultation
with the Secretary of Labor and the Chair of the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission, shall identify and
assist agencies in implementing strategies for
retaining Federal workers with disabilities in Federal
employment including, but not limited to, training, the
use of centralized funds to provide reasonable
accommodations, increasing access to appropriate
accessible technologies, and ensuring the accessibility
of physical and virtual workspaces.
(b) Agencies shall make special efforts, to the
extent permitted by law, to ensure the retention of
those who are injured on the job. Agencies shall work
to improve, expand, and increase successful return-to-
work outcomes for those of their employees who sustain
work-related injuries and illnesses, as defined under
the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), by
increasing the availability of job accommodations and
light or limited duty jobs, removing disincentives for
FECA claimants to return to work, and taking other
appropriate measures. The Secretary of Labor, in
consultation with the Director of the Office of
Personnel Management, shall pursue innovative re-
employment strategies and develop policies, procedures,
and structures that foster improved return-to-work
outcomes, including by pursuing overall reform of the
FECA system. The Secretary of Labor shall also propose
specific outcome measures and targets by which each
agency's progress in carrying out return-to-work and
FECA claims processing efforts can be assessed.
Sec. 4. Definitions. (a) ``Disability'' shall be
defined as set forth in the ADA Amendments Act of 2008.
(b) ``Targeted disability'' shall be defined as set
forth on the form for self-identification of
disability, Standard Form 256 (SF 256), issued by the
Office of Personnel Management, or any replacements,
updates, or revisions thereto.
(c) Not less than 1 year after the date of this
order and in consultation with the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission, the Department of Labor, and
the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of
Personnel Management shall review the effectiveness of
the definition of targeted disability set forth in SF
256 and replace, update, or revise it as appropriate.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
[[Page 45041]]
(i) authority granted by law to a department or agency, or the head
thereof; or
(ii) functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations, and shall not be construed to require
any Federal employee to disclose disability status
involuntarily.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
July 26, 2010.
[FR Doc. 2010-18988
Filed 7-29-10; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P