[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]


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  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