Are You Disabled? Your Boss Needs to Know

Wall Street Journal ^ | March 18, 2014 | LAUREN WEBER

[reaganaut1]

Nearly a quarter of the U.S. workforce will soon have to answer a personal question from the boss: Are you disabled?

U.S. regulations going into effect next week require for the first time that federal contractors—a group that includes Boeing Co., Dell Inc. and AT&T Inc., T among some 40,000 others—ask their employees if they have a disability.

Those that don't employ a minimum of 7% disabled workers, or can't prove they are taking steps to achieve that goal, could face penalties and, in the most extreme cases, the loss of their contracts, according to a government official. The target applies to contractors with 50 or more employees or more than $50,000 in government work.

The Labor Department issued the rules as part of an effort to reduce the high jobless rate among people with disabilities; a similar initiative calls for an 8% hiring target for military veterans. Government officials say the targets are "aspirational" and not rigid quotas.

Employees aren't required to disclose their specific impairment.

Still, the rules have left contractors anxious about stepping on legal minefields. The Americans With Disabilities Act, or ADA, forbids companies to gather information on a worker's disability status, since the disclosures could lead to discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has made an exception so that federal contractors can comply with the new rules.

Now, these companies face a dilemma. If not enough workers come forward to self-identify as disabled, company recruiters will need to retool their hiring practices to show they are trying to meet the targets. But employees may be uneasy disclosing health-related information to their bosses.

[TurboZamboni]

I’ll just plead the fif and be like Louis.

[CSM]

“The Labor Department issued the rules as part of an effort to reduce the high jobless rate among people with disabilities; “

Of course, this wouldn’t be caused by the explosive growth in people receiving disability from social security....Nope, you never get more of what you subsidize...

Morons.

[PapaBear3625]

Those that don't employ a minimum of 7% disabled workers, or can't prove they are taking steps to achieve that goal, could face penalties and, in the most extreme cases, the loss of their contracts, according to a government official.

If you like your company, make it easier for them by stating a disability like "poor vision" or "poor hearing" or "obesity". Then the numbers will turn up satisfactorily and the feds will have to go away (for now).

[txhurl]

How does one prove they’re gay?

I don’t understand this. If an employee was legally disabled, either they wouldn’t be working and collecting disability, and working while collecting is a crime.

[BunnySlippers]

I would probably qualify as disabled although I have never identified that way.

I was born with only one ear drum. I took lip reading from first grade. I went to a normal school and did nothing different. I work in a profession and do not take special measures to do my job.

My employer knows only because I told them years ago.

[luckystarmom]

Hey my daughter has a brain injury, and she is way smarter than the liberals!!

That’s a huge insult to brain injured people!

[Jeff Chandler]

“Greenbaum, the federal government has determined that we need one more disabled worked in order to meet our quota.”
.
“Boss, put down the baseball bat.”

[CodeToad]

Well, ya got a point there. Even our injured have more common sense.

[Organic Panic]

I predict a whole new batch of qualifying conditions that will count as disabled. Obam thinks companies are just going to stupidly follow his rules? You wear glasses? You’re disabled. You have a filling, you’re disabledl

[fella]

"“Employees aren’t required to disclose their specific impairment. “

Then how the hell do they prove it?"

Hmmmmmmmm . . . . for an extra few sawbucks a week I'll be happy to help the company out by claiming to be disabled. Heck, I think the whole work force will do that. It's like race on the new government forms you can put down whatever you want no questions asked. So the whole work force can claimed to be native American/black/Asian/Hispanic/creole GLBT and disabled and the company will get every government contract that comes along.

[OldMagazine]

Actually, Social Security encourages disabled people to work while collecting disability payments. The check will be adjusted according to earnings but the person ends up with more money. The crime is in not reporting the income. Go to SSA.GOV and look for Working While Disabled.