[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