Uncle Sam has good news for people with disabilities and older workers

[Guest guest]

Uncle Sam has good news for people with disabilities and older

workers

By Diane Stafford

http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/451555.html

Two groups who often have trouble finding jobs — people with

disabilities and older workers — may have good luck talking to Uncle

Sam.

Within the span of a few hours last week, I received:

•Notice from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that the

federal government is trying to " reverse the declining participation

rate of federal employees with targeted disabilities. "

•Notice from the Partnership for Public Service that it's joining

with IBM to " help stem the federal brain drain. "

The EEOC said the federal government wants to increase the

percentage of its workers whose disabilities include deafness,

blindness, missing extremities, partial or complete paralysis,

convulsive disorders, mental retardation, mental illness, and

distortion of limbs or spine.

Currently, less than 1 percent of federal employees have such

disabilities, down from a peak of 1.24 percent in fiscal 1993 and

1994, and the lowest participation rate in 20 years.

" Our goal is to ensure that the federal government is the employer

of first choice for individuals with disabilities, " said Carlton

Hadden, director of the EEOC's Office of Federal Operations.

The agency already has the LEAD initiative (for Leadership for the

Employment of Americans with Disabilities), a program to encourage

federal agencies to hire people with disabilities. For information,

visit its Web site at www.eeoc.gov/initiatives/lead/index.html.

As for the partnership's effort to stem the federal brain drain —

crucial given that more than one-third of the 1.6 million federal

work force is retirement eligible in the next five years — there's a

push to match seasoned workers with 193,000 " mission critical "

federal jobs that need to be filled within two years.

Workers interested in a second career with the federal government

may go to www.ourpublicservice.org and find links to the recruitment

program. Look for the new FedExperience Transitions to Government

initiative.

On another front, the EEOC also announced a new public service ad

campaign, starring jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, that talks about

the value of diversity in the workplace and warns against

discrimination.