Plan to Increase Employment of People with Disabilities
Overview
On July 26, 2010, President Obama issued Executive Order 13548, which directs Executive departments and agencies to improve their efforts to employ Federal workers with disabilities and targeted disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring, and retention of these individuals. The Executive Order adopts the goal set forth in Executive Order 13163 of hiring 100,000 people with disabilities into the Federal Government over 5 years, including individuals with targeted disabilities.
People with targeted disabilities have the lowest participation rate in Federal service. Pursuant to the Executive Order, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) submits its agency specific plan for implementing the goals of the Executive Order and promoting employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. As demonstrated by the Plan, the Secretary of Transportation is committed to expanding access to employment by having the DOT lead by example in hiring people with disabilities, and he is also committed to creating a Department that is inclusive – one that values the individual contributions of all of our employees.
Becoming a Model Employer
For DOT, this means becoming a model employer of a diverse workforce that includes people with disabilities, especially those with targeted disabilities. A diverse and productive workforce is DOT’s best guarantee for ensuring safe transportation systems for all Americans and in supporting economic competiveness, livable communities, and environmental justice and sustainability in the United States.
The Department has a longstanding commitment of hiring people with targeted disabilities. Each year, since 2006, the Secretary of Transportation has issued a memorandum stating DOT’s hiring goal of 3 percent of all new hires should be people with targeted disabilities. Although DOT has increased the hiring of people with targeted disabilities made increases over the last 3 years, our goal is to continue to monitor hiring rates until DOT reaches an on-board rate of 3 percent in our overall workforce. We recognize we have a lot of work to do to achieve that goal, but we are dedicated to reaching our goal through the use of the varied strategies outlined in our Plan.