Hiring Preferences for People With Disabilities

The piece follows my prior pieces regarding employing individuals with disabilities, especially “Hiring Practices That Help People With Disabilities.”

Your government may already have hiring preferences for people with disabilities, but if not, you can create them. Do not be turned away due to current anti-diversity sentiments.

If your government already has hiring preferences for other individuals, such as residents of your jurisdiction and veterans, those mechanisms may provide precedent for favoring other groups. You could use them to create hiring preferences for people with disabilities.

If your government does not already have hiring preferences for people with disabilities, determine who has authority to create such strategies. Executive agencies may not be allowed to unilaterally establish them. Instead, your government’s legislature may hold this authority. Refer to your government’s human resources department and/or Code for guidance.

When applying for jobs, people with disabilities could prove their eligibility for these hiring preferences by following the process for the federal Schedule A program, which helps individuals with disabilities secure federal government employment.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission defines Schedule A as:

“5 CFR § 213.3102(u) is a non-competitive hiring authority that allows federal agencies to hire individuals with disabilities without going through the traditional competitive hiring process. This means that qualified candidates can be noncompetitively appointed to positions more quickly and efficiently.”

Schedule A may not really establish hiring preferences, but it has the same goal — helping individuals with disabilities get government jobs. Guidelines about Schedule A are available at https://help.usajobs.gov/working-in-government/unique-hiring-paths/individuals-with-disabilities.

People with “an intellectual disability, a severe physical disability, or a psychiatric disability” can apply for specific federal jobs using Schedule A, but those applicants may be required to document their disability. 

Proof is referred to as “Proof of Disability Documentation” and can be a letter from a doctor, a licensed medical professional, or a licensed rehabilitation professional. The EEOC also says that “any federal, state, District of Columbia, or US territory agency that issues or provides disability benefits” could provide such a letter. The letter must say that the applicant is eligible for Schedule A, but it does not need to give the exact disability. A sample letter is on https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/disability-employment/getting-a-job/sampleschedaletters.pdf. People with Schedule A letters can apply for federal jobs through the typical hiring procedures. They submit their Schedule A letters during the application process.

Regardless of whether your government has hiring preferences for people with disabilities, ensure that staff is trained on a regular basis on how to work with these individuals. It is not enough to hire people with disabilities. Employers must be educated on how to work with them, and training could prevent unnecessary problems.

Furthermore, make sure that your agency provides reasonable accommodations, which are changes to hiring and/or work practices that enable people with disabilities to interview and/or complete their positions’ essential functions. Many reasonable accommodations are free or inexpensive. The Job Accommodation Network provides a list of reasonable accommodations by “disability,” “limitation,” “work-related function,” “topic,” and “accommodation.” As some disabilities cover wide ranges of people, individuals with the same disability may not benefit from the same accommodations.

Learn more about hiring and working with people disabilities in my prior piece, “Hiring People With Disabilities.”

Creating and implementing hiring preferences for people with disabilities would benefit everyone. The practices would improve your workforce and the lives of individuals with disabilities.

Miriam Edelman, MPA, MSSW, is a Washington, D.C.,-based policy professional. Her experience includes policy work for Congress. Miriam’s undergraduate degree is from Barnard College, Columbia University, with majors in political science and urban studies. She has a master’s in public administration from Cornell University, where she was inducted into the national honorary society for public administration. She has a master’s of science in social work (focusing on policy) from Columbia University. She is a commissioner of the DC Commission on Persons with Disabilities. Miriam aims to continue her career in public service. She is especially interested in democracy, civic education, District of Columbia autonomy, diversity, health policy, women’s issues, and disabilities.

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