Corporate Infrastructure: Centralizing the Reasonable Accommodation Process

Susan Schwartz & Alison Levy
U.S. Department of Transportation

Loren Mikola
Microsoft Corporation

Mirelle King & Jessica Kobty
Lockheed Martin

Anne Hirsh
JAN- Job Accommodation Network

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Disability Resource Center

Susan Schwartz & Alison Levy

Office of the Secretary

U.S. Department of Transportation

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U.S. Department of Transportation

Structure

• 12 Operating Administrations

• Approximately 58,000 employees

  • Federal Aviation Administration (48,500 or 82% of DOT)

Top Down Support

• Office of the Secretary

  • Human Resources

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A Centralized Approach: Benefits

• Eliminate Financial Barriers for Managers and Employees

• Cost Savings

  • Economies of Scale

  • Agreement with DOD’s Computer/Electronic Accommodation Program (CAP) and support from Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies.

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Centralized Approach: Benefits (cont.)

• Facilitate Reasonable Accommodation Compliance with Consistent Services

• Centralized Data Tracking

• Strategically enhance the Department’s efforts to increase employment and advancement of persons with disabilities

• Education, Outreach and Consultation

Results in saving time, money, and administrative effort in maintaining productive employees.

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Accommodations Provided

Other Sources

• Operating Administrations

  • Facility modifications

  • Standard office equipment

  • Assistive technology consumables

  • Equipment maintenance

• Managers
  • Schedules, telework, office space, job duties
• Employees
  • Personal use items

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DRC Facilitates Accommodations

Follow up & evaluation

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An Interactive Process = Success!

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Location and Contact Info

Disability Resource Center

U.S. Department of Transportation

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, W56-404

Washington, DC 20590

Web: www.drc.dot.gov

Email: drc@dot.gov

Voice: (202) 493-0625 • Fax: (202) 366-3571

Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET

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Discussion of Centralized Accommodations Budget

Loren Mikola

Disability Inclusion Program Manager

Microsoft Corporation

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Main Points to Discuss

• My role

• Why centralized budget?

• Seeing the issue from the HR perspective as well as from the employee’s point-of-view

• Questions and closing comments

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My Role

• Eleven-year Microsoft employee

• Employee with a visual disability

• Making Microsoft as inclusive a place as possible for people with disabilities

• Many partnerships need to exist

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A Centralized Budget Makes Sense

• Eliminates reasons for exclusion

• Centralizes subject-matter expertise

• Easier to track where monetary and other resources are going

• Easier to manage vendor and service provider relationships and contacts

• Employees know who to contact with questions and requests for assistance

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My Experience With The Process

• Received equipment and assistance in a timely manner

• Felt empowered to choose the best solutions for my individual needs

• Never felt awkward about requesting an accommodation

• Braille embosser story

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Lockheed Martin’s
Focus on Ability (FOA) Team

Mirelle King
Senior Manager of Compliance & Programs within Equal Employment (EEO) Services

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U.S. Disability Statistics- Population

• General Population (age 5 and older) - Almost 1 in 5 people have a disability

  • 19.3% or 49.7 million people have at least one type of disability

• Working-age people with disabilities (ages 21 to 64) 2

  • 12.6 % of the total working-age population (or 21.4 million people) have one or more disabilities

• Number of employed people with disabilities (ages 21 to 64) 2

  • 6.6 % or 8.1 million people have one or more disabilities

Sources:

1 Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Disability Status 2000: Census 2000 Brief Issued March 2003

2 Houtenville, Andrew J. 2006. "Disability Statistics in the United States." Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics (StatsRRTC),

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U.S. Disability Statistics - Employment

Employment rate of working-age people with disabilities by disability type 2

Among the six types of disabilities identified, the highest employment rate was for people with “sensory disabilities”

• • 47.8% - Sensory (blindness, deafness, severe vision or hearing impairment)

  • 32.0% - Physical (limited basic physical activities such as walking climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying)

  • 29.0% - Mental disability (learning, remembering, or concentrating)

  • 17.2% - Self-care disability (dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home)

  • 16.7% - Difficulty going outside (the home to shop or visit a doctors office)

  • 7.3% - Employment disability (difficulty working at a job or business)

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Disability Information

• Largest minority population

• Includes all other dimensions of diversity

• Disability is an acquired dimension - anyone can join at any time

• Disability factor increases with age

• Returning Veterans with disabilities

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Corporate Policy Statement

In 2008, LMC enacted our corporate policy statement entitled “Providing Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace and for Applicants”

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Our Experience

• Our employees with disabilities are capable and productive

• We believe we are effective in retaining existing workers who acquire disabilities and arranging accommodations

• Proactive recruiting and inclusion of individuals with disabilities has positively impacted our retention, morale and culture

• Majority of our work-related modifications have no cost associated to them, e.g. schedule changes, telecommuting, etc.

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Focus on Ability (FOA)

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FOA Accomplishments

• Corporate Policy Statement 575 “Providing Reasonable Accommodations in the Workplace and for Applicants” established a framework for corporate –wide compliance with legal requirements and established a process for applicants and employees needing workplace-related modifications

• Participation in the Seamless Transition Apprenticeship Program (STAP); a two year apprenticeship program for veterans with disabilities

• Participation in the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program expands our talent gateway to persons with disabilities

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FOA Accomplishments (cont.)

• Support programs such as Emerging Leaders and Entry Point, which provide students with disabilities intern and co-op opportunities at Lockheed Martin

• Support non-profit organizations such as Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities; Abilities!; Careers and the disABLED; and the American Association of Persons with Disabilities

• Move beyond just recognizing October as the National Disability Employer Awareness Month (NDEAM) to year long activities, communications and programs

• Create disability-related resources available online for managers and HR to use

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Additional Internal Groups

• LM Adaptive Technology Center of Excellence (ADIT) provides managers with a tool to help them offer IT-related accommodations in the workplace

• Lockheed Martin has over 100 affinity groups corporate-wide, some of which have a focus on employees with disabilities which raises awareness about people with disabilities in the workplace

• LM Human Factors & Usability Engineering – to help identify accessibility goals and objectives, perform conformance evaluations on new or existing sites and conduct Web accessibility usability tests with individuals with disabilities as users

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Recognition For Our Success

• In 2008, Lockheed Martin received the U.S. Department of Labor’s New Freedom Initiative Award for innovative and proactive efforts to recruit, hire, develop and retain persons with disabilities

• Lockheed Martin was rated one of the best employers for people with disabilities by Careers & the disABLED magazine. The company came in 6th out of 50 in 2009. In addition, the Company sponsors the Careers & the disABLED National Conference

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Local Accommodations Implementation

Jessica Kobty
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA) Programs Lead

Systems Integration - Owego

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Local Level Implementation

• Lockheed Martin Corporation is divided into Business Areas and Business Units

• Business Areas and Business Units follow defined processes based on the Corporate Policy Statement for providing reasonable accommodations in the workplace and for applicants, but may implement the policies slightly different

• At Lockheed Martin Systems Integration – Owego, accommodations are reviewed and approved by Human Resources and the Medical Team

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Owego Process Overview

• Active Employees

  • Accommodation Request and Essential Job Functions Evaluation Forms Completed

  • EEO/AA Team and Medical Dept Review

• Job Applicants

  • Recruiter notifies EEO/AA Team and Medical Dept

  • EEO/AA Team and Medical review with interviewer and/or recruiter

• Employees Returning from Medical Leave of Absence

  • Primarily worked through Medical Dept

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Additional Information

• Accommodation Tracking

  • Local and Corporate Level Tracking Methods

  • Benefits of Tracking

• Currently working to implement an Accommodation Survey to improve the effectiveness of our accommodations and accommodation process

• Owego’s ABLE Affinity Group focuses specifically on employees with disabilities and raises awareness about people with disabilities in the workplace

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The Job Accommodation Network:

Your Resource for Accommodating Workers with Disabilities

Anne Hirsh, M.S.

Co-Director, Job Accommodation Network

Over 25 Years Improving Workplace Productivity
A service of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy

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JAN is Used For

• Job Accommodation

• Americans with Disabilities Act

• Entrepreneurship

JAN Overview

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Benefits of JAN: Overview

• Over 25 Years of Service

• Experienced

• Free

• National

• Easy to Use

• Confidential

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JAN Experience

• Entrepreneurship

• Sensory

• Cognitive/Psychiatric

• Motor/Mobility

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Using JAN

• Employers

• Individuals

• Service Providers

• Others

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JAN Uses

• Accommodation and ADA Consultation

• Technical Assistance Documents

• Process and Guidance

• Benefit/Cost Research

• Policy Development

JAN Overview: Start with JAN

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Benefits & Costs: Jan Study

• Employers who contact JAN were asked if they would be willing to participate in a user-satisfaction survey.

• Approximately 8 weeks after the initial call, they were contacted.

• They were asked a series of questions about their experience with JAN and what occurred after that contact.

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Benefits & Costs: Participants

• 1,182 employers interviewed between January, 2004, and December, 2006

• 366 employers interviewed between June 28, 2008, and July 31, 2009

• Total of 1,548 Employers

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Benefits & Costs: Results

• Over half of accommodations (56%) were made at no cost.

• Of the 37% who experienced a one-time cost to make an accommodation, the typical cost of accommodating an employee was $600.

• Only 23 (5%) said the accommodation resulted in an ongoing, annual cost to the company and 9 (2%) said the accommodation required a combination of one-time and annual costs.

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Direct & Indirect Benefits

Direct Benefits

• Retained a valued employee 88%

• Increased the Employee’s productivity 72%

• Eliminated costs of training a new employee 59%

Indirect Benefits

• Improved interactions with co-workers 69%

• Increased overall company morale 61%

• Increased overall company productivity 57%

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Select JAN Resources

Employers Practical Guide to Reasonable Accommodation Under the ADA

Five Practical Tips for Providing and Maintaining Job Accommodations

A to Z of Disabilities – by Disability and by Topic

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SOAR: Search Online Accommodation Resource

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JAN: Other Resources

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Contact JAN

Please call, e-mail, or

visit us on the Web!

• (800) 526-7234 [Voice]

• (877) 781-9403 [TTY]

• http://www.jan.wvu.edu

• jan@jan.wvu.edu

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*

Open Discussion & Questions

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THANK YOU!

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Contact Information

Susan Schwartz
Dept. Of Transportation
Susan.Schwartz@dot.gov

Alison Levy
Dept. Of Transportation
Alison.Levy@dot.gov

Loren Mikola
Microsoft Corporation
lorenm@microsoft.com

Mirelle King
Lockheed Martin
mirelle.king@lmco.com

Jessica Kobty
Lockheed Martin
jessica.kobty@lmco.com

Anne Hirsh
Job Accommodation Network
hirsh@jan.wvu.edu

Please Feel Free to Reach Out to Us at Your Discretion

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Approved by the University College at Syracuse University

To earn CEU credit, you must:

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To earn CRCC credit, you must:

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Disclaimer

The DBTAC: Southeast ADA Center (Southeast DBTAC) is authorized by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to provide information, materials, and technical assistance to individuals and entities that are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act and its Amendments (ADA) under Grant No. H133A060094. However, you should be aware that NIDRR is not responsible for enforcement of the ADA. For more information or assistance, please contact your regional DBTAC via the National Network of ADA Centers' web site at or by calling 1-800-949-4232 [voice/tty].

The information, materials, and/or technical assistance are intended solely as informal guidance, and are neither a determination of your legal rights or responsibilities under the Act, nor binding on any agency with enforcement responsibility under the ADA. The Burton Blatt Institute at Syracuse University (BBI) does not warrant the accuracy of any information contained herein. Any links to non-BBI information are provided as a courtesy. They are not intended to nor do they constitute an endorsement by the BBI of the linked materials.

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