Labor Department Rescinds Federal Contractor Disability Hiring Mandate

The U.S. Department of Labor is officially ending a 2013 regulation that pushed federal contractors to increase disability employment, according to a final rule issued this month and reported by Disability Scoop.

The Obama-era rule required most federal contractors to work toward a goal of ensuring that at least 7% of workers within each job group in their workforce are people with disabilities. It also laid out specific steps contractors had to take around recruitment, training, record keeping, and policy dissemination, with failure to meet the goal or provide adequate documentation potentially putting government contracts at risk.

The Labor Department said it is doing away with the mandate because it may amount to a quota. It is also ending a requirement that contractors ask applicants and employees to identify their disability, which the agency called "inconsistent" with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and dropping an expectation that contractors collect data on applicants and hires with disabilities. "The ADA clearly provides that an employer may not, prior to an offer of employment, make any disability-related inquiries of job applicants," the department said in the final rule.

Disability advocates pushed back. Charles-Edouard Catherine of the National Organization on Disability said the 7% utilization goal and data collection are "essential" to honor the spirit of the ADA, calling the new final rule "another very concerning sign" that progress on disability employment is under threat.

The change is the latest shift in federal disability policy under the current administration and could alter how federal contractors recruit and report on disability inclusion going forward.