Employment briefly
U.S. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission Issues Fact Sheet on Intellectual Disability in the Workplace
In honor of national Employment & Disability Month, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission has issued an extensive fact sheet on "Intellectual Disability in the Workplace." Approximately 1% of the U.S. population or 2.5 million people have some form of intellectual disability, formerly known as mental retardation. Of these, only about 31% are employed.
The fact sheet explains comprehensively, in Question and Answer format, the application of the Americans with Disabilities Act to people with intellectual disabilities in the workplace, using abbreviated case histories and in-depth supporting information. Check it out at: www.eeoc.gov/facts.intellectual_disabilities.html
Success Stories from U.S.
Research Center on Workplace Supports
MBNA, the world's largest independent credit card issuer with operations throughout the US, Canada, Ireland, Spain, and the UK, is featured as a case study for modeling an inclusive work environment where each person is given the support necessary and an opportunity to be successful. MBNA offers their employees meaningful work and the education, equipment, and support to accomplish it. The company's Support Services Department currently provides opportunities to hundreds of people with cognitive and developmental disabilities in Maine, Delaware, Ohio, Maryland and Canada. To read more about MBNA's inclusive work environment and other case studies of companies that are success stories in recruiting and hiring persons with disabilities as well as reintegrating employees that have become disabled and are returning to work, please visit BizNet, a project of the Rehabilitation Research & Training Center on Workplace Supports at the Virginia Commonwealth University, at http://www.worksupport.com/biznet/caseStudy/casestudy.html
Deaf delivery workers win landmark decision
In October, a class of over 1,000 deaf package delivery workers across the US won a decision by the federal district court in San Francisco, representing a landmark victory in the employees' class action lawsuit against UPS. The lawsuit, Bates v. UPS , alleged that United Parcel Service (UPS), the nation's 4th largest employer, systematically discriminated against deaf employees by refusing to consider them for driving positions on the basis of their disability. The lawsuit was brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act by five deaf UPS workers on behalf of deaf employees and applicants throughout the country. The lawsuit is the first employment class action brought on behalf of deaf workers throughout the country concerning workplace discrimination. Other companies, including the U.S. Postal Service, have permitted deaf employees who have demonstrated safe driving skills, to drive the lighter vehicles that are part of UPS fleet without problems. Under the Court's ruling, UPS will have to join its competitors and conduct individualized assessments of deaf employees who seek the opportunity for promotion to such driving positions. To read the Disability Rights Advocates press release, please visit http://www.dralegal.org/cases/bates/decision.html.
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