Employment / Vocational Rehabilitation

Last updated: 10/04/07

Employment, Training, and Wages (from 2007 Legislative Agenda)

Employment / Vocational Rehabilitation Links

NDRN Comments to Senate Draft Voc Rehab Bill (October 2007) Senate Proposed Changes to Title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Description of Significant Changes (September 10, 2007)   Vocational Rehabilitation Act with Proposed Changes by the Senate HELP Committee: represents Vocational Rehabilitation Act (Rehab Act) if proposed changes by the Senate HELP Committee enacted (August 28, 2007) Senate HELP Committee Rehab Act Proposal -- Legislative Language (August 28, 2007) NDRN Recommendations to Senate HELP Committee on Vocational Rehabilitation Act Reauthorization (February 2007)

Most people with disabilities of working age remain unemployed or under-employed. Thus, the First Session of the 110th Congress should take the following actions:

• Reauthorize the Rehabilitation Act, taking the following actions to strengthen the collaboration of state and federal programs involving the employment of individuals with disabilities:
   
  

  • Strengthen the due process rights of individuals applying for or receiving VR services under Title I.
    
  • Adjust performance measures to accurately reflect and measure the provision of services to individuals with disabilities.
    
  • Prohibit state-level waivers of rules and restrictions regarding infrastructure funding.
    
  • Maintain – and ensure oversight and enforcement of – existing civil rights protections of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act as they relate to workforce development services.
    
  • Expand transition authority for students age 16 and above to better prepare them for meaningful and productive lives as adults.
    
  • Establish the authority for CAP to advocate on behalf of individuals with disabilities in non-VR congregate work settings, such as sheltered workshops and Javits-Wagner-O’Day (JWOD) and Randolph-Shepherd programs.
    
  • Establish the authority for CAP to advocate on behalf of veterans in the Veterans Administration’s VR program.
    
  • Strengthen coordination of Ticket to Work program provisions within the Rehabilitation Act and other federal programs. (Section 14(c) provision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)).
     
• Reauthorize the JWOD and Randolph-Shepherd Acts with a focus on developing integrated employment opportunities with adequate pay and benefits for individuals with a full range of disabilities.
  
• Require that JWOD facilities promote the advancement of individuals with disabilities, including advancement toward integrated competitive positions outside a JWOD employer. Allow the minimum percentage of individuals with disabilities to include management-level positions.
  
• Revise and enact the Employer Work Incentive Act for Individuals with Severe Disabilities so it focuses on increasing the integrated employment of individuals with severe disabilities, rather than on additional funding for providers.
  
• Eliminate segregated sheltered work environments.
  
• Increase the federal minimum wage and monitor the effect on the number of sub-minimum wage certificates issued by the U. S. Department of Labor.
  
• Eliminate the payment of sub-minimum wages by amending the section 14(c) provision of the FLSA.
  
• Assure that part-time, supported, or periodic employees are included in any proposal that expands or extends fringe benefit coverage.
  
• Maintain and increase funding for the Supported Employment State Grants program.
  
• Eliminate remaining work disincentives for people who depend on Social Security disability programs.
  
• Equalize the Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) level for all individuals with disabilities with that used for people who are blind.