Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act requires federal agencies to create affirmative action plans for the employment of people with disabilities, and to submit those plans to EEOC for approval. On May 15, 2014, EEOC published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) asking for public input on how the EEOC should revise its regulations to clarify what an affirmative action plan must include in order to be approved.
The proposed rule reaffirms the federal government's commitment to being a model employer of people with disabilities. It would require federal agencies to adopt the goal of achieving a 12% representation rate for individuals with disabilities, and a 2% representation rate for individuals with targeted/severe disabilities. Targeted disabilities are those that the government has, for several decades, placed aspecial emphasis on in hiring because they pose the greatest barriers to employment. The goals would apply at both higher and lower levels of federal employment. Hiring efforts would be further improved through focused recruitment efforts and simplified access to disability hiring programs and services.