MEMORANDUM TO: Secretarial Officers

Departmental Officers

Heads of Operating Administrations

FROM: Ray LaHood

SUBJECT: Our Commitment to Hiring Persons with Targeted Disabilities

President Obama is committed to expanding access to employment by having the Federal Government lead by example in hiring people with disabilities. This includes enforcing existing laws, providing technical assistance and information on accommodations for people with disabilities, removing barriers to work, and identifying and removing barriers to employment that people with public benefits encounter.

I ask that you include these talented people in all aspects of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) mission and workforce. Prior to coming to DOT, I was very involved with the deaf community, both at Gallaudet University and at the Illinois School for the Deaf. I am committed to the President’s agenda and to making the Department a model employer of a diverse workforce that includes people with disabilities, especially those with targeted disabilities (deafness, blindness, partial paralysis, total paralysis, missing limbs, distortion of limbs or spine, mental illness, mental retardation, and convulsive disorders).

The Department is required to set goals for the employment and advancement of people with targeted disabilities. The most recently reported Federal high ratio for the employment of people with targeted disabilities in a Federal agency is 2.65 percent. At DOT, we have a 3 percent goal for hiring persons with targeted disabilities. Currently, the Department is at 0.56 percent. Clearly, we have significantly more work to do.

Given the Department’s low participation rate, we will continue to monitor hiring rates until DOT reaches an on-board rate of 3 percent in our overall workforce. People with targeted disabilities may be hired non-competitively or through the competitive process. I expect you to work closely with your Human Resources offices to meet the Department’s goal and to understand and aggressively use the various special hiring authorities.

There is an opportunity upcoming for you and your staff to participate in a Hiring Fair for people with Targeted Disabilities on August 10, 2009. I encourage you and your staff to attend this fair.

I have charged the Departmental Offices of Human Resource Management (DOHRM) and Civil Rights (DOCR) with the responsibility to closely monitor progress and report to me on a regular basis. If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact Nancy Mowry, Director, DOHRM at (202) 366-6016 or nancy.mowry@dot.gov, or Mary N. Whigham Jones, Acting Director, DOCR, at (202) 366-4648 or mary.jones@dot.gov.