NATIONAL COUNCIL ON DISABILITY RECOMMENDATIONS

WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT REAUTHORIZATION

National Council on Disability

1331 F Street, NW, Suite 850

Washington, DC 20004

202-272-2004 Voice

202-272-2074 TTY

202-272-2022 Fax

Lex Frieden, Chairperson

March 17, 2005

Background

In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), creating authority for the

Workforce Development System, a federal employment services program, which provides

assistance through One-Stop Centers across the nation. This system replaced a number of smaller

federally supported employment programs, consolidating the funds into what was intended to be

a more user-friendly, universally accessible system of employment services. The Rehabilitation

Act was included as a separate program with separate funding under the new Act. Title IV of

WIA now carries the authority for the Rehabilitation Act in its entirety and throughout the Act

creates a number of opportunities for interaction between the State Vocational Rehabilitation

(VR) system and the One-Stop Centers. For example, the State VR program is identified as one

of several "partners" in the One-Stop system. The Act also makes clear that One-Stop Centers

are to be available and accessible to individuals with disabilities and includes non-discrimination

language that specifically references disability. 

Originally slated for reauthorization in 2003, WIA now appears to be on track in both the House

and Senate to move forward in 2005. With so much of importance to the disability community in

the Act, the National Council on Disability (NCD) offered to the 108th Congress detailed

recommendations. NCD observations and input are included in the following recommendations,

which are offered as a guide to disability-related issues for the current reauthorization process. 

Accessibility and Non-Discrimination

Despite the provisions in Section 188 of WIA, which contains the anti-discrimination

requirements for the One-Stop Centers and other entities operating under the Act, there continues

to be sufficient evidence to give rise to concerns regarding physical and/or programmatic

accessibility of the Centers for individuals with disabilities.

(1) In 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported on significant variance in

implementation of access strategies for individuals with disabilities (GAO-05-54). 

(2) The Urban Institute and Johns Hopkins University reported similar findings of One-Stop

accessibility problems for individuals with disabilities in research conducted for the Ticket to
Work and Work Incentive Advisory Panel (Holcomb, P. & Barnow, B., Serving People with

Disabilities through the Workforce Investment Act's One-Stop Career Centers, TWWIAP,

November 2004). 

(3) Analysis of Workforce Investment Act Standardized Record Data (WIASRD) shows

dramatic reductions over the last three years in percentages of persons served who indicated they

had a disability. The percentage of people exiting from Adult Services who indicated having a

disability shrank from 8.7 percent to 5.8 percent from 2001 to 2003.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has taken steps to address these issues. NCD commends DOL

for issuing a Section 188 checklist designed to assist program operators in identifying their

nondiscrimination obligations, assessing their performance, increasing accessibility, and

identifying resources that can be of assistance. However, concerns remain as to whether this is

sufficient to address the physical, information-technology and programmatic accessibility issues

facing individuals with disabilities in the system. If One-Stop Centers lack the resources and/or

the communications technology to implement accessibility, it will remain difficult for the

checklist and associated technical assistance to solve the problem. 

NCD Recommendations

NCD recommends DOL continue strengthening its monitoring and enforcement of compliance

of the One-Stop Centers with the accessibility provisions of WIA. This is one key means for

ensuring full participation in the workforce and employment development system by all job

seekers, irrespective of disability. Various means of maintaining strengthened enforcement are

recommended for DOL's consideration. NCD recommends that DOL: establish and publicize a

complaint procedure for use by individuals who have been denied access or are not able to

access all available resources; incorporate accessibility guarantees in requirements for state

workforce development plans; and insist on inclusion of representatives of people with

disabilities (or at least of state VR agencies) on state and local Workforce Investment Boards

(WIBs). NCD recommends that DOL, through its Office of Disability Employment Policy

(ODEP) or through its Office of Inspector-General (OIG), jointly develop with the Department

of Justice (DOJ) a plan for proactive enforcement of the nondiscrimination and accessibility

requirements of the law bearing on the ability and willingness of One-Stop Centers to serve

customers with disabilities.

Community Involvement

In ensuring accessibility to the One-Stop Centers, it is important to involve the community

partners, such as employers, training entities, referral sources, schools, employer associations,

and others with which One-Stop Centers and WIBs work and with which they have referral and

planning relationships. As important as it is for One-Stop Centers to be accessible, that

accessibility may in the end do little good if the employers, training programs and other referral

sources are inaccessible. While One-Stop Centers lack legal authority to enforce consistently

high accessibility standards in the communities, there are a number of strategies that One-Stop

Centers can use to strongly support reasonable accommodation, accessibility, and success. 

NCD Recommendations

NCD recommends that DOL survey One-Stop Centers and people with disabilities who have
received referral services through them to determine the measures the One-Stop Centers have

used to monitor the treatment that people with disabilities receive from community partners, and

the means the One-Stop Centers have developed for sharing accessibility expertise and resources

with such providers. The results of this survey should be published and made available to all

stakeholders in the One-Stop system, including potential community partners, as a means of

improving areas with problems and difficulties.

One Stop Infrastructure Funding

GAO (GAO-03-884T) reports that One-Stops across the country are hampered by the lack of

sufficient One-Stop infrastructure funds. WIA reauthorizing legislation not completed in the

108th Congress addressed this issue with provisions in the House and Senate versions requiring

Workforce Development partners to contribute from their own appropriated administrative funds

to One-Stop administration in their states. NCD is concerned with this solution, especially the

impact it will have on the ability of an already fiscally strapped VR system to provide needed

services to people with significant and most significant disabilities. Data has consistently

reflected that each year the state VR systems are unable to serve a majority of individuals

eligible for services. As a result, Order of Selection within VR means that many individuals with

disabilities are unable to receive much needed services to become competitively employed. Loss

of additional funds to the One-Stops may create additional problems and exacerbate the issue of

persons with disabilities waiting for services.

NCD Recommendations

NCD recommends that the funding challenge be addressed with dedicated funding for the

One-Stop infrastructure in WIA. If sufficient dedicated funding is not available, a cap on the

percentage of administrative dollars from the WIA partners should be phased in over a number

of years to lessen the immediate impact on people waiting for services. There should be

accountability to the WIA partners as to how any administrative funds are used to fund the

One-Stops. 

Outcome and Performance Measures

The need for One-Stops to meet current performance measures is often the driving factor in

deciding who receives WIA services (GAO-05-54, GAO-03-884T). As a result, in order to meet

current performance measurements, One-Stop staff members are reluctant to serve clients who

may be less likely to find employment or experience an increase in earnings. Accordingly, some

clients are denied services. The need to meet specific performance measures creates a

disincentive to provide services to harder-to-serve populations. NCD believes that the effect of

the current system significantly impacts the ability of individuals with disabilities to receive

appropriate training and employment services. NCD remains concerned that measures

emphasizing per capita cost or per-employment-outcome cost discourage One-Stop Centers from

working with people who need extensive or individualized services, including persons with

disabilities. Such performance measures have the unintended consequence of discriminating

against the individuals for whom the non-discriminatory and universal access standards were

designed in the Act. It is important to note that individuals with disabilities would be particularly

impacted if all One-Stop partners were required to apply the Office of Management and Budget's

proposed measure of efficiency - a formula that divides the annual appropriation by the number

of participants serviced. It is inaccurate and an unfair representation to consider the additional
costs of working with job applicants with disabilities while failing to acknowledge the

potentially more-than-offsetting savings resulting from the successful employment as taxpayers

of such applicants and the reduced need for other services.

NCD Recommendations

To reflect the effectiveness of the One-Stop program, performance measures should take into

account the individualized needs of participants, especially participants with disabilities. To

ensure equal treatment for individuals with disabilities, NCD strongly recommends that WIA

require the development of alternative outcome measures, which account for the characteristics

of the population served, the intensity of the services provided, resulting savings from

competitive employment and the diminished need for services. Thus, NCD recommends DOL

develop outcome measures that take into account all the relevant variables involved in working

with job seekers with disabilities, including not only the potential costs of working with this

population within a mainstream setting, but also the benefits to the taxpayers of commitment and

success in such work. 

Demonstration Programs: Navigator Program and Customized Employment

Navigator Program: The workforce development system established under WIA, while centrally

focusing on the One-Stop Centers as a single entry point for access to information and services,

ultimately depends for its effectiveness on the coordination, cooperation, and capacity of a

variety of community partners, including "mandatory partners" under the law. For individuals

with disabilities this can be a very confusing and complex system, unless the staff members at

One-Stop Centers are well versed in the range of specialized resources and services available to

these individuals. A closely related problem involves collaboration among different elements in

the workforce development system, including DOL, SSA's recently established area work

incentive coordinators (AWICs), and SSA's work incentive initiatives. In an effort to improve

this coordination and maximize the sharing of information and resources, DOL and SSA

established the Disability Navigator Program, a pilot program focused on ensuring that the

needed expertise will be available and accessible to the staff and service users of One-Stop

Centers. The Navigator Program places in One-Stop Centers staff members who are

knowledgeable about the range of specialized services available to assist job seekers with

disabilities. With the Navigator Program, and other strategies such as co-location of VR in

One-Stop Centers facilities, NCD is hopeful that the highest possible degree of seamlessness will

be attained.

Customized Employment: WIA recognizes the obligation of the One-Stop Centers to work with

hard-to-serve individuals who may need specialized or individualized services. In fulfillment of

that recognition, NCD commends DOL for the demonstration customized employment grants it

has made. Preliminary figures indicating achievement of gainful employment by 595 of the first

1,292 persons served suggest that such programs have a role to play even within a system as

large as that created under WIA.

NCD Recommendations

NCD recommends that WIA include the Navigator and Customized Employment programs in

the authorization for the One-Stop systems, guaranteeing that both will be supported and

strengthened as a means of facilitating service coordination and participation of individuals with
disabilities using the Navigator System and ensuring necessary supports for individuals with

significant disabilities through Customized Employment. 

Title IV—Rehabilitation Act

Cost of Living Adjustments

Under the current system of funding VR, the overall national program receives a mandatory cost

of living adjustment (COLA) based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This COLA is then

distributed to the states using a formula based largely on overall population growth and the

average wage in each state. This formula has resulted in well over 20 states receiving less than

the mandated COLA in any given year. Further, it seems this formula does not take into account

the population growth of persons with disabilities of working age needing VR services to obtain

competitive employment.

NCD Recommendations

While NCD understands the difficulty in changing the entire formula for distributing the COLA

funds to the states, we must work toward each state receiving at least the minimum mandated

COLA based on the CPI. Currently, Reallotment Funds, funds returned by states that do not

match their entire federal allotment, are sometimes used to begin to address this formula problem

by helping to insure that no state actually receives fewer dollar than the prior year. The

additional amount needed to bring all states up to the minimum COLA has been estimated in

past years to be approximately $20 million dollars per year. A combination of any available

Reallotment Funds and increases phased in over a number of years would insure all states reach

the mandated COLA without adversely impacting any states that currently receive greater than

the COLA due to the distribution formula.

Dedicated Funding

The Rehabilitation Act includes a number of smaller, specialized programs designed to address

specific service needs of individuals with disabilities, creating a balance between Title I of the

Act and the specialized programs designed to support the VR infrastructure. NCD recognizes the

importance of the Supported Employment State Grant program, Projects with Industries, Migrant

and Seasonal Farmworkers, and Recreation Projects in the VR system. 

In addition to the specialized programs noted, the VR program is clearly the only employment

program currently focused on serving persons with significant and most significant disabilities

with the outcome of competitive employment in the community. NCD recognizes and supports

the need for VR to remain a separate program with separate funding to accomplish this goal.

NCD Recommendations

NCD commends the House and Senate for their continued support of the Supported Employment

State Grant, Projects with Industry, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, and Recreation Projects

programs through the appropriations process of the past three years. These programs provide a

carefully structured balance in the Rehabilitation system that could not be achieved with limited

Title I funds. NCD recommends that these programs continue to be authorized in the Act as

separate and distinct programs to maintain the balance they create in the system. 

Further, as was recognized by the original crafters of WIA in 1998, NCD strongly recommends
that VR remain a separate Title with separate funding under WIA. This will continue the focus

on persons with significant and most significant disabilities obtaining competitive jobs in their

communities.