Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act

Subjects: Labor and Employment

Summary:  <p><b>Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act</b></p> <p>This bill modifies the definition of <i>competitive integrated employment</i> for individuals with disabilities under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, particularly with respect to (1) types of workplace interactions, and (2) payment for employment under certain contracts. Current law provides for certain resources to assist individuals with disabilities in securing or maintaining competitive integrated employment.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 553 Introduced in House (IH)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 553

 To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify the definition of 
                   competitive integrated employment.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 26, 2023

 Mr. Grothman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                Committee on Education and the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to clarify the definition of 
                   competitive integrated employment.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Workplace Choice and Flexibility for 
Individuals with Disabilities Act''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF DEFINITION OF COMPETITIVE INTEGRATED 
              EMPLOYMENT.

    Section 7(5) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 705(5)) 
is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) by striking ``not including'' and inserting 
                ``including social and interpersonal interactions with 
                colleagues, vendors, customers, superiors, or other 
                such persons who the employee may come into contact 
                with during the work day and across workplace settings, 
                other than'';
                    (B) by inserting before the semicolon at the end 
                the following: ``, except that such interactions shall 
                not be considered solely at the work unit level''; and
                    (C) by striking ``and'' at the end;
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (C) 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(D) for which an individual may have been paid--
                            ``(i) by a contractor--
                                    ``(I) of the Federal Government 
                                under a contract with the Federal 
                                Government for which priority was given 
                                to the contractor on the basis of the 
                                bid of the contractor involving 
                                supporting employment for individuals 
                                with disabilities; or
                                    ``(II) of a State government under 
                                a contract with the State government 
                                for which priority was given to the 
                                contractor on the basis of the bid of 
                                the contractor involving supporting 
                                employment for individuals with 
                                disabilities;
                            ``(ii) by a subcontractor at any tier of a 
                        contractor--
                                    ``(I) of the Federal Government 
                                under a subcontract for which priority 
                                was given to the subcontractor on the 
                                basis of the bid of the subcontractor 
                                involving supporting employment for 
                                individuals with disabilities; or
                                    ``(II) of a State government under 
                                a subcontract for which priority was 
                                given to the subcontractor on the basis 
                                of the bid of the subcontractor 
                                involving supporting employment for 
                                individuals with disabilities; or
                            ``(iii) under a contract mandating direct 
                        labor-hour ratio of individuals with 
                        disabilities.''.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in the amendments made by this Act shall be construed to 
reduce the number of jobs available for referral by a State agency or 
other entity.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that jobs meeting the definition in 
section 7(5)(B) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 
705(5)(B)), and which derive from Federal or State contracts managed by 
community rehabilitation programs for the purposes of supporting 
employment for people with disabilities, shall be eligible to be 
considered--
            (1) part of the competitive labor market; and
            (2) an employment outcome for State vocational 
        rehabilitation purposes.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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