Retaining and Supporting Disabled Workers

Overview

The Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy guide, “Retaining and Supporting Disabled Workers,” outlines practical steps for employers to build an inclusive workplace where workers with disabilities have the support and working conditions they need to thrive. Key strategies include creating an inclusive workplace culture that promotes flexibility in time and place (like flexible lunch breaks for medication or swapping tasks) and actively works to overcome bias and stigma, especially around mental health conditions. Employers must fulfill their obligation to provide reasonable accommodations, which often carry low or no cost, and offer sufficient leave, to ensure workers don’t have to choose between their job and medical needs. The guide also emphasizes that a good job must be a safe and healthy job, requiring employers to involve disabled employees in creating accessible emergency plans, ensure workplace technology conforms to accessibility standards, and provide targeted safety training.

This is part of a collection of resources created by the Department of Labor and other federal agencies, relating to job quality and implementing good jobs priorities through federal investments and beyond. Many of these resources are no longer publicly available on government websites, though they were all at one point public and shared with the intent of preserving these resources for public use.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that information contained in these resources related to specific programs, policies, and processes remains accurate, though many best practices and examples remain useful. In addition, many of these resources link out to government websites that do not exist anymore. You may be able to find these linked resources in the archive itself by searching the Overview document. For more resources, please visit the Data Rescue Project website, at https://www.datarescueproject.org/

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