What Works? How Federal Contractors are Implementing Section 503: Survey Report

In September 2013, The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published the final rule making changes to the regulations implementing Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Section 503). In March 2014, new regulations went into effect, setting new requirements for federal contractors and subcontractors, related to non-discrimination and affirmative action in the employment of qualified individuals with disabilities. For example, contractors now are required to offer applicants and employees the opportunity to self-identify as a person with a disability and further to use the data collected to understand their progress toward a 7% utilization goal for employment of individuals with disabilities.1 This survey is part of a larger project entitled Initial Impact of Section 503 Rules: Identifying Effective Employer Practices and Trends in Disability Violations among Federal Contractors funded by the US Department of Labor, Chief Evaluation Office. The overall goal of this project is to understand the initial impact of these regulations on employer practices and consequently on the employment environment for individuals with disabilities. The purpose of the survey summarized in this report is to build an understanding of contractor disability-inclusive policy and practice in initially responding to Section 503 regulations. The survey is titled: What Works? How Federal Contractors Are Implementing Section 503, and is referred to as Section 503 Survey in this report