WISE Ticket to Work Webinar
Working for the Federal Government
May 23, 2018

Speakers: Stacey Plizga (Moderator), Commissioner Chai R. Feldblum & Pamela Walker (Presenters)


STACEY>> Good afternoon and welcome to today's Ticket to Work webinar, "Working for the Federal Government." My name is Stacey Plizga and I am a member of the Ticket to Work team, and I will be your moderator for today's webinar. 

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As I mentioned earlier, my name is Stacey Plizga, and I am a member of the Ticket to Work team, and I am very excited to be your moderator today. We are delight to have with us two individuals who will share information on Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Section 501 and 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Federal Internship programs, the Schedule A hiring initiative and, of course, the Ticket to Work program. 

Our first speaker today, Chai Feldblum, has served as Commissioner of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or the EEOC, since April of 2010 and was recently nominated to serve a third term. Prior to her appointment on the Commission. Feldblum was a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, where she founded the law school's Federal Legislation Clinic and worked on behalf of social welfare and civil rights organizations. Throughout her career, Feldblum has focused on social justice issues at the federal level. She played a leading role in drafting and negotiating the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the ADA Amendment Act of 2008. She helped draft the federal bills to protect LGBT people from discrimination. Together, with her colleagues, Commissioner Victoria Lipnic, Feldblum co-chaired a select task force on the study of harassment in the workplace, which resulted in a comprehensive report issued in 2016 on harassment prevention. 

Our second speaker today, Pamela Walker, is the founder and the CEO of Alliance Professional Services LLC, an organization serving as an employment network under Social Security's Ticket to Work program. Pam is also the president of the National Employment Network Association, a nonprofit organization that assists employment networks by providing ticket-related trainings, development of operational best practices, and a venue for sharing ideas to better serve ticketholders. 

We have some very exciting speakers who will be covering a number of topics in our webinar today. We will start by providing an introduction to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC and talking about who they are and what they do. [Inaudible] Rehabilitation Act, Schedule A and federal internship program. Our presenters will then talk to you about what to do if you experience discrimination and the steps that you should take, finally, the Social Security's Ticket to Work program, and then we will discuss next steps. 

As noted earlier, we welcome your questions and we will conclude by addressing your questions on today's topics. With that being said, it is my pleasure to introduce to you our first presenter today. Commissioner Feldblum, who will discuss regulations that may help you find a job working for the federal government or a federal contractor. Commissioner. 

CHAI>> Thank you. So much, and welcome to everyone on this call. I think our goal is to make sure that, at the end of this call, you've got a lot of useful information that you can use to make sure that we have people with disabilities employed at all levels of work. So, starting off with the EEOC, so the EEOC is a federal agency that was created by congress in the 1964 Civil Rights Act to help implement and enforce employment civil rights laws. What we do is we investigate and we help settle complaints of discrimination. 

The way the law is set up, everyone has to come through the EEOC if they have an employment discrimination claim before they can then file a complaint in federal court, and we do it on a whole range of bases. So, you see disability, that's that jurisdiction under the Americans with Disabilities Act, but race, sex, age, national origin, religion, genetic information, these are also all bases on which employer with 15 or more employees may not discrimination under the law. 

So, the point about the EEOC is to allow you to contact us if you have experienced some form of discrimination. Now, again, given our resources, we cannot help everyone who comes, but, by law, everyone has to come through us, so we, therefore, try to help as many people as we can. And while you can find an EEOC office by clicking on the link that can you see, just about six months, or so, ago we launched our public portal. It would have been great if we could have had this ten years, but it all depends on our resources. So, now, you can, from any computer, phone, go through our public portal and file a complaint, as well as on our website you can get lots of other information. 

Okay, so now let's focus on the federal government hiring people with disabilities. Okay, so the entire private sector, all employees with 15 or more employee may not discriminate against people with disabilities, which includes providing reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities who need those accommodations to do a job. The federal government and businesses with contracts with the federal government have additional requirements, so that's what we're going to look at. 

So, the Rehabilitation Act, which passed in 1973 -- that was 20 years before the ADA -- prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by federal agencies, just like, ultimately, the private sector, but it also requires federal agencies to have affirmative action plans, to hire to place, to advance people with disabilities, okay. So, that's an affirmative action obligation. And businesses that business with the federal government also have this obligation to take affirmative action; right, to recruit, hire, employ, promote, retain. There are more verbs here, but they're basically the same in terms of 501 and 503. 

So, what is affirmative action? Affirmative action is not quotas. In this country it never has been. In some European countries there are quotas needing to hire number of people with disabilities for example. In this country, affirmative action has all simply meant taking affirmative positive efforts to find, recruit, and employ people with disabilities; okay? So that's affirmative action under our law. 

So, remember I said this Rehabilitation Act was enacted in 1973, so this affirmative action obligation on the federal government has existed since then. The EEOC has put out any number of documents, memos, guidances to agencies about what that means. But it wasn't until January 2017 that we put out a regulation that implements Section 501. And the reason regulations are important is, number one, they have the force of law, and they're a lot harder to roll back. There's a process you have to do to issue the regulation. There's a whole process you have to do to roll back a regulation. So, I think I can say this section 501 regulation is probably here to stay. And it's an affirmative action rule, which is prohibited discrimination but also requires affirmative action. 

So, what does affirmative action mean? You'll see we've got new things put on two of these. But the reason they're new is everything else are things we had told federal agencies for the last, you know, many decades that they had to do, so these are not new requirements, but each of these things I can tell you federal agencies are hitting like the reset button on this. They're looking at all of these things again because of the new regulations. So, requirements with hiring and advancement, making sure there's an antiharassment policy that includes disability, requirements around reasonable accommodation, requirements around accessibility of facilities and technology. Again, Section 501 does not require accessibility. Other laws do, so it's about how to make sure that's brought into the analysis. What's new are these personal assistance services, which I'll talk about. 

Utilization analysis is simply keeping a record of how many people with disabilities are in your workforce. Agencies have been required to do that for decades. But what's new is we now are asking them to meet certain goals of percentages of people with disabilities in their workplace, and then recordkeeping. 

So, let me dig down into a bit of this. And, again, show you the difference between private employers and the federal government. Private employers cannot discriminate against a person with a disability in hiring. But they are not required to take any steps affirmatively to go find people with disabilities and recruit them into their company or organization. They can't discriminate in hiring but they don't have to do affirmative efforts. And I'm sure many of you in the call know you might feel like discrimination happened and it's very hard to prove it.  

So, this regulation tells federal agencies, you have to take affirmative steps, and we make it clear the type of programs that they can use to identify folks; okay, training and internship programs, create a resume database of people who can be appointed under Schedule A. I'll talk a bit more about that. We say to them develop contacts with disability organizations. You know, find out who those organizations are in that community. Remember, federal agencies hire people across the country. And finally, we specifically say to them, connect with Social Security Ticket to Work program, because those are the folks who can be the liaisons to those folks who are trying to get back to work through SSA's Ticket to Work. 

Now, reasonable accommodation procedures, again, private employers have to provide a reasonable accommodation. That's a modification in a policy or purchase of a device that will enable to the person to do the job. They have to do it unless it would be an undue hardship for them. But, again, that's about all they are required to do. In the federal government we have now been able to spell out for federal agencies detailed requirements of what they should do to make this reasonable accommodation process work. So, they have to put out very clear information about how you ask for an accommodation. 

They have to train their managers and supervisors about how to recognize a request for accommodation. Someone might need to have a revised work Schedule and they're not going to know the term "reasonable accommodation." The manager or supervisor needs to recognize that's the request for accommodation if the person says I need it for medical condition. Really emphasizes the early communication. You know, explain that there's not extensive medical documentation. Explain confidentiality rules. 

Very important in this new regulation, we are now requiring agencies, in their procedures that they hand out, to say here's the deadline for responding to your request, yay or nay, to the accommodation that we are imposing on ourselves. They've never been forced to do that; okay? And if there are delays, how the person is going to find out about them. And also making clear, even if they set the deadline, the outer-most deadline of within a month, if you need some expedited processing, they can't use that deadline as a basis for not responding quickly when that's necessary. And just keeping communication open; right, explaining why a request is denied if it is denied. 

So, personal assistant services, unfortunately when the ADA was past -- and as you heard, I was active in the drafting and negotiating of that -- we had to give up a reasonable accommodation, which is what it should have been, people who use personal assistants to help them perform activities of daily living; eating, going to the bathroom; right, that an individual would perform by him or herself if he or she didn't have a disability. We were not able to get that information the law as a reasonable accommodation. What we have now done, EEOC has done in this regulation, is we have required federal agencies to provide these personal assistants, again the same limit of it's not an undue hardship. But undue hardship is a financial burden and you have to look at the resources of the entire agency to decide if it's a financial burden. So, hopefully that defense will not be available. We'll see. 

But this means that people with the type of disability that does restrict them in these activities of daily living but does not limit them in their capacity to do jobs, including jobs at high levels, will get the personal assistants that they need from the federal government, because they would well lose that personal assistant once they get off benefits, so this is key for that group of individuals. 

Second new thing, very important, is we're asking them to meet these goals. Now, again, these are not quotas. If agencies don't meet the goals -- and they'll have to tell us, the EEOC annually, where they are with those goals, you know, our main leverage is to just come back at them and say, what are you not doing that's not getting you this workforce participation rate? Here are four other the agencies that are doing it. 

The main thing in our goals is the difference between disabilities and targeted disabilities. Disabilities, people with disabilities refers to the definition of disability under the ADA, which is a very broad definition. It's basically anyone with medical condition is now under the ADA Amendments Act going to be a person with a disability, even if they don't think about themselves that way; right? They think about themselves as someone with heart disease but not as a person with a disability, but they are people with disabilities, and so we're asking agencies to survey their workforce and see. They should have 12 percent of people with disabilities and the GS-10 level and below, but also GS-11 level and above, so these are levels related to salary, et cetera. 

Very important are the people with targeted disabilities, and this is a list that we've had for year. We updated it a few year ago at the EEOC. It's essentially people with primarily manifest disabilities, people who are blind, who are deaf, who have mobility impairments, who have intellectual disabilities, have paralysis. We added people on the autism spectrum more recently. These are the people -- oh, and people with significant psychiatric disabilities. These are the people who have the hardest time getting through the door. 

If you have a heart condition; right, or if you have, as I do, fibromyalgia, that's not something someone's going to know upfront necessarily; right? But if you have a disability that really limits you in a manifest way, those are the folks who get stopped at the front door. So, we're asking, as a subset of that 12%, 2% of people with these targeted disabilities, and, again, at the higher level in employment and not just the lower level. 

Okay, so now how do you bring in these folks? How do you get your workforce participation rate to these levels? There's always been this approach called "Schedule A Hiring Authority." Again, I think this regulation is making a lot of agencies hit the reset button so they know what Schedule A is. But the goal is for everyone on this call to now know what it is. So, Schedule A is an expedited way for agencies to hire people with significant disabilities, and so if there's a job posted, there's an entire competitive process that an agency needs to go through before it can hire someone. 

But if someone is Schedule A eligible, the agency can go ahead, hire that person, and not go through that entire competitive process, so that's why you see, we explain, qualified applicants aren't required to compete against applicants without disabilities. Now, the agency doesn't have to use Schedule A, in which case you are competing against people without disabilities. But if agencies are trying to increase their workforce participation, then they might want to reach out and use Schedule A. 
 
Now, what's different about Schedule A, because you haven't gone through the competitive process, is that instead of a one-year probationary basis, which all federal employees have, it's a two-year probationary basis, and then they have to officially transfer you over to the competitive civil service. 

So, how do you qualify for Schedule A? You have to be a person with an intellectual disability, a severe physical disability, so this is really going to get more on the targeted disabilities, or psychiatric disability. You have to have a letter from a doctor, licensed medical rehabilitation professional, and it just needs to state that you are eligible under Schedule A, so you tell that health-care provider, this is the criteria; right? I believe I meet those. Doctor says, yes. That's all the letter has to say. And this was changed a few years ago, so it doesn't have to specify the particular disability you have. 

Obviously, to qualify, you also need to neat the qualifications for the job that you're applying for, again, with or without a reasonable accommodation depending on your type of disability. So, how do you use Schedule A. You go, you start with the same USAJobs that everyone uses. You prepare your application. You put it in. You have your Schedule A documentation. After you've applied for the job through USAJobs, you contact the agency's disability program manager. Every agency has this type of manager. Regulations now require that they do. The content info for that disability program manager should be on the USAJobs form, if not, you can get it from their website, and you say, I have applied for this particular job. I would like to be considered under Schedule A. So that lets, what we know the DPM, the Disability Program Manager, know that there's a Schedule A applicant. That person can then connect with Human Resource, connect with the office that's hiring the person and say, you know what, you could get someone on board in a week, because we have a Schedule A applicant. Again, you'll have to be qualified for the job the agency will want to hire you. But this is hugely useful way of getting a job. And because of the new 501 regulations, agencies are actually focused on this more. 

Two other ways to get in, there are federal internship programs. So, the Workforce Recruitment Program is something that the Labor Department runs, together with the Department of Defense. They manage this database, and they conduct personal interviews with folks. This is basically for college students with disabilities, college students and recent graduates. They create this database; right? Go to that link. You can find out how to become a part of it. And, again, we have now, I hope, created an incentive for federal agencies across the country to learn about the workforce recruitment program so they can increase the number of people with disabilities, young college grads that they are bringing in. 

There's also a program called Pathways. These are three different paths. Okay, so you've got an internship program, so those are paid internships for high school, college, trade school students. So, you can get this internship paid while you're pursuing your education. There's a recent graduate program for those folks who have graduated from college, from Master's and Doctoral programs, and it provides opportunities within the federal government; okay? And then the third is this Presidential Management Fellows program, so that's yet another. All of this will be things that you can find from the Pathways website, and the positions are posted on USAJobs. 

So, now you have gotten the job, what if you experience discrimination on the job; right? The HR folks have done a great job. You've gotten this position, but you're now experiencing harassment from coworkers or you're not being given the accommodation you need; right, or you didn't get a promotion that you know you should have gotten, so what do you do? 

Well, within the federal government there's going to be a whole process that you go through in the federal government before you then come to the EEOC. But I want to also tell you, because many of you will be getting, hopefully, jobs out there in the private sector, what do you do if you experience discrimination in the private sector? One, I would just go straight to -- you know, go into the public portal to file a charge, because once you file the charge, once you go through that portal, it will allow you to Schedule An interview with an EEOC investigator; okay? And that investigator will call you, either over the phone, you can come in, will hear what's going on. 

May start an investigation right then or may offer you and the employer a chance to mediate, even before an investigation begins. But, if mediation fails, which, by the way, most of our mediations are successful, and people are satisfied, based on surveys we do. But if it fails or the employer doesn't want to mediate, we'll conduct an investigation, and we'll issue a finding. You know, do we believe there's reasonable cause to think discrimination occurred? 

If we don't find cause, and sometimes if we just don't have the resources and you already have a lawyer who is helping you, we just issue the letter that says you can now go to federal court. The way the law was set up, everyone has to come through us. Before you go to court you've got to get this letter from us that says now you can continue. So, a lot of people just get that. But if we find cause, we'll attempt to negotiate a settlement. And to be honest, we negotiate a lot of settlements, even before we find cause. And then if that fails, you're free to go to court, and in rare cases, we will file a lawsuit. I will tell you I think almost 30% of our cases of lawsuits have dealt with disability discrimination. We've been very active. 

Finally, some other help. So, specifically for beneficiaries of social security, there is an entire separate program that congress has funded called the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security. If you've experienced any problem in terms of employment, these advocates will provide the legal support and advocacy for you, and, again, that's the link to find that information. 

And, with that. I turn it back over for folks to learn more about Social Security's Ticket to Work. 

STACEY>> Thank you, Commissioner Feldblum for the wonderful information on the EEOC federal hiring for people with disabilities, and, of course, the information on what to do if we experience discrimination. So, before we move on, we wanted to take a few moments and take a look at some the questions that cay came in from our participants regarding this topic. And we'll start off with this question here, how can someone with disabilities search for jobs? 

CHAI>> So, in terms of federal jobs, USAJobs.gov, there is a very easy one-step portal, you know, for all federal jobs. You go onto USAJobs.gov, you can then search by agency, you know, it's just various ways. So that's one. I think in terms of other private sector jobs, connecting with a disability organization in your region, you know, the independent living center, certainly the Ticket to Work people, the voc rehab folks, all of these folks are now becoming conduits to jobs, because federal agencies, and almost 40%, a very large number of companies have contracts the federal government, and they, too, are required to engage in affirmative action. So, they're reaching out to these entities, Ticket to Work places voc rehab, independent living centers to find people in the pipeline. You want to connect with those organizations so you're in that pipeline. 

STACEY>> Okay. Thank you for that. The next question that we have, states does affirmative action mandate how many people with disabilities the federal government must hire? 

CHAI>> No, affirmative action does not mandate the number of people with disabilities the federal government must hire. That would be a requirement to hire a certain number of people, presumably regardless of how qualified they might be, and that has never been the approach this country has taken. Not with disability. Not with race. Not with sex. What it does mean is that the company, and for the agency -- company if they have a government contract, agency if they're federal agency -- has to have an aspirational goal. 

You know, 2% of our workforce should be people with targeted disabilities. Then they have to survey the workforce. They have to know a lot of agencies are, like, 1%. Okay, now they're going to have to get themselves from 1% to 2%. So, it's not a mandate that they get from 1% to 2%, but it is an expectation. And if they're not meeting that, EEOC will be on their doorstep saying, what do are you not doing that you haven't been able to get from 1% to 2%, or all disabilities from 8% to 12%. 

STACEY>> Okay, wonderful. Thank you so much for that. The next question that we have, why do those with career status have to complete the probationary period for Schedule A? 

CHAI>> Well, personally I think that's a great question. Obviously, it's a question to be directed to the Office of Personnel Management. It is their regulations that have, you know, like 25 different exceptions to the competitive process that one can use that says, you know, Exception No. 23 is Schedule A. Now, as I said, every federal employee is on a one-year probationary period when he or she comes on. So, they are a member of the competitive civil service, but they don't have all of the rights, employment rights that civil servants have after the probationary period ends. So, in that respect, Schedule A is simply extending one more year on that probational period. 

The bigger problem is that agencies then have to take an affirmative step to move in their personnel database that Schedule A employee after the second year into the ordinary civil service database, you know. And we have found here at EEOC that a lot of federal agencies have not be doing that, and Schedule A folks are left in this bizarre limbo. So, one of the things we are looking at in the affirmative action plan is do you have a good system for moving Schedule A folks after two years into the regular civil service. It is absolutely something we are keeping our eyes on. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you so much for that. I just wanted to go back and touch upon a couple of links that were listed in the slides, and I just wanted to reiterate them for those listeners that may not be able to see slides. And the first one is to find the EEOC office you can visit www.eeoc.gov/field/index.cfm. Also, to connect to the EEOC through the public panel, you can visit https://publicportal.eeoc.gov, and, again, both of those can be found in the weblinks pod. 

Move on, we do have some more questions for the Commissioner, and our next question is, can you get your disability letter for Schedule A from your Ticket to Work service provider? 

CHAI>> Well, you have to get it from a healthcare provider, from a healthcare professional. I don't know enough about the Ticket to Work service provider, so in the next section, when you hear more about Ticket to Work, I guess we can all get educated about whether that is a healthcare provider, but I don't think it usually is. So, you do have it to get it from a healthcare provider as far as I know. Just in case there's more flexibility, I will take back that question, find out if it can be someone like the Ticket to Work service provider, and if so, we'll get that information out through SSA, but my understanding is that it has to be a healthcare provider. 

STACEY>> Okay, great. Thank you so much, Commissioner. We do have another question here, and that is, what is the statute of limitations for someone to file a claim of disability discrimination? 

CHAI>> Yes, good question. And it's very different if you are in the private sector, right, working for an employer working with more than 15 employees, either applying to that employer or experiencing discrimination once you've been hired in the federal government. So, for private employers, it is in almost every state in this country 300 days. So just a bit under a year is what you have if you've experienced discrimination to be able to file a claim. And one of the nice things about the public portal is that when you fill in the information, our system will detect if you are within 60 days of your time limit, and if so, it will flag that for us. So, make sure that we're getting you in the system before that time limit runs. There are a few like two states where the limit is 180 days, and that's because whether it's 180 or 300 depends on whether the state itself has a civil rights law. If it doesn't, then you're stuck with 180 days. 

The federal government, even though usually it's so much more protective of people with disabilities -- you just heard all this affirmative action, et cetera -- has what I think is a completely outrageously short statute of limitations. You have to contact a counselor within the federal government within 45 days of having experienced a discrimination or finding out about the discrimination. Literally just 45 days. And that's not when you have to file the complaint, but you have to go talk to an EEO counselor. If you're being harassed, you just to have to have had one incident of harassment within those 45 days. That is a very short timeframe, and I've always been really quite concerned about it. But that is the current law. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you, Commissioner. Our next question has to do with Schedule A, and the question is, how can I apply to Schedule A?

CHAI>> So, applying to get Schedule A sort of eligibility is incredibly simple; right? Just, you go to a healthcare provider, it doesn't have to be a doctor; right, it's a healthcare provider, but any healthcare provider you have, a rehabilitation provider, and you say for me to be Schedule A eligible, I need to have either an intellectual or psychiatric disability. As you know, I am bipolar so please write me a letter that says so and so is under my care and she has a disability that makes her eligible for Schedule A, period. It does not have to say you're bipolar. Same thing with any serious physical disability; okay? That's very easy. So, you just have that letter in hand. 

Then you'll go to USAJobs.gov, so you're looking for the jobs in the same way as everyone else. There's not like a list of job that is are listed just for Schedule A candidates. You go, you apply just like everyone else. But then you take a second step. You find out the contact information for the disability program manager with the agency that -- you've applied for a job at Department of Transportation and Department of Agriculture. Both of those have disability managers. You send them an e-mail and say, "I just applied for this job" -- you know, give whatever the number is -- "I am Schedule A eligible, I'd really appreciate it if you're got my resume in front of the hiring official." And good disability program managers be right back with you. You'll get a nice reply. Others may not. I mean, you know, I'm hoping we have excellent DPMs, is what they're called, across every agency. But, as in any case, it will vary. But that's how you bring your Schedule A eligibility to the attention of the agency. 

STACEY>> All right, thank you. Earlier, we had referred to a site that was the ABCs of Schedule A, so I just wanted to just reiterate the weblink for that, for our call-in users or those who are not connected to the platform, and it is www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/initiatives/lead/abcf_of_schedule_a.cfm. 

CHAI>> Oh, one of those short ones, a little short URL. I swear, we need to figure out how to shorten these things. I do want to do a shout out to someone who worked for me many years, [Nupa Ire], and she put together those ABCs. She worked on it for several months, and it is really an awesome document. 

STACEY>> Thank you. I hope that everybody takes the opportunity to look it up and read about Schedule A. We do have another question. The next one for you, Commissioner, is, do federal agencies or private businesses receive incentives for hiring people with disabilities? 

CHAI>> No. I mean, private businesses, there are some tax credit incentives. I think it's really not so clear about how well those work to get businesses who would not have otherwise hired people with disabilities, but there are some tax credits for private businesses. There's not incentives in the sense of financial incentives for federal agencies. But with this new regulation there is an incentive for them to meet their goals; that is, to recruit and hire people with disabilities, because otherwise, they put in an affirmative action plan to the EEOC that we will disapprove. Under the statute they have to give us an affirmative action plan every year, which we either approve or disapprove. So, if we disapprove, that's something that's can make public in various ways, you know, if we choose to do that. It's something that can help us get the attention of the top leadership. So, that's the incentive. The incentive is to now comply with the regulation. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you for that response. Another website that we discussed earlier that I wanted to go ahead and reiterate again for our call-in users is the website for the Federal Internship Program, and to find out how you can participate, you can visit wrp.gov/aboutfree.do#students. So, again, that is for the Federal Internship Program to find out how you can participate. 

All right. Well, at this time, we are going to go ahead and we are going to move on to our next topic today. So, I would like to thank Commissioner Feldblum. We do have more questions, and hopefully we'll get an opportunity to look at them a little bit later today, before our webinar ends. But next we are going to hear about the Social Security Ticket to Work program, and we are excited to hear from our next speaker who is going to share this information on the Ticket to Work program, from Alliance Professional Services, Pamela Walker. 

PAMELA>> Thank you so much for the introduction, Stacey, and good afternoon everyone. Back on slide 36, I just want to mention that there is also another resource available for beneficiaries of social security who need assistance with employment-related disability issues. Social Security's Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security program is commonly referred to as PABSS, that's P-A-B-S-S. And those organizations help individuals with disabilities who receive either Supplemental Security Income, referred to as SSI, or Social Security Disability Insurance, referred to as SSDI, by providing legal support, advocacy, assistance with accommodation issues, and resolution of some other employment-related issues. 

You can find information on the PABSS program and how to locate the PABSS office serving a specific area by visiting the Choose Work website. And I'm going to read the link reflected on the presentation so participants who are joining us by phone can note the link. And it's another one of those short ones. It is choosework.ssa.gov/about/meet-your-employment-team/index.html#PABSS. The page that you'll get when you go to that link also includes a "Search for Service Providers Here" box, and if you click on that box, it will direct you to another page where there's contact information available for all ticket service providers, including the PABSS offices. So, I just wanted to share that. Slide 37, please. 

I am so excited to share news about Social Security's Ticket to Work program. I've been involved in the program for about ten years, and it has done so much good for so many. Through this program, eligible individuals who are interested in trying to work are able to receive pre-employment and post-employment assistance benefits like planning and protections and work incentives. And the best news is that all these services are offered at no cost to participants. Slide 38, please. 

Not only is Social Security's Ticket to Work program free, participation in the program is voluntary. The program is designed to support career development for individuals with disabilities who want to work. To be eligible for the program, participants must be between the ages of 18 and 64, must currently be receiving monthly disability benefits through either SSI or SSDI and have a desire to work, with the goal of becoming financially self-supporting, to the extent possible. Participants must be committed to try and achieve the goals of the program. 

So, even if someone is already working, individuals who meet the eligibility requirements, and who are still receiving monthly disability benefits, can benefit from participates in the ticket program. The program, again, offers protection from medical review provided timely progress guidelines are met, and there's some work incentives that may be available to help individuals reach their goals quicker, and there's also ongoing support for assistance with future needs, such as job changes or promotional opportunities. So once someone signs up for the program, it's a multiyear program where you're able to get those services. 

There are many, many advantages to programs, and under Ticket to Work, Social Security contracts with organizations collectively referred to as Ticket to Work service providers. These providers help individuals who choose to participate in the program and fall under a variety of titles. You have employment networks and they're referred to commonly as ENs. You have some workforce ENs, and there's also the state vocational rehabilitation agencies that can assist. 

Social Security provides individuals who are interested in the program a list of service providers who are available to assist individuals. And once individuals get that list, if they want to participate, they can contact the ticket service providers, talk to a lot of them and find out which provider they would best meet their needs. And once they find that provider, then there is something called an individual workplan that's developed between the service provider and the participant that outlines the goals of the program, and basically how they're going to achieve those goals. 

So, in addition to the services like assistance with resumes and cover letters and job service or job placement, ongoing support once working, participants have access to a career coach or a counselor through those organizations, and this is basically someone that can help individuals determine the best career path, assist with employment-related issues or concerns, help with accommodation issues, and a big thing that we found is important is providing positive feedback and support as people progress and they achieve their individual goals. So, the ticket program, like I said, has helped so many individuals, and I'd like to take just a moment and share one of the many success stories with you. Slide 39, please. 

I'd like to introduce you to Jesus. Jesus was born with spina bifida, but he was determined to live independently from a pretty early age. He decided to go to college, so he earned a Bachelor's degree and then he gained some work experience by volunteering with Telecare, and that experience really strengthened his passion for helping others. And by completing that degree, he was really motivated and willing to find work and move towards self-sufficiency. So, Jesus decided to participate in Social Security's Ticket to Work program. He assigned his ticket to an employment network who provided him information about counselling and information about work incentives and then assisted Jesus in determining jobs that might be a good fit. 

Because Jesus had enjoyed helping others so much, and he met the eligibility requirements for positions with the Social Security Administration, his employment network counselor assisted him with applying for those jobs through the Schedule A process. And then with the help and support from his employment network counselor, he successfully landed a job as a service representative with the Social Security Administration. There are so many success stories. Slide 40, please. 

Jesus' story is just one of many, many, many. And you can learn about other success stories and jobseeker experiences through the Ticket to Work program, as well as obtain information about work incentives, services and supports available through the program by visiting the Choose Work website link provided on the slide. For those participating by phone today, the link to the web site is choosework.ssa.gov/success-stories. Slide 41, please. 

We hope you will consider participating in the Ticket to Work program, and if you're interested in working, I encourage you to explore the services, supports, and work incentives available. You can begin now to gather the information about the Ticket to Work service providers who can help. If you are interested in employment with federal agencies or federal contractors, be sure to ask the Ticket to Work service providers that you reach out to if they were familiar with employment programs such as the Schedule A hiring authority, Section 503, and also federal internships. Take advantage of the benefits offered under the Ticket to Work program and you will have a smooth journey to achieve your employment goals. Slide 42, please. 

For information on ticket service providers available to assist you, you can contact the Ticket to Work Helpline between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., and I believe that's Monday through Friday, and that's Eastern Time, and the phone number is 1 (866) 968-7842, and individuals needing TTY service may call 1 (866) 833-2967. And additional information is also available at the Ticket to Work site, which is choosework.ssa.gov. 

And, Stacey, at this time, I will turn the call back over to you. 

STACEY>> All right, great. Thank you so much, Pam, for that great information on how Ticket to Work can help transform the lives of adults with disabilities by providing both work incentives and support services to help them transition into the workplace. We do have more questions from our participants, so I'm going to go ahead and start going through some of these, and the first one I have here is for the Commissioner, and that question is, does the federal government provide training to those with disabilities to help them do their job? 

CHAI>> So, anyone, can you hear me okay? I feel like I put it on hands free, and now I'm wondering if you can hear me as well. 

STACEY>> Oh, we can hear you just fine. 

CHAI>> Okay. 

STACEY>> Thank you.

CHAI>> Great. So, the federal government does have training programs, and has various apprenticeship programs that are both general, as well as I know there's some focus on people with disabilities. So, the best way to find out about these is to go to the website for ODEP, which is ODEP, and that's the Office of Disability Employment Policy. So, Office of Disability Employment Policy, ODEP, is an office within the Department of Labor that is focused specifically on helping people with disabilities, and they would know, I think, some of the training programs that exist. 

STACEY>> Okay. Thank you for referring us to ODEP to find out more information. The next question is also for you, Commissioner. It is, where can someone find information about what is considered a severe disability? 

CHAI>> So, one of the slides I had wanted to give, after I looked at it, is the definition of targeted disability, because that's the one we use for affirmative action. You should be able to get it on our website. I would actually just "Google targeted disability EEOC," or maybe "targeted disability EEOC applicant flow form," because we did it for our applicant flow form. So, it's a list of about 12 disabilities, and, you know, I wish I had a better immediate place to link to, and, again, maybe I could try to get that to you folks on Social Security. But that's really the best I think I can do at the moment. 

STACEY>> Okay. And there was another question that was very similar, that asked about where someone can find the information on an intellectual disability, would the answer be the same for that?

CHAI>> Well, no, because there we just say, intellectual disability, you know, as well as developmental disability, so you have, like, cerebral palsy and stuff under developmental. Intellectual, it's just sort of the common use of the term; right? I mean, it used to be called mental retardation, now intellectual disability. So that's really -- the entire range of intellectual disabilities fall under targeted disabilities. 

STACEY>> Okay, great. Thank you. The next question that I have here would be for Pam, and, Pam, the question is, can I participate in the Ticket to Work program in order to seek full-time employment if I'm already working part time? 

PAMELA>> And the answer is absolutely. If you are working part time and you are still receiving monthly disability benefits, and you're between the ages of 18 and 64, you are still eligible to participate in the program. 

STACEY>> Okay. Super. Thank you so much. All right, going back to the Commissioner, how does an individual apply to established disability status? 

CHAI>> Okay, so it depends on what you mean by "disability status;" right? So, one form of disability is when you're trying to get disability benefits; right? You're trying to get onto SSI or SSDI in the first place. That's one mechanism that's not obviously the focus on this webinar. This is you are trying to get back to work, or you're at work and you want to get an accommodation. 

Basically, for accommodations, it is very, very easy to establish that you have a disability. Literally what you need is to have your health care provider say, this person has a physical or mental impairment that meets the definition of a disability under the ADA; okay? And that definition is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Under the ADA Amendment Act, it's very easy for any significant medical condition to meet that definition, and employers, including the federal government, are not permitted to ask for pages and pages of medical documentation. They cannot do that anymore. If they are starting to do that, you should call the EEOC, because that's illegal. 

And, generally, we hope people do not scam the system, because if they do, that doesn't help people with real disabilities. But really any serious medical condition is a disability, and you just, you know, need to get that documentation. An employer can ask you for documentation if it's not a manifest disability. But if I need an accommodation, I should be able to have, if I'm fine about saying the diagnosis, just have a doctor say, Chai Feldblum has fibromyalgia and anxiety disorder. Both of those things are a disability; okay? They're medical conditions that affect body functions, as opposed to my high cholesterol, which would not be, and that's really all it needs to say. Or if you don't want to mention the diagnosis, you can also say, she's under my care. She has a mental disability that meets the definition under the ADA. By the way, I'm managing my high cholesterol down for anyone on the call that's worried. 

STACEY>> We're so happy. And then I do have another question for you, Commissioner, and that is, where can I go if I feel like I'm being discriminated against by my service provider, and in your answer could you please address PABSS?

CHAI>> Address what? 

STACEY>> P-A-B-S-S. 

CHAI>> Oh, right, that's the Protection and Advocacy; right? Yes, you come to the EEOC only if you have been discriminated against by an employer; however, you also have protection if you're being discriminated against by a service provider that's under another title, another part of the ADA, and I couldn't see whether you -- it looked to me like it had the link on the slide to connect with PABSS, and, if not, that should certainly be there. I'm pretty sure, having talked just recently to the head of NDRN, National Disability Rights Network, I believe they are the ones providing those services, and congress just appropriated a significant amount of money to that, so I would definitely, definitely use that service. 

STACEY>> Okay, great. Thank you so much, and we are going to get that link so we can share that with everybody. I'm going to go back to a question about Ticket to Work, so this question will be for Pam. And the question is, can a Ticket to Work service provider help me find Schedule A job openings? 

PAMELA>> Yes, we can. There are employment networks that are very well versed in the Schedule A process. We have been working with Schedule A for ten years now, so we are very familiar, and we know the steps that it takes to go through that process. I just want to say, if you are interested in Ticket to Work and you start contacting service providers, be sure and ask them if they're familiar with federal job placement and the Schedule A process, you know, in working with federal contractors, all of those if you're interested in jobs with either federal agencies or federal contractors. The Schedule A, the process is very different than the process to get a job with a federal contractor or, you know, with just a company that's not a federal contractor or a federal agency. 

Federal resumes are very different. There's information required on those federal resumes that you would never include on a standard resume, and so that's why it's important to work with an employment network or a service provider that really knows the ins and outs of Schedule A if you want to go to work for a federal agency. 

CHAI>> And let me just add one thing again, just to clarify. There are not Schedule A jobs in the federal government. What we have are job openings in the federal government, where, if you are a Schedule A eligible, you can essentially be considered in this expedited fashion. And, yes, the employment network folks know how to get you into that expedited process. 

PAMELA>> And I'd like to make one more note on that too. If something is posted, a job is posted at USAJobs.gov and it's posted for, let's say, U.S. citizens, in other words anybody can apply, you can request consideration for that job by going through the proper channels, you know, mentioned earlier in this presentation. So, even though it's not, quote, a Schedule A job, any job that you're eligible to apply for, you can request that Schedule A consideration. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you to the Commissioner, and also to Pam for chiming in to assist in answering that question. I know, Commissioner Feldblum, that you need to hop off the call, so I just wanted to make sure that we thank you once again for joining us today and let you know how much we appreciate it and everything that you have shared with us today. 

CHAI>> Absolutely. And I send my encouragement and warm wishes to everyone listening here who is ginned up and jazzed up now to go get a job. So, take care, and I look forward to helping in the future, as I can. 

STACEY>> Okay. Thank you so much. We were talking recently about the PABSS, or the Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries in Social Security, and that link is in the weblinks pod, so if you are interested in that, you can find it there. And for those who are connected via audio, it is choosework.ssa.gov/about/meet-your-employment-team/index.html#pabss. 

Okay, so back to Pam. The next question that came in for you reads, what is the maximum amount of time a beneficiary has to complete their schooling while in the Ticket to Work program? 

PAMELA>> Well, it really depends on several things. If someone comes into the program and they're already working, the program time could be four or five years. But if someone begins the program, and let's say that the first three years of the program they're in college, and they don't start work until later in the program, the program, for them, could run roughly seven years. So that's a long time to get, you know, assistance and support during all of that. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you. Next question, and this question is, how long can someone receive support under the Ticket to Work program? 

PAMELA>> Again, the support that's available under Ticket to Work really depends on when somebody, what we call, graduates of the program, and that depends on when they begin working, you know, whether there's lag time between jobs. Maybe they take a job and then they leave that job and it's a couple years before they start another. You know, so it is very individualized, but, generally, the program runs four to five years for most. People that are in school have a work history with gaps throughout the program. It could be as long as seven years. 

STACEY>> Okay, the next question, can you get a job on your own, or do you have to go through the Ticket to Work program? 

PAMELA>> No, that's what's really neat about the Ticket to Work program, or one of the things. It doesn't matter if you find a job on your own or if it's something that your job coach or job counselor helped prepare for you for, you still have the protections under Ticket to Work if you're participating. It may be that even though you found that job on your own, down the road, you may be eligible for a promotional opportunity, or once you start working, you know, it may not be the best job for you. Maybe it's too much standing or you're having to lift too much and it's causing issues with the disability. So, in that situation, your job coach or career coach would help you find a job that's a better fit, prepare you for those promotional opportunities, if they're available, or, you know, new employment. The support is there for whatever the needs are at the time that they're needed. 

STACEY>> Okay, great. Thank you. And we do have a few more questions for you yet, Pam. The next one, do I need to be under Ticket to Work to apply for Schedule A job openings? 

PAMELA>> You do not have to be under Ticket to Work to apply for those jobs. I strongly recommend that if you're interested in federal employment that you do sign up to Ticket to Work and use a provider that is familiar with the program. And, again, the reason I say that is that applying for federal job opportunities are very different. They don't use a standard resume, and it's one of those situations where if a job is posted and there's something that's required that you don't submit, for instance, the Schedule A certification letter that has to be signed by a medical professional, if you apply for a job and request Schedule A consideration for that position, you will not be considered, because you didn't submit the proper documentation. So, you really want to work with someone who can help you to ensure that you submitted everything that you're supposed to submit, and that your resume has all the information that's required in order to be considered. 

STACEY>> Okay. And the next question has to do with retirement age, and it is, Social Security regular retirement age is gradually increasing to older than 65. Will SSDI and Ticket to Work ages of 18 through 64 increase to match the increase in regular age retirement for regular full retirement age? 

PAMELA>> I have no idea if that will change. But I can tell you that under the Ticket to Work program your ticket has to be assigned between the ages of 18 and 64. Once you reach 65, if you assigned your ticket when you were 64 or younger, then you can continue receiving services until your regular retirement age, as long as you don't take early retirement. So, in other words, if somebody assigned their ticket when they were 60 and now their regular retirement age is, say, 65, we can continue working -- excuse me, 66 -- we can continue working with that person until they hit their regular retirement age of 66. It's just that the ticket has to be assigned by the time that a person is 64. And once they do retire, then the ticket is cancelled. 

STACEY>> All right. Thank you so much. The next question we have, Pam, how long does it typically take for someone to become fully self-sufficient under the Ticket to Work program? 

PAMELA>> Again, that really depends on the individual. We have some people that come to us and know exactly what they're looking for, and we're able to get them all ready to start applications, and they may become employed within 60 to 90 days of assigning their ticket. There's other people who are going to be in college getting a degree before they're looking for career employment, so, obviously, their timeframe for getting that dream job is going to be a lot longer than someone who comes in and goes to work immediately. So, it's very individualized, and that is one of the things that, once you select a Ticket to Work service provider, they will work with you and set those goals and determine when you want to go to work, what type of job you're looking for, you know, whether or not you need additional training in order to get the job that you want. So, a lot of things feed into that, so it really depends on the individual. But, again, it can be anywhere from 60 days to three or four years, depending on a person's goals. 

STACEY>> All right. Thank you. And this next question kind of is along the same lines, and it is how long does it typically take for someone to become fully self-sufficient under the Ticket to Work program? 

PAMELA>> And, again, it's really individualized. It depends on whether somebody knows exactly what kind of job they're looking for and they're already qualified to start from day one a ticket assignment, versus someone who needs additional training or who is working on a college education. And that would be part of the individual workplan developed between the service provider and the beneficiary to determine, you know, what the date, completion date for those goals would be. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you Pam. 

PAMELA>> Sure.

STACEY>> And I am going to ask one last question here, and that is, will you lose the benefits if you start working for Ticket to Work? 

PAMELA>> It depends on the type of benefits that you're receiving. For instance, if someone is receiving SSDI disability benefits, then they are entitled to a nine-month call work period, where they're able to work, and there's no cap on their earnings. They can make as much as they want to make during that nine-month period. So, their Social Security disability checks are not impacted during that time, and for a couple months after that during what's called a grace period. 

On the other hand, if someone is receiving SSI benefits, then their earnings are reviewed each month to determine how their check will be impacted, based on the earnings that they made on their own. The quickest and easiest way to figure out how it would be impacted is it's basically a two for one. So, if somebody is receiving, you know, just we're going to use round numbers here; okay. If somebody is earning $750 a month on their SSI check and they go out and they get a job, a part-time job, and they make $500 on their own, in that case, they're going to have more money in their pocket, even though about $250 of what they earned on their own will be deducted from their next month's SSI check. So that's just a quick review. 

And, again, once a ticket is assigned, a counselor can look at a person's earnings, the type of benefits they're receiving, whether or not they've used trial work period months, all of that, and then, you know, tell a person exactly how working would impact their disability benefits. And there's also a lot of work incentives that come into play there too, you know. And if somebody is receiving work incentives, then maybe their check may not be reduced, even if they're on an SSI. So that's why it's real important too, when you're looking for employment networks or a service provider, make sure that it's an organization that understands work incentives, because our goal is to have people get more money in their pocket and to eventually come off benefits. But we don't want someone to do anything that would cause detriment or a severe reduction in benefits without some planning and thought to how work is going to impact them. 

STACEY>> Okay, thank you, Pam, for that great information for Ticket to Work. We've had many questions come in that we do not have time to answer, but a couple of them, one of which was, what is a workplan and what does it help me find work? I just wanted to let everyone know that the latest Ticket to Work FAQ, "Planning Your Goals with a Ticket to Work Program," does address that, and the link for that is https://choosework.ssa.gov/library/faq-planning-your-emplyment-goals-with-the-ticket-to-work-program. You can find the answer to those there. 

Also, if we were not able to answer your question, you can reach out to the Ticket to Work help line at (866) 968-7842 or for TTY (866) 833-2967. You can also connect to us by liking us on Facebook at Choose Work -- I'm sorry @choosework. You can follow us on Twitter at @chooseworkssa. You can subscribe to our YouTube channel, which is @choosework, and you can also follow us on LinkedIn, which is @ticket-to-work. So, many different ways that you can connect to us to get the information. 

If you are looking for answers to questions and resources to help you decide about returning to work or staying at work after an injury or an illness, please join us, along with the campaign for disability employment and the job accommodation network on Thursday, May 31st, at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, and you just follow @chooseworkssa and tweet #cdechat to join the conversation and ask any questions that you may have. 

Our next WISE webinar is going to be held on Wednesday, June 27th, 2018, again, from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time, and we would love to have you join us once again. So, we look forward to having you participate with us again. You can register for this event online at www.choosework.net/wise, or you can call 1 (866) 968-7842, or for TTY, 1 (866) 833-2967. 

Great. Well that brings us to the end of our webinar today. We, as I said, are out of time for questions, and we do want to thank everyone for your participation in today's webinar, and for attending. You had some great questions, and we wish we could have gotten to them all, but, again, if we were not able to get to your question, go ahead and reach out to the Ticket to Work Helpline at (866) 968-7842, or for TTY (866) 833-2967. 

Remember to tell us what you think about today's "Working for the Federal Government" webinar by taking our survey. To take the survey, you can follow the link that will pop up right after the webinar, or you can visit the Ticket to Work website to complete the survey at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise. 

And, again, I'd like to thank our presenters for joining us today, and for the wonderful information, again, for all of you for attending today, please take the opportunity to reach out to many of the resources we discussed today and take the next step in your career path. We have resources and support services to help you no matter what stage you are in in your journey. Have a wonderful day. That concludes our webinar.