Response to Public Comment

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) received one comment in response to the 30-Day Federal Register Notice (FRN) for the Survey of Employer Policies on the Employment of People with Disabilities, published on March 1, 2018. This comment raised three issues which are addressed below:

Issue 1. Eliminate duplication

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) conducted a similar nationally representative survey in 2007, Survey of Employer Perspectives on the Employment of People with Disabilities. The findings from that survey informed ODEP’s subsequent investments in policy, technical assistance, and research activities. Ten years have passed since the first survey, and DOL now intend to repeat elements of the 2007 survey and add targeted components to capture current developments to understand how disability employment concerns changed over time, particularly in the private sector. DOL plans to conduct this latest version of the nationally representative survey of employers to provide ODEP with a knowledge base to assess current market conditions affecting disability employment and to assist in formulating relevant policy outputs.

As part of the survey development process, DOL conducted a scan of past and current work on the topic of disability employment policies and practices conducted in the last ten years using surveys to ensure that this work did not duplicate work being performed by other agencies, including the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and the Government Accountability Office.

Issue 2. Suggestions for engaging other federal partners

Throughout the development of this survey, DOL held stakeholder meetings to gather a wide perspective on survey questions. Attendees consisted of industry experts solicited through ODEP’s network of public and private partnerships in survey and research methods, disability employment, disability community and business organizations and disability research.

In addition, DOL published a 60-day Federal Register Notice in May 2017 to solicit feedback from the public, but received none at that time.

Issue 3. Consult CSAVR to learn from their experience

DOL, and ODEP in particular, has enjoyed its collaborative work with CSAVR, and ODEP would be happy to meet with CSAVR to learn more about the current work of the National Employment Team to inform how ODEP can help employers connect with job seekers with disabilities.