PAR Mail 2018-085 | May 18, 2018
Congress Looks at WIOA Definition of “Competitive Integrated Employment”
Two separate parts of the federal government are taking a closer look at the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) enacted into law and signed by President Barack Obama on July 22, 2014. A brief written by the UMASS Institute on Community Inclusion described the bill's highlights as including:

  • A much larger role for public vocational rehabilitation (VR) as people with disabilities make the transition from school to adult life.
  • Efforts intended to limit the use of sub-minimum wage.
  • Required agreements between state VR systems and state Medicaid systems, and state intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) agencies.
  • A definition of “customized employment” in federal statute, and an updated definition of “supported employment” that includes customized employment.
  • A definition for “competitive integrated employment” as an optimal outcome.(this issue since the enactment has raised the most concern and discussion)
  • Enhanced roles and requirements for the general workforce system and One-Stop Career Centers in meeting the needs of people with disabilities.
  • A number of disability agencies moving from the Department of Education (DOE) to the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Independent Living Program.
  • Changes in performance measures, with potentially major implications for VR. (David Hoff, The Institute Brief, ICI, Issue No. 31, August 2014)

Disability programs that serve individuals with significant and challenging health and physical conditions have found the listing of competitive integrated employment to be of concern, particularly for individuals who are served in vocational settings, such as sheltered workshops. Proponents of WIOA saw the law as a vehicle to promote inclusive employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
As pressure has grown across the nation to close sheltered workshops, there has been some push back from some providers and family members leading to the past month, when a Republican Member of Congress from Wisconsin, Rep. Glenn Grothman, brought this issue to the Congress in the form of a proposed bill entitled "The Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act."

Grothman's legislation seeks to amend WIOA to modify the definition of Integrated Community Employment thus allowing vocational programs and workshops to be allowed under WIOA. The Congressman explains his legislation suggesting that WIOA regulations created in 2015 "in effect, limits the menu of jobs a vocational rehabilitation agency can refer individuals with disabilities to, often removing jobs that have equipment designed to help them perform to the best of their ability. As a result, our young people are too-often retired to the couch or worse, rather than being placed in a job that provides them with financial compensation, workforce experience, and a sense of dignity and respect that can only be derived from an honest day’s work."

PAR and ANCOR are monitoring the progress of this legislation.
Separate from this action in Congress, U.S Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVoss has   announced her plans  to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend regulatory definitions in 34 CFR part 361 implementing programs under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, made by WIOA.