The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Labor (Labor) have taken steps to implement the executive order and help agencies recruit, hire, and retain more employees with disabilities. OPM provided guidance to help agencies develop disability hiring plans and reviewed the 66 plans submitted. OPM identified deficiencies in most of the plans. For example, though 40 of 66 agencie

Of the 40 former high-ranking Coast Guard officials (Admirals or Senior Executive Service members) who separated from the Coast Guard from 2005 through 2009, 22 have been compensated by Coast Guard contractors. Twelve of these officials were compensated in 2010 by major Coast Guard contractors-contractors that received at least $10 million in Coast Guard contracts in 2010. One of the 12 officials

Our work to this point has identified several promising practices that could help to reduce the risk of fraud within the FECA program. The promising practices link back to fraud-prevention concepts contained in GAO's Fraud Prevention Framework and Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, and include agencies' use of full-time staff dedicated to the FECA program, periodic reviews

Through our campus recruitment program, we have established ongoing relationships with many colleges and universities across the country. While we advertise all of our new positions publicly, currently we have relationships with about 70 colleges and universities, including private and public colleges and universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, a

In the wake of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of current and former military servicemembers are undergoing a transition between their military service and their civilian employment. Congress enacted the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA) to protect the employment and reemployment rights of federal and nonfederal employees when they

In summary, we have reported that the perception that many retirement-age beneficiaries were receiving more generous benefits on FECA had generated two alternative proposals to change benefits once beneficiaries reach the age at which retirement typically occurs: (1) converting FECA benefits to retirement benefits and, (2) changing FECA wage-loss benefits by establishing a new FECA annuity. We al

In brief, participants at the forum said that the most significant barrier keeping people with disabilities from the workplace is attitudinal. Attitudinal barriers can include bias against and low expectations for people with disabilities--a focus on disabilities rather than abilities. According to participants, there is a fundamental need to change the attitudes of hiring managers, supervisors,

Participants said that the most significant barrier keeping people with disabilities from the workplace is attitudinal, which can include bias and low expectations for people with disabilities. According to participants, there is a fundamental need to change the attitudes of hiring managers, supervisors, coworkers, and prospective employees, and that cultural change within the agencies is critica