UGH: Obama admin forcing federal contractors to hire 7% disabled workers or face penalties

Another ridiculous regulation coming down from the Obama administration, basically telling federal contractors if they want to keep getting federal contracts then they must ensure that 7% of their workforce have a disability, which means these companies will be required to ask about this when hiring.

WSJ – U.S. regulations are coming into effect next week that will require federal contractors to ask their employees if they have a disability, the WSJ reports. A group of employers that includes Boeing Co., Dell Inc. and AT&T Inc., among some 40,000 others, will be compelled to ask about employees’ disabilities for the first time. Those that don’t employ a minimum of 7% disabled workers, or can’t prove they are taking steps to achieve that goal, could face penalties and, in the most extreme cases, the loss of their contracts, according to a government official.

The target applies to contractors with 50 or more employees or more than $50,000 in government work. The Labor Department issued the rules as part of an effort to reduce the high jobless rate among people with disabilities; a similar initiative calls for an 8% hiring target for military veterans. Government officials say the targets are “aspirational” and not rigid quotas. The legislation will affect nearly a quarter of the U.S. workforce, but employees aren’t required to disclose their specific impairment.

Stuart Varney wonders what about the American Disabilities Act, which prohibits employers from asking if someone has a disability. Will they now be taken to court for asking even though they are mandated to ask? Varney says these companies will be damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

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