labor lawAdivision of labor law center

The Labor Department is joining hands with a 205,000 member strong human resource managers’ association to open up job opportunities for the disabled.

Minnesota workers with disabilities will benefit from the alliance. The policy agency within the Labor Department is the Office of Disability Employment Policy, or ODEP. The private group is the Society of Human Resource Managers, or SHRM.

Opportunities for the disabled may have increased in the past few years, but society is still not getting the full benefit of disabled workers’ talents, says ODEP. The new alliance will push recruiting and hiring of this relatively untapped talent through the help of research and education. The teamup will specifically look not only at education but also at training, technical assistance, communication and outreach. The partnership is the first of its kind for ODEP.

A wide range of resources is being brought together through the teamwork between the Labor Department and the human resources managers. SHRM, founded in 1948, has more than 550 chapters, and counts members in more than 100 countries around the world. With its 205,000 members, it is the largest human resource professionals’ association in the world. ODEP is relatively new, dating back to 2001. Under Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao, authority was delegated and responsibility assigned to the assistant secretary for disability employment policy. It remains part of the U.S. Department of Labor.

The two forces, SHRM and ODEP, have worked together before, but informally. This makes it official.

“This alliance,” says Roy Grizzard, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Disability Employment Policy, “formalizes the relationship we have had with SHRM,” adding that it benefits SHRM as it “serves its membership with resources ODEP brings to the table and offering ODEP the opportunity for broader contact with human resource professionals.”

The partnership is also expected to open up a national discussion about employing disabled workers, among them Minnesota workers with disabilities.

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