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CVS Caremark and ODEP form Alliance for Workers with Disabilities

October 30th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) recently announced a new partnership with CVS Caremark to promote empowerment for workers with disabilities.

The new alliance is designed to encourage and promote the employment of people with disabilities through training and education, outreach and communication, technical assistance and other efforts.

“This alliance will mutually benefit CVS Caremark, the company’s workforce and customers, the Labor Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy and the general public,” said Karen M. Czarnecki, acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for ODEP. “Hiring, retaining and advancing employees with disabilities is just good business. ODEP and CVS Caremark will share information, guidance and resources that will help to develop model programs for other employers, particularly in the retail and pharmacy services industries.”

CVS Caremark, with headquarters in Woonsocket, R.I., employs about 190,000 people and has 6,200 retail and specialty pharmacies, 11 mail service pharmacies and 14 call center locations nationwide.

The company operates CVS pharmacies, one of the largest drugstore chains nationwide.

Through the two-year affiliation, ODEP and CVS Caremark jointly will distribute training and education materials to human resource managers throughout the company. They will also share effective disability employment practices with all managers. CVS and ODEP hope to increase the company’s employment of workers with disabilities by collaborating to identify technical assistance resources in providing workplace accommodations. The two organizations also will disseminate information in a variety of ways to promote a national dialogue on disability employment issues.

The alliance agreement was signed this afternoon by Karen Czarnecki and Steve Wing, director of government programs for CVS Caremark, at the Labor Department’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

CVS has a history of effectively working with disabled employees. It was a 2006 recipient of the Secretary of Labor’s New Freedom Initiative Award for exemplary and innovative efforts in furthering the employment and workplace environment for people with disabilities. The company is a member of ODEP’s Circle of Champions, a distinguished group of U.S. employers that works with the agency to help inform disability employment policy by sharing proven business strategies.

ODEP’s Alliance Initiative is open to both public and private sector organizations that would like to work with the agency to enhance the recruitment, hiring, employment and advancement of people with disabilities. An Alliance Directive available at www.dol.gov/odep provides guidelines and criteria for Alliance partnerships.

Opportunities for workers with disabilities have come a long way in a short time. It was not until 1990 that disabled workers achieved significant rights. In that year the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, was passed, making it against the law to discriminate against the disabled worker, whether in hiring, promotions, or training. The ADA also guarantees that employers must make reasonable accommodations for workers with disabilities. Before ADA, many workplaces and public buildings were not accessible by disabled people, especially those in wheelchairs.

October is National Disability Awareness month. Proclaimed by President George W. Bush, National Disability Awareness Month is meant to acknowledge the many accomplishments of people with disabilities, and to stress the need to open the workplace to the many talents of disabled workers. It’s also designed to ensure workplace diversity.

Despite legislation and some inspiring examples of achievement against all odds, the Office for Disability Employment Programs (ODEP) notes that this country still has a long way to go to assure that it is tapping into the talents of its disabled workers.

ODEP itself was headed up, until recently, by Dr. Roy Grizzard, a model for disabled workers. Dr. Grizzard was struck with a degenerative disease of the retina called retinitis pigmentosa when he was in his 20’s and by 40 he was legally blind. Nevertheless he got a PhD and pursued a career as a teacher and school administrator until taking a position with a state agency for the disabled. From there he went on to lead ODEP.