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State renews efforts to find employers for the disabled [The Day, New London, Conn.](Day, The (New London, CT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 13--The leader of a rejuvenated state committee to help disabled people find more job opportunities said he is looking for greater buy-in from the business community. Jonathan Slifka, just named this week as chairman of the Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, said he is hoping to convince more companies statewide that hiring the disabled is a sound business practice. "We want to see competitive full-time employment for anyone who wants it and anyone who can do it," he said in a phone interview. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday that Slifka, the governor's liaison to the disability community, would chair the newly reconstituted committee in an effort to tie together the business community, nonprofits, state agencies and people with disabilities to find solutions to employment problems. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show that in 2013 people with disabilities nationwide were four times less likely to be employed than those without a disability. "One of the main goals of this committee is to help ensure employers and jobseekers have the resources and knowledge they need to make the right connections," Malloy said in a statement. "Employers report that employees with disabilities often have higher retention rates, which can reduce the high cost of turnover." The volunteer committee, with more than two dozen members but none listed from southeastern Connecticut, held its first meeting Thursday at the state Department of Labor's Wethersfield office. John Beauregard, executive director of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment board that runs four American Job Centers in the region, said he had no knowledge of the new committee, though workforce leaders from other areas such as Bridgeport, New Haven and Waterbury were represented on the panel. Slifka said Beauregard would be invited to join the committee if he hadn't already. Beauregard said employment has been a dicey issue among all populations in eastern Connecticut, which has been among the hardest hit regions in the country in terms of job recoveries after the Great Recession. But he noted that eastern Connecticut has led the way among this population by locating rehabilitative services representatives in three of its centers as well as developing one of the first Ticket to Work programs that helps people with disabilities get to their workplaces. Beauregard said the central issue for the disabled, as with other groups, is the question of having the right skills. "If the skills are there or they can be developed, that's a good situation," he said Friday. "It's all about doing the job and doing it well." Employers sometimes worry about the costs of accommodations for the disabled, though the Department of Labor cited a survey indicating most of the time there is no cost. Even when accommodations are necessary, the vast majority are free or cost less than $600, the survey said. Slifka said his committee will start by trying to find out all the current practices being used to promote hiring of disabled people and will then look at best practices from Connecticut and elsewhere. One issue the panel hopes to tackle, he said, are controversial provisions that allow agencies to pay subminimum wage to disabled workers. "We will take a stance," Slifka said. [email protected] Twitter: @KingstonLeeHow ___ (c)2014 The Day (New London, Conn.) Visit The Day (New London, Conn.) at www.theday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |