EMPLOYMENT & CAREERS

Executive Directive 8 - Directing All State Agencies to Actively Recruit Qualified Applicants with Disabilities for Employment Opportunities

On October 23, 2007, Governor Kaine signed Executive Directive 8, which directs all state agencies to actively recruit qualified individuals with disabilities for employment opportunities in state government.  The Directive reminds state agencies of the advantages of tapping into an underused but qualified labor market to fill open positions. The following are recommendations for implementing the Directive:

• Review existing practices relating to the employment of people with disabilities. This step is necessary to ensure that no barriers exist in the recruiting/hiring process.
  • Is staff knowledgeable of the Americans with Disabilities Act?
  • Is staff knowledgeable of the Code sections of the Virginians with Disabilities Act?
  • Are partner agencies (VCU-RRTC, DRS, and DBVI) included in recruitment options?
  • Are hard-to-fill positions a source of employment opportunities?
  • Are Essential Job Requirements included on the Employee Work Profiles?
  • Do agency job announcements clearly state a willingness to make accommodations during the application and interview process?
  • Is the agency prepared to make the accommodations that may be needed?
  • Are resources (e.g., telework) being used to assist in accommodating workers with disabilities?
  • Do the interview criteria meet the appropriate standards?
  • Do testing procedures measure the actual ability of an individual to perform job functions?
• Expand existing efforts for recruiting, accommodating, retaining, and advancing people with disabilities.
  • Use VCU-RRTC to obtain workers through the staffing companies.
  • Use DRS and DBVI to obtain workers that are not affiliated with the staffing companies.
  • Learn more about working with people with disabilities. Increased awareness will help with establishing a system for educating and sensitizing staff at all levels on the value of hiring people with disabilities.
  • Learn to see the person before the disability.
  • Before positions become vacant, seek out opportunities to develop relationships with organizations, agencies, and programs that represent or train people with disabilities.
  • Consider wage positions, internships, and on-the-job training opportunities to increase the employment numbers of qualified individuals with disabilities.
  • Seek out qualified professional organizations that represent and serve people with disabilities.
• Attend training offered by DHRM through the partnerships.
• Submit the report of agency efforts to recruit and hire people with disabilities to the Secretary of Administration on July 1st of each year. More information will be forthcoming on the report.

Resources and information for recruiting and hiring people with disabilities are available on DHRM’s Website at http://www.dhrm.virginia.gov/recruitment/recruitingthedisabled.html. Please contact Pat Waller at patricia.waller@dhrm.virginia.gov if you any questions or comments about the Directive’s implementation process.

PMIS/CIPPS UPDATE

The Department of Accounts has issued Payroll Bulletin 2008-02, describing the implementation schedule for agencies using both PMIS and CIPPS to participate in the process of automated updates from PMIS to CIPPS.  The Bulletin is available at: http://www.doa.virginia.gov/Payroll/Payroll_Bulletins/Payroll_Bulletins_Main.cfm.

As the new process is implemented, it will be very important for PMIS changes to be accurate and timely.   It will be equally important for changes to be made in PMIS first, rather than in CIPPS.

Please remember that the PMIS fields that are not related to payroll need to be kept up-to-date as well.  For example, agencies should update PMIS to reflect changes to fields such as email addresses or phone numbers as they occur, rather than hold them for batch updates.

HR staff should also be conscious of PMIS effective dates as they relate to the pay period dates (e.g., an effective date of 11/24 will process in the 11/10 to 11/24 pay period even if it was meant to be effective on 11/25).  HR should coordinate with the payroll office to create a schedule of cutoff dates for current activity.  Otherwise, changes being passed to CIPPS may cause payroll certification amounts to be inaccurate.  For example, if a pay action is taken in PMIS on Tuesday, it will update CIPPS on Wednesday night. If Wednesday is the night the agency pays and payroll staff aren't aware of this action’s passing, the certification amount will not be current and the agency will have to respond to DOA as to why there is a discrepancy.

Questions about the PMIS/CIPPS Update process should be sent to the DHRM Help Desk at ihelp@dhrm.virginia.gov.  Payroll questions should be directed to the Department of Accounts at payroll@doa.virginia.gov.

back to top