NYAPRS Note: In January 2012, advocates for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities filed a class action lawsuit that challenged Oregon’s failure to provide supported employment services to more than 2300 state residents who are employed in sheltered, segregated workshop settings performing relatively menial tasks and earning nominal pay at far below minimum wage levels.
A settlement between the Oregon Dept. of Human Services, disability rights groups and the US Department of Justice was recently reached that will greatly expand statewide opportunities for integrated, supported employment.
This a ground breaking development, representing the first time that the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Olmstead provision has been applied to requiring employment in the most integrated community setting.
Let’s hope other states stand up and take notice!
Oregon Proposed ADA Settlement Reduces Use Of Sheltered Workshop Services
Open Minds News Report November 15, 2015
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On October 2, 2015, the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) announced a proposed settlement to a 2012 class action lawsuit that alleged that the state’s reliance on sheltered workshops as employers for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The premise of the lawsuit was that sheltered workshops unnecessarily segregated people with disabilities from the general population. The settlement will expand options for supported employment for individuals with IDD and reduce the use of sheltered workshops.
In the proposed settlement, Oregon pledged to expand its Employment First program over the next seven years to provide 1,115 working-age adults with IDD who are currently served in segregated sheltered workshops with opportunities for competitive jobs and supportive services.
At least 4,900 youth ages 14 to 24 years old will receive supported employment services designed to assist them to choose, prepare for, get, and keep work in a typical work setting.
Of the transition-age youth who apply to the state’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and are found eligible for services, about half will get an Individual Plan for Employment.
In all, the settlement will impact approximately 7,000 Oregonians with IDD who can and want to work in typical employment settings in the community.
Sheltered workshops are segregated facilities that exclusively or primarily employ people with disabilities. As a result, the employees have little or no contact with non-disabled persons besides paid staff. Further, federal rules have provisions that allow sheltered workshops to pay people with IDD hourly wages well below the federal minimum wage. A sheltered workshop setting is not considered to be supported employment because it is not an integrated setting. In 2008, Oregon was one of the first states to adopt an Employment First policy; previously most people were referred to day services. From 2010 to 2012, DHS focused on outreach to promote the Employment First policy.
The class action lawsuit, Lane v. Kitzhaber (since renamed Lane v. Brown), was filed in January 2012, by eight named individuals and United Cerebral Palsy of Oregon and Southwest Washington, on behalf of themselves and other individuals with IDD who are in Oregon sheltered workshops or have been referred to sheltered workshops. In March 2013, the Department of Justice (DOJ) intervened in the lawsuit; the DOJ also contended that Oregon violated the ADA by unnecessarily segregating adults with IDD in sheltered workshops and by placing Oregon youth with IDD at unnecessary risk of segregation in sheltered workshops.
Approximately 1,900 Oregonians with disabilities currently receive services in sheltered workshops. Since the initiation of the lawsuit, approximately 3,900 Oregonians with disabilities received some level of services in sheltered workshops, and historically hundreds of students have transitioned each year from Oregon public schools to sheltered workshops.
The proposed agreement recognizes that Oregon has made substantial progress in providing employment services to and improving employment outcomes for individuals with IDD since the filing of the plaintiffs’ complaint and the department’s complaint-in-intervention. In April 2013, former Governor Kitzhaber issued an Executive Order affirming Oregon’s commitment to offering integrated employment services for people IDD.
In May 2013, the Oregon Office of Developmental Disability Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Education, and the Oregon Council on Developmental Disabilities, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Transition of Students with Disabilities to the Workforce. This agreement was made to help support and increase the number of students with disabilities transitioning from secondary schools to integrated, community-based employment or post-secondary education.
In February 2015, Governor Kitzhaber issued a follow-up Executive Order 15-01, which set specific targets for the number of people to be served each year.
The private plaintiffs in Lane v. Brown were represented by the Center for Public Representation, Disability Rights Oregon and the law firms of Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP and Perkins Coie LLP.
The parties’ proposed settlement agreement was announced by the DOJ on September 8, 2015. The agreement has been submitted to the court, but court approval is still pending.
A link to the full text of “Oregon DHS Proposed Settlement In Lane v. Brown Regarding Employment Services For Individuals With Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities” may be found in The OPEN MINDS Circle Library at www.openminds.com/market-intelligence/resources/100215oregonddsemploymentfirststlmt.htm.
A link to the full text of “Oregon Executive Order 15-01: Providing Employment Services To Individuals With Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities” may be found in The OPEN MINDS Circle Library at www.openminds.com/market-intelligence/resources/020215oregonexecorderempfirst.htm.
OPEN MINDS last reported on this topic in “Lawsuit Claims Oregon’s Sheltered Workshop System For IDD Consumers Violates ADA,” which published on February 12, 2012. The article is available at https://www.openminds.com/market-intelligence/news/021312idd2.htm/.
For more information, contact: Mike Maley, Statewide Employment First Coordinator, Oregon Department of Human Services, 500 Summer Street NE, Salem, Oregon 97301. E-mail: employment.first@state.or.us; Website: http://iworkwesucceed.org.