From her incredibly busy office in Washington DC, Georgia Coffey spoke to me as if we were old friends:  relaxed, unhurried, just the two of us talking about high-level policies that were in place to open doors for people with disabilities – many of whom have given up on ever finding a job.

            To give you the broad brush overview of what Georgia Coffey’s Office has achieved in the few short years that she has been Deputy Assistant Secretary can be summed up in one line: They designed and implemented a Diversity and Inclusion strategic plan that could serve as a model for most if not all Federal Government Agencies.  Georgia Coffey offered, “In short, there are 3 strategic goals within this plan 1) to build workforce diversity. 2) to cultivate workplace inclusion 3) to enhance stakeholder relations, and educate the workforce on Diversity and Inclusion.  Embedded in those 3 strategic goals, is a very important part, and that is employment and retention of people with disabilities.”

            “We did not create a plan that will sit on someone’s shelf,” Georgia explained, “We think our plan is probably one of the more robust plans in the Federal Government, because it doesn’t just focus on recruitment, but on retention and full inclusion as well.  That’s a big part of the challenge; not just getting people with disabilities in the door in good positions, but developing them, advancing them in their careers.”

             “Right now, our onboard rate is 1.53% for people with severe disabilities.  We are working hard to meet our 2% goal.”  When I asked Georgia to explain what qualified as severe disabilities, she explained, “The targeted disabilities are:  blindness, deafness, missing extremities, partial paralysis, total paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability, and dwarfism.”

            I asked Georgia to give me some examples of the type of jobs that are currently held by people with severe disabilities. She went to her computer and gave me these statistics:

Number Employed    Mission Critical Jobs

286                              Nurses

94                               Medical Officers

98                                Practical Nurses

118                              Nursing Assistants

193                              Veteran Claims Examiners

98                                IT Specialists

This data and much more is publicly available on her office’s online internet site, http://www.diversity.hr.va.gov.  The link to her People with Disabilities Program is www.diversity.hr.va.gov/spi/programs/peopledisabilities.htm.

            Thinking back on some concerns that Disaboom has heard from our community, I asked Georgia, if these jobs pay enough to offset loosing government assistance after nine months?

            “Yes absolutely,” she answered, “Some of these jobs I mentioned go all the way up to our senior rank. Top level pay for a Senior Executive Service Member is approximately $179,000 a year.  But in the medical field, our Title 38 positions can go well above that.  As I pointed out we do indeed have hundreds of people with severe disabilities who are being paid at high levels.  VA also has lower level positions, both in the Heath Care Field and outside the HCF that have very competitive salaries. The starting salary for a college graduate in a professional position is around $35,000 a year.”

             Knowing how many in our community are unemployed, I wanted to know if Georgia had any advice for people seeking jobs with the VA. “First of all, she replied, “they need to be qualified. They have to make sure they have the minimum qualifications for whatever position they are applying for. I would strongly encourage people with disabilities to be aware of the Schedule A hiring authority. A lot of folks with disabilities may not be aware of this non-competitive hiring authority. And they need to know that the VA is serious about reaching its 2% hiring goal.  This goal is linked to our executives’ and managers’ performance evaluation plans.  Secretary Eric K. Shinseki implemented a mandatory element in all senior executive performance contracts and that cascades down to every manager and supervisor.  What that means is that the hiring manager is going to be rated against whether or not he/she met that 2% hiring goal. So now it’s hitting our pocketbooks – it’s directly tied to performance ratings and bonuses. So, I would ask everyone to please inform the community of this.  It is in their best interest to get that Schedule A letter and bring it to VA, and say, “I’m a qualified person with a disability. Not only can I perform well for your agency, but quite frankly, I can help you meet that 2% goal which all of your leadership is going to be rated against.”

            I know that the VA is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for these individuals, so I asked Georgia what reasonable accommodations includes?  We talked for quite awhile on this subject, but it can be summed up by saying that reasonable accommodations start with the application process, and continue throughout the job experience. The VA has already trained over 27,000 of their 30,000 managers in the area of EEO, reasonable accommodations, and diversity, and to be preemptive in their approach to reasonable accommodations. The VA leadership doesn’t want their managers to wait for a person to have to ask for a special accommodation, if they see there is an issue, they are trained to have an interactive dialogue with the person so that their needs will be met.  Georgia Coffey’s office even has a special centralized fund to help facilities acquire any reasonable accommodations that they cannot afford.

            So, this is what the VA leadership has trained their managers to do, but what happens if it doesn’t? Is there recourse for an applicant or an onboard employee if reasonable accommodations are not met? Georgia Coffey was quite adamant when she answered, “Absolutely!  If they are dissatisfied and believe they have been unfairly denied an accommodation,, they do have the recourse of filing a complaint. The Office of Resolution Management handles EEO complaint processing. They are absolutely entitled to engage this process.  We also offer alternative dispute resolution to resolve these matters in lieu of filing a complaint. We provide all kinds of redress, should the accommodation not be provided as it should have been. After all, it is the law. And VA works very hard to be in full compliance with these laws.  But, it’s more than that. We want people with disabilities to have what they need to succeed and to grow in their careers with us.”

For more information and to search for employment opportunities at VA, visit VAcareers.va.gov


Schedule A

Non-Competitive Appointing Authorities: Individuals with a disability

Federal Employment Program with Disabilities - Individuals with disabilities (including severe physical disabilities, developmental disabilities and psychiatric disabilities) are eligible for excepted service positions within the federal government and are eligible to apply non-competitively to the agencies' merit promotion announcements. In order to be found eligible to apply to a merit promotion announcement based on a disability "Schedule A" you must have been certified by counselors of State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies or the Department of Veterans Affairs as having a severe disability and as likely to succeed in the performance of the position duties. If you are applying based upon disability "Schedule A" eligibility, at the time of application, you must submit a copy of a letter (dated within the last 12 months) from a State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, or the Department of Veterans Affairs certifying your eligibility for appointment and your ability to perform the essential duties of the job.

Georgia Coffey, Department of Veterans Affairs
Georgia Coffey was named Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity and Inclusion in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 2008. As Deputy Assistant Secretary, Coffey serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary and Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration on equal employment opportunity, workforce diversity and workplace inclusion issues. She has over 20 years of EEO, diversity, and dispute resolution experience in the public and private sectors and has led several leading edge EEO and diversity initiatives government-wide. Prior to joining the VA, Coffey served as the Director of EEO and Diversity Management and Acting Assistant Commissioner for Management for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration where she implemented similar first-time EEO and diversity initiatives. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in psychology from the University of Maryland, a Master's Degree and Doctoral work in education from American University, and a Certificate in EEO Studies from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.