Employment Assistance for Workers with Disabilities

The California Unemployment Insurance Code in Division 10 provides several provisions of law to provide employment assistance for workers with disabilities. Section 18000 states that “It is the purpose of this division to ensure that workforce preparation services provided through California’s one-stop centers, including information and services provided electronically, are accessible to employers and jobseekers with disabilities.”

In addition, it is “the intent of the Legislature that one-stop centers provide appropriate services to individuals with disabilities to enhance their employability.” Moreover, it is the Legislature’s intent, “in order to achieve the goals specified in subdivisions (a) and (b), local workforce investment boards plan for and report on services to jobseekers and employers with disabilities, including the implementation of the federal Ticket to Work program for those local workforce investment boards and one-stop centers that choose to implement the Ticket to Work program in their local workforce investment areas.”

Section 18002 requires each local workforce investment board to establish at least one comprehensive one-stop career center in each local workforce investment area. These one-stop centers are required to ensure access to services, including services for persons with disabilities. There are specified services that must be provided.

Section 18004 requires the local workforce investment boards to schedule and conduct regular performance reviews of their one-stop centers to determine whether the centers and providers are providing effective and meaningful opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate in the programs and activities of the centers and providers.

Section 18006 requires the one-stop center counselor staff to provide accurate information to beneficiaries of Supplemental Security Income and the State Supplemental Program and Social Security Disability Insurance on the implications of work for these individuals. The staff also have to provide accurate information to individuals with disabilities on how they may gain access to Medi-Cal benefits.

Section 18008 requires the Governor to ensure that evaluations conducted pursuant to the federal Workforce investment Act address how local one-stop centers provide specified services. Section 18010 requires the California Workforce Investment Board to report to the Governor and the Legislature on the status of one-stop services to individuals with disabilities and implementation of the federal Ticket to Work program in California.

Section 18012 requires the California Workforce Investment Board and local workforce investment boards to include persons with disabilities or their representatives, with a particular effort to include such persons who are not employees of state or local government.