Overview
In July 2023, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Executive Order 31 committing New York State (NYS) to being a model employer for people with disabilities. Commonly referred to as State As a Model Employer, or SAME, Governor Hochul called on State agencies to address the gap between working people with disabilities and working people without disabilities and to increase efforts to build an inclusive NYS workforce through recruitment, hiring, and career advancement of people with disabilities.
What makes SAME so important?
It’s in the numbers:
- Of the 1.1 million New Yorkers with disabilities of working age only approximately 420,000 are employed.
- Almost 33% of New Yorkers with disabilities live in poverty compared to 13% of those without disabilities.
How is SAME implemented across the state?
More than just a document, SAME outlines key strategies to support the policy. The approach to attaining objectives includes:
- Each NYS agency will develop an annual plan to hire more people with disabilities;
- The Chief Disability Office (CDO) will collect data from each agency to establish a baseline number of NYS employees with disabilities and progress toward increasing that number;
- The CDO, Division on Human Rights (DHR), Office of Employee Relations (OER) and Department of Civil Service (DCS) will advise on policy and disability rights laws related to recruitment, hiring and, advancement of employees with disabilities;
- Each agency will adopt best practices to promote an inclusive workforce including the use of supported employment, customized employment, 55b/c program, internships and job sharing;
- CDO, OER, DCS and Office of Information Technology Services will review web-based hiring portal for accessibility; and
- CDO, in collaboration with ACCES-VR and Commission for the Blind, will explore employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the private sector.
Contact
Interested in additional information or have questions?
Please reach out to:
Office of the Chief Disability Officer
[email protected]
ny.gov/cdo