In an article titled “Increase Responses to Disability Self-Identification Form,” Debra Friedman, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the new affirmative action regulations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act that took effect in 2014. They require that contractors invite applicants to self-identify as individuals with disabilities at both the pre-offer and post-offer phases of the application process, using language prescribed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. The regulations also require that contractors invite their employees to self-identify as individuals with disabilities every five years. The disability self-identification form gives employees an opportunity to start conversations about needed reasonable accommodations without fear of retaliation, observed Debra. 

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