National Telecommuting Institute Files Suit Against the AbilityOne Commission

BOSTON, March 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a lawsuit filed Friday, March 20, 2015 in the United States Court of Federal Claims – Case No.: 1:15-cv-00293-TCW, by nonprofit National Telecommuting Institute (NTI), the federal jobs program AbilityOne and its advisor, SourceAmerica, have for years allowed their largest contractors to ignore laws requiring them to hire people who are severely disabled.  NTI's action is the second such lawsuit in seven months. As referenced in the NTI lawsuit, on September of 2014, nonprofit Bona Fide sued SourceAmerica in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California - Case No.: 14cv0751 GPC (DHB), claiming they made sweetheart deals with 'favored' contractors in the $2.8 billion program. This gaming of the system, according to NTI, prevents jobs going to the very group AbilityOne was created to help: people with severe disabilities.

NTI filed its lawsuit after watching lucrative government contracts being awarded year after year to the same few companies that report implausible claims about the make-up of their workforces.  One frequent recipient of SourceAmerica's largesse is Peckham, Inc., a $200 million contractor in Lansing, Michigan. Federal law requires contract recipients to employ a workforce where at least 75% of the workers have "severe disabilities."  Independent standards for 'severe disabilities' exist, such as those the Social Security Administration (SSA) uses to determine eligibility for disability payments. But according to NTI, SourceAmerica does not use them. 

SourceAmerica's auditors check the paperwork, not the workers. As long as a doctor's note is in the file, the hiring contractor can use their 'judgment' that the condition is so disabling that the applicant cannot work in a competitive work setting.  Bona Fide's lawsuit points out that SourceAmerica's board members have influence over the staff that makes contract awards, yet board members are often employed by the same contractors receiving the awards.

NTI, an AbilityOne contractor, reports 88% of its workers are SSA disability beneficiaries.  Publically available information indicates that some of the largest contractors have hired less than 10% of their workers from the beneficiary rolls.  

"AbilityOne's mission is the same as ours," says Willard. "Our clients desperately want to work.  The actions of the cartel members described in the Bona Fide lawsuit make that even harder."

Contact: MJ Willard, Executive Director, NTI (415) 302-3627

              Alan Hubbard, Chief Operating Officer, NTI (617) 787-4426 Ext. 307

             www.NTIcentral.org

SOURCE National Telecommuting Institute

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