EEO-1 Survey: What We Know
As most of you are aware, a U.S. District Judge mandated the EEOC reinstate the compensation and hours worked portions of the EEO-1 Report, referred to as Component 2 "Pay Data," resulting from a lawsuit filed against the OMB. Over the past couple of weeks Kairos has been monitoring EEOC's website for concrete information regarding the collection of Component 2 pay data. An announcement was supposed to be posted on their website on April 29, as well as an email notifying each filing official for companies that file EEO-1 reports annually. The unknown This is a fluid situation and the EEOC has not released the format of the final Component 2 submission. If the Joint Reporting Committee stays true to what was originally proposed, companies will be reporting W-2 wages and hours worked. Kairos is keeping an eye out for information directly from the Joint Reporting Committee. We have been reading and seeing lots of speculation. As soon concrete information is released from EEOC, we will notify you so you can be prepared. There is a to-be-published document, dated May 3, on the Federal Register stating they will be collecting pay data for 2017 and 2018 by September 30, but it does not list any format or content specifics. The known The 2018 EEO-1 portal is now open to file your Component 1 Data. This is the standard report filed annually which currently does not require Component 2 (pay data and hours worked). The deadline to file is May 31, 2019.
BREAKING NEWS: EEOC Informs Court that it is Able to Undertake and Close Collection of 2018 EEO-1 Component 2 Data by September 30, 2019
Last month Kairos reported the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the 2017 stay which delayed the implementation of EEOC’s pay data collection and indicated “the previous approval of the revised EEO-1 form shall be in effect.” At that time, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan issued a deadline to EEOC to inform employers whether submission of employer pay data would be forthcoming. See Mem. Op. at 40-41, ECF No. 45 (Mar. 4, 2019). EEOC met the court's April 3 deadline, confirming they are "able to undertake and close the collection of 2018 EEO-1 Component 2 data by September 30, 2019." See Case 1:17-cv-02458-TSC Document 54 Filed 04/03/19. Component 1 Data Due May 31, 2019 The 2018 EEO-1 portal is now open to file your Component 1 Data. This is the standard report filed annually which currently does not require Component 2 EEO-1 pay data. The window for filing is March 18 - May 31, 2019. The contact listed on the prior year's report should have received an email last week from the Joint Reporting Committee with information to obtain this year's password. If your EEO-1 contact person has changed, you must submit a letter on company letterhead signed by an authorized company representative, indicating the EEO-1 company number, new contact's name, title, phone number and email address to the Employer Data Team at e1.lostloginpassword@eeoc.gov. We recommend you do this as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary delays in the submission process. Component 2 Data Pay Data Due September 30, 2019? IF EEOC can meet their self-imposed deadline, pay data will be due September 30, 2019. It's important to note that EEOC will use a contractor to collect compensation data from employers separate from the traditional EEO-1 Report - EEOC's reporting system is not currently structured to handle the additional data. The plaintiffs have until April 8 to respond to the EEOC’s stated plans for pay data collection. Numerous employer organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs asserting that any pay data collection should occur in 12-18 months, at the earliest. Kairos will continue to provide Component 2 filing information as it becomes available.
OFCCP Releases List of 3,500 Establishments to be Audited
OFCCP just released the long-awaited Corporate Scheduling Announcement List (CSAL) in the OFCCP Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Library. Unlike previous CSAL announcements, this list was posted only in the online FOIA Library without mailing advanced contractor notifications to individual establishments. CSALs notify establishments that they will undergo a compliance audit (likely in the current scheduling cycle). If you're on the list: OFCCP will not begin scheduling audits for 45‐days from today (as early as May 9th). After receiving the scheduling letter and itemized listing, you will have 30 days to submit your Affirmative Action Program (AAP). If your AAP is submitted by the initial 30-day deadline and need more time to submit supporting data, OFCCP will grant a one‐time 30‐day extension for supporting data. Contact Kairos to begin preparing as soon as possible. Kairos prepared the following summary list of review types from the data released by OFCCP today. The scheduling list can be viewed by clicking here. Review Type Total Establishment Review 2,345 503-Focus Review 500 Compliance Check 500 CMCE Review 83 FAAP Review 72 Grand Total 3,500 - To read more information about Section 503-Focused reviews, click here. To learn more about what you can do to prepare for a new 503 “Disability focused” audit, click here. OFCCP is aggressively enforcing compliance with veterans and individuals with disabilities regulations as well as increasing their focus on hiring and compensation disparities. Ensure proper data collection and recordkeeping systems are in place and all required positions are being listed with local State Employment Services. We are currently reviewing the scheduling list. If we find your establishment on the list you will receive an e-mail and follow-up call to notify you of the CSAL and your next steps.
2018 EEO-1 Portal Open for Component 1 Data
The 2018 EEO-1 portal is now open to file your Component 1 Data. This is the standard report filed annually which currently does not require Component 2 EEO-1 pay data. The window for filing is March 18 - May 31, 2019. The contact listed on the prior year's report should have received an email last week from the Joint Reporting Committee with information to obtain this year's password. If your EEO-1 contact person has changed, you must submit a letter on company letterhead signed by an authorized company representative, indicating the EEO-1 company number, new contact's name, title, phone number and email address to the Employer Data Team at e1.lostloginpassword@eeoc.gov. We recommend you do this as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary delays in the submission process. Early this morning the EEOC released their first acknowledgement of the court order to reinstate the Component 2 EEO-1 pay data. They are currently working on steps for the collection of data and will provide information as soon as possible.
Corporate HQ’s to be scheduled for Disability Focused Audits
Just last week, OFCCP released its scheduling letter for Section 503 (Disability) Focused Reviews, providing new procedural details to Federal contractors. This first round of Focused Reviews will include on-site reviews of only CORPORATE HEADQUARTER locations. Review this checklist to see how prepared you are: Are you ready for OFCCP to conduct onsite interviews with managers responsible for EEO and ADA issues? Have you formally appointed and trained an employee to handle these matters? Do you have written policies and procedures for handling reasonable accommodation requests? This is a best practice that goes a long way toward compliance. Are your managers trained to handle requests from employees? Are you documenting accommodation requests and their final disposition? Are you properly engaging employees in the interactive process? Have you done outreach with organizations that target individuals with disabilities? If not, start by reviewing OFCCP’s list of organizations (page 2 of the PDF). Have you put any of OFCCP’s Best Practices in place for creating an inclusive workforce? Have you completed your required annual assessment of your outreach and recruitment efforts, evaluating each effort separately and identifying new efforts for the coming year? Check out our template at our Client Portal (included in the Veteran and Disability Regulations Self-Assessment Toolkits). Have you conducted your required annual self-audit for Section 503? Check out the template available on our Client Portal in the same toolkit mentioned in the previous bullet. For more information, visit OFCCP's new FAQs and portal. For questions, contact us by phone or e-mail, we’re here to help you achieve compliance.
BREAKING NEWS: EEO-1 Pay Data Reporting is Back – Immediately!
Yesterday the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia vacated the 2017 stay which had delayed the implementation of EEOC’s pay data collection and indicated “the previous approval of the revised EEO-1 form shall be in effect.” The EEO-1 portal is currently scheduled to open March 18, 2019. It is unknown whether this decision will impact the impending reporting period, or whether the government will seek to appeal this decision. Notably, the judge stated this “will not have potentially disruptive consequences” for filers because the “revised pay data collection had been in place for almost a year by the time it was stayed” and the stay was only temporary. In other words, filers knew this was coming, so they should not need any extra time to comply. This could add quite an unfortunate twist to this reporting period, so stay tuned! Civil Action No. 17-cv-2458 (TSC) - MEMORANDUM OPINION: Regarding Defendants' Motion to Dismiss 11, Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment 22, and Defendants' Motion for Summary Judgment 27. Signed by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on 3/4/2019.
250% Increase in Your Chances of an OFCCP Audit?
OFCCP plans to go from scheduling under 1,000 compliance audits in 2018 to a whopping 3,500 in 2019. While this goal may seem lofty given its dwindling workforce, OFCCP intends to increase audits by conducting more abbreviated reviews. They rescinded the Active Case Enforcement Directive requiring “full audits” and are adding “Focused Reviews” in 2019. What are Focused Reviews? This administration wants to increase its focus on those other two AAPs that in most compliance audits are all-but forgotten: Individuals with Disabilities and Protected Veterans (IWDs and PVs). These new audits will focus primarily on these AAPs and their actual implementation, though they are expected to include at least a cursory review of the EO 11246 AAP as well. They will include MANDATORY ONSITES. I have limited time! How can I best be prepared? Here is what we recommend, in order: Get your AAP prepared timely! Common delays stem from having to compile information from multiple data sources, especially applicant flow data tracking systems– review your system and test your ability to pull the data in advance of the deadline to work out any issues. Fill out the self-audit forms for IWD and PV, which are available on the client portal. This is required annually. Evaluate your outreach efforts each year … in writing! (again – available on our client portal). Ensure you are listing and documenting all externally filled positions with the State Employment Service. This is a minimum requirement – it does not fulfill your requirement to conduct outreach if you have goals or are below the veteran hiring benchmark. Go above & beyond in outreach as far as making efforts, tracking, and evaluating. OFCCP can easily determine whether you have an active commitment to affirmative action and participate in outreach programs. For more details reach out to Kairos today!
Change in 2018 EEO-1 Survey Launch and Deadline
The EEO-1 website was updated over night. The opening of the website for filing 2018 EEO-1 reports has been delayed until early March 2019. The deadline for filing has also been extended to May 31, 2019. Before the online system opens the EEOC Joint Reporting Committee will send instructions via email to the contact listed on last year's EEO-1 Reports. If you have any changes in contacts, company names, purchases or spin-offs now is the time to report those so you don't have any delay once the system opens. Kairos offers EEO-1 report preparation and filing services. If you would like us to submit your reports please email or call us for a quote today.
Veteran and Disability Unemployment Rates – December 2018
Veteran and disability unemployment have seen an overall decreased from December 2017 to December 2018, with a slight increase in the last two months of 2018. Veteran unemployment is down 0.6%, from 3.8% in 2017 to 3.2% in 2018. Disability unemployment is down 0.5%, from 8.4% in 2017 to 7.9% in 2018. You can view more detailed information about other employment statistics at the Bureau of Labor and Statistic’s Economic News Release website page.
Kairos Launches Compensation Analysis Reports
Tucked away in OFCCP’s regulations, “Additional required elements of affirmative action programs,” is one weighty requirement: “The contractor must evaluate: Compensation system(s) to determine whether there are gender-, race-, or ethnicity-based disparities.” (41 CFR § 60-2.17(b)(3)) In recent years, OFCCP has committed considerable resources into enforcement of this requirement by hiring a team of highly-skilled statisticians and labor economists, which can be intimidating to even the largest of contractors. Those efforts have produced results in the way of significantly larger settlements for compensation discrimination. Compounding the difficulty to comply with this regulation, OFCCP does not provide the criteria it uses in the desk audit to flag compensation for regression by a statistician. While OFCCP recently released some details of its process for conducting compensation reviews, they were hardly a road-map for an initial[1] analysis (the Directive listed some technical explanations of the ways OFCCP runs a regression analysis[2].) The Problem How can contractors run an analysis similar to OFCCP’s initial desk audit compensation analysis and work to resolve indicators prior to an audit to reduce the chance OFCCP will need to run regression analyses if OFCCP does not release its initial analysis methodology? Our Solution Kairos is launching a new Compensation Analysis Report designed to provide your company with the indicators OFCCP would calculate in a desk audit. Designed by our former OFCCP Compliance Officer, the reports highlight any significant differences that exist by job group, job title, and any other pay analysis group (as needed). Compensation can seem too complex to tackle – it is complex. That’s why OFCCP leaves those analyses to PhD-level statisticians when initial desk audits show significant indicators. Kairos’ goal with these analyses is to help your company avoid getting to that point! Take the first step toward compliance today by reaching out to Kairos staff for more information, pricing, and sample compensation reports. [1] The analysis a compliance officer conducts in the desk audit used to determine the need for further analysis. [2] A statistical technique in which more than one variable (e.g. tenure, education, department) is used to predict compensation.
One Month Until the 2018 EEO-1 Survey Launch
Companies are now only four weeks away from the start of the 2018 EEO-1 Survey filing window. Federal contractors are required to file EEO-1 reports if they meet the requirements. In the event of an OFCCP audit you should expect to be asked to provide copies of your reports - so be sure you download or print a copy of your final certified reports. Also remember the closer to the deadline you file the more likely the agency will be unavailable to assist you with technical issues in time to file by the deadline. If you would like Kairos to review your reports and compare them to your AAPs for consistency please let us know before the end of December. Kairos also offers EEO-1 report preparation and filing services. If you would like us to submit your reports please email or call us for a quote today. The Vets-4212 Report deadline was September 30. As of this morning, December 3, the system is still open if you haven't yet filed your reports.
Veteran’s Day 2018
This Veteran’s Day we honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Our way of life could not exist without the scars you bear – the price you’ve paid for our freedom. This Veteran’s Day, Kairos encourages you to honor the service of veterans in your workforce and community. For additional outreach and inclusion resources and suggestions please contact our office at 972-369-0015. Veteran’s Day 2018: Sunday, November 11 Observed Date: Monday, November 12
2018 EEO-1 Survey
What a busy time of year! Vets-4212 annual reports were due by September 30, 2018. As of this morning, the system is still open if you haven't yet filed your reports. Now is the time for companies to prepare for the 2018 EEO-1 Survey. Once the survey is open in January 2019 an email will be sent to the email address indicated as the EEO-1 Report Contact on the prior year report. If the person previously listed on the form is no longer with the company you will need to submit a change request. Also, if you company has experienced any mergers, acquisitions or spin-offs now is the time to submit those changes. Who is required to file? All companies that meet the following criteria are required to file the EEO-1 Survey report annually: Subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, with 100 or more employees; or Subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, with fewer than 100 employees if the company is owned by or corporately affiliated with another company and the entire enterprise employs a total of 100 or more employees; or Federal government prime contractors or first-tier subcontractors subject to Executive Order 11246,as amended, with 50 or more employees and a prime contract or first-tier subcontract amounting to $50,000 or more. When do you file? Companies need to pull an employee snapshot from one pay period between October 1 - December 31, 2018. Kairos recommends pulling the data now so you have ample time for review before filing. Companies must submit and certify their reports online between January 1 - March 31, 2019. Need some help? If you are interested Kairos can prepare your EEO-1 Survey reports for you. Call or email us with questions or for pricing information.
Jennifer McAlister Presenting at the 2018 ILG National Conference in Anaheim, California
Kairos Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that Jennifer McAlister, Director of Operations, will be presenting at the Industry Liaison Group (ILG) National Conference in Anaheim, California from July 30 – August 3. Please see Jennifer's presentation title and description below. "The Next Step Towards Becoming a Data Wizard" You pulled data from the HRIS and Applicant Tracking System. What now? Ensuring your data’s integrity is a crucial step in preparing your AAP. Do you want to learn some techniques for ensuring all hires are on the Applicant Flow Log? In a pickle because you aren’t able to pull accurate promotion data? Do you have repetitive data formatting, merging, or cleanup tasks you’d like to automate? We’ll demonstrate some examples with Excel’s Power Query tool, PivotTables, Vlookup, and other formulas that will make copy/paste seem primitive. Impress your peers and manager while saving yourself time and headaches by upgrading your data skills! The annual ILG National Conference is dedicated to training and assisting Federal contractors who are required to comply with various regulations enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If you’re interested in attending this year’s conference please visit http://ilgconference.com/2018/ for more information and to view the agenda
Nicolas Paul Presenting at the 2018 ILG National Conference in Anaheim, California
Kairos Services, Inc. is pleased to announce that Nicolas Paul, Director of Compliance, will be presenting at the Industry Liaison Group (ILG) National Conference in Anaheim, California from July 30 – August 3. Nicolas is a frequent presenter at local, regional and national ILG conferences and is the President of the North Texas ILG. The annual ILG National Conference is dedicated to training and assisting Federal contractors who are required to comply with various regulations enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If you’re interested in attending this year’s conference please visit http://ilgconference.com/2018/ for more information and to view the agenda.
OFCCP extends 2014 TRICARE Enforcement Moratorium
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) today issued a two-year extension of its enforcement moratorium relating to the affirmative obligations of TRICARE providers. This moratorium has been in effect for four years, and will now expire on May 7, 2021; it will also now apply to Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program providers. “By providing greater regulatory certainty to TRICARE providers and Veterans Affairs Health Benefits Program providers, the Administration can help ensure that America’s veterans and their families can access quality health care,” said OFCCP Director Ondray T. Harris. Read more at https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20180518.
Kairos Executive to Lead North Texas Industry Liaison Group (ILG)
Kairos is pleased to announce that our Director of Compliance, Nick Paul, will be leading the North Texas Industry Liaison Group as President for 2018-2019. Other officers who will be installed at the next meeting include: ○ Vice President – Mark Nagel (Southwest Airlines) ○ Secretary – LaShanda Reed-Larry (Essilor) ○ Treasurer – Brenda Sitton (Nokia) Dr Pepper Snapple Group is hosting the May 17 meeting in Plano from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. Presenters for the meeting will be Southwest and Rocky Mountain (SWARM) OFCCP Regional Director Melissa Speer and Patrick McNeil of PeopleFluent.
OFCCP’s Methodology for Developing the Scheduling List
Under the leadership of Ondray T. Harris, OFCCP recently released a detailed description of the methodology used for developing their scheduling list of supply and service federal contractors. This process has been summarized in the article below. OFCCP’s audit selection process starts with the agency downloading Federal contract information from archived files of the Federal Procurement Data System–Next Generation (FPDS-NG) for three preceding years (2015, 2016 and 2017). The FPDS is a database of federal contracts maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) that identifies contracting bodies, contractors, the value and term of federal contracts, as well as other relevant information. After a process of removing contractors for various jurisdictionally disqualifying factors, the agency created “Establishment Records” based on physical addresses for single establishment contractors. For contractors with more than one contract at the same physical address, the contract record with the farthest expiration date became the Establishment Record and all contract numbers from other contract records were added to it. These establishments were called “Direct Establishments.” Contract information was then matched and consolidated with the EEO-1 Database to establish a “Parent Record” for single and multi-establishment contractors with one or more contracts. For each parent in the Parent File, OFCCP extracted all establishments with 100 or more employees from the EEO-1 database and added them to the Establishment File. These extracted establishments did not have direct contracts but fell within OFCCP’s jurisdiction because their parent entity had a covered direct contract(s). These additional establishments were called “Associate Establishments.” OFCCP then added contract information from the parent record to the respective Associate Establishment records. After the reduction and consolidation processes summarized above, the remaining records created the “Available Pool” for selection. When all establishments in the Available Pool were identified, they were randomly ordered and uploaded to OFCCP’s Case Management System for processing by its district offices. OFCCP does not purge unscheduled cases from prior lists before releasing the new scheduling lists. If you would like to review OFCCP’s full published methodology, please click here to download the file.
Announcement – New Employee Will Waymel
Kairos is pleased to announce the addition of Will Waymel as a Senior Compliance Specialist. Will brings to Kairos eight years of experience as a Compliance Officer in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) Denver District Office. As an OFCCP Compliance Officer, Will audited companies for compliance with Affirmative Action regulations, analyzed compensation data and reviewed personnel records and Affirmative Action Plans. During his tenure at OFCCP, Will trained employees from the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Region (SWARM) on advanced Microsoft Excel functionality and custom VBA macros to increase data management efficiency. Prior to his time with OFCCP, Will was a Budget & Recruitment Manager for the Metropolitan State University of Colorado in Denver. Will’s primary focus is to provide Kairos clients with audit services, compensation analyses, AAP preparation and training services. He will be available by phone and email to respond to questions along with the rest of the Kairos team. Will can be reached at the main office 972-369-0015 or directly at 720-515-0870. Will, who is bilingual (Spanish), holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder and two Master’s degrees from the University of Colorado Denver – one in Business Administration and the second in International Business. Will, his wife Alissa and their five children (with a sixth on the way) returned in mid-December to the United States from a year-long mission trip in the Greek-speaking island of Cypress.
EEO-1 Filing Season has Arrived
The 2017 EEO-1 Survey online filing system is now open for business and the March 31, 2018 deadline will be here before we know it. Website changes made by the Joint Reporting Commission (JRC), the organization responsible for collecting EEO-1 Reports, include additional security protocols. The JRC has published an EEO-1 Survey User Guide with helpful information and step-by-step instructions. Federal contractors are required to file EEO-1 reports if they meet certain thresholds. In the event of an OFCCP audit you should expect to be asked to provide copies of your reports; so be sure you download or print a copy of your final certified reports. Also remember the closer you file to the deadline the more likely technical issues will arise and the agency will be unavailable to assist you in time to file by the deadline. If the person previously listed on the EEO-1 Reports is no longer with the company you will need to submit to the EEOC a signed change request on company letterhead with the company number, name, title, phone number and email address of the new contact person at your company. This change request MUST be signed by an authorized company representative in order for the change request to be processed. Please either scan or email this request to e1.techassistance@eeoc.gov or fax to 1-866-262-0032. Your new contact will receive an email directing you to create your new password once your change request has been submitted. If you would like us to review your reports and compare them to your AAPs for consistency please let us know as soon as possible. Kairos Services also offers EEO-1 report preparation and filing services. If you would like us to submit your reports this year please email or call us for a quote today.
Breaking News: EEO-1 Pay Data Reporting Indefinitely Postponed
On August 29 the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) indefinitely postponed the pay data collection aspects (Component 2) of the EEO-1 form that was revised on September 29, 2016. The previously approved EEO-1 form which collects data on race/ethnicity and gender by occupational category will remain in effect. What does this mean? Contractors will not be filing an EEO-1 report in 2017. Contractors will need to pull a workforce snapshot for a pay period between October 1 and December 31. Contractors will file EEO-1 between January 1 and March 31, 2018. If you have any questions please call the Kairos office at 972-369-0015.
Nick Paul Speaking at the 2017 Industry Liaison Group (ILG) National Conference
Kairos' Director of Compliance, Nick Paul, will present at this year's ILG National Conference held August 1-4 in San Antonio. This session is a 'must see' for Federal contractors who have ever struggled through the process of selecting, evaluating and implementing applicant tracking systems. See more at the following link https://lnkd.in/eX_5zib.
Kairos’ Project Manager, Christie Hermann, is presenting at the St. Louis ILG
On Thursday, April 27, Kairos' Project Manager, Christie Hermann, will share her talents in "Taking Your Data Crunching Skills to the Next Level" with the St. Louis ILG. HR professionals and practitioners can enhance their capabilities to track, monitor and analyze their AAP and support data more accurately and efficiently. Techniques will be demonstrated to identify and analyze potential pay disparities before submitting your compensation data for an audit or the Equal Pay Report. The use of pivot tables will teach attendees how to find data inconsistencies and "scrub" data. The use of VLOOKUP will compare two worksheets of data, use filtering for finding small pieces of data in large data files and finding duplicates in your worksheets in seconds. The session will close with how to use mail merge for getting those recruitment and outreach letters out in short order and have documentation available for audits to reflect compliance.
Disability Self-ID Form Update
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the 'new' Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability form (CC-305). There are no changes to this revision other than an updated expiration date of 1/31/2020. Federal Contractors should begin using the new form as soon as possible. The new form can be found in English and Spanish as well as multiple formats on the Kairos Client Portal. It is important to remember that the Voluntary Self-Identification of Disability form (CC-305) cannot be changed or altered in any way. If you have any questions concerning this communication please call Kairos' office at 972-369-0015.
Celebrating the life of Ed Roberts, a Disability Activist
Today we celebrate the life of Ed Roberts, a Disability Activist, who would have turned 78. At the age of 14, Roberts contracted Polio which resulted in paralysis and having to spend his nights sleeping in an iron lung. Roberts not only accepted his disabilities, but he went on to build up a positive image and bright future for disabled people. Roberts went on to become the Director of the California Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, proving not only can you work with disabilities, but you can be a shining star that makes the world better for everyone.