Disabilities among American workers are growing at an accelerating
pace, prompting employers to accomodate more maladies in the workplace, according to new government and industry studies.
The problem is increasingly related to unhealthy lifestyles, including poor eating habbits and lack
of exercise, insurers and researchers say. Also an aging work force and rising rates of obesity lead to ailments such as back
pain, knee and hip injuries and diabetes. And improved treatments for diseases such as cancer and heart disease have meant
that some patients who otherwise would have dided survive, but with disabilities.
The Council for Disability Awareness, an insurance industry group, found in a soon to be released
survey that more than 500,000 individuals received long-term disability payments from the council's member firms in
2006, up 4.4% from a year earlier. In 2005, the first year of the survey, the number of claims rose 1.4%. Insurers paid $7.5
billion in claims last year, up 7.5% from 2005. The data don't necessarily include work-place related injuries, which are
covered by workers'compensation insurance.
Federal government figures show even steeper increases. Recipients of Social Security Disability
Income or SSDI, grew 4.4% to 6.8 million last year, and was up 51% over the past decade, with women filing claims at nearly
twice the rate as men, according to an analysis of federal data by the insurance industry group.
Rising disability claim are expected to pose a growing challenge to employers because of labor shortages
that are developing as the population ages. Studies show that more baby boomers expect to continue working past the age of
65 or 70, but given current health trends many will develop impairments that will require special accommodations if they are
to continue to be productive.
________________________________________________________________
Many employees are already finding their employers increasingly accommodating. OSRAM Sylvania Inc.,
a lighting manufacturer in Danvers, Mass.., allowed Tricia, 45 years old, to work from home during her year-long treatment
for breast cancer. Tricia, an occupational health manager, says that despite her illness she was able to put in as much as
70% of her normal working hours by telecommuniting with a laptop computer. "I found working very therapeutic because it was
the one thing that took my mind off cancer,"she says.
Sylvania says it has seen increasing numbers of disability claims, especially for lower back and
shoulder pain, depression and heart disease. To accommodate such situations, the company, a unit of Simens AG, recently began
offering greater flexibility for employees with impairments to work flexible hours, telecommute, change workshifts to accommodate
doctor appointments or change assignments. Sylvania also provides special equipment for workers who need it, including interperters
for workers with hearing loss.
"In the near future, there will be more pressure on employers to...to keep as many people at work
as you can," says Christine Sheedy, a risk manage at Sylvania. "Replacing employees costs a lot of money,"she says.
_____________________________________________________________
American Express says it has altered the company cafeteria at its Greensboro,N.C., call center to
accommodate wheelchair-bound workers, enabling them to access microwaves and bus their trays on carts. Company employees who
rely on public transportation because of medical reasons, such as paratransit transportation, can get flexible work schedules
to accommodatetheir needs.
_______________________________________________________________
At General Motors Corp. , a joint program with the United Auto Workers union helps workers who are
disabled find new positions within the company that are more amendable to a worker's ailment. Under thisa so--called Adapt
program, workers who are disabled meet with company doctors, ergonomic representatives and others who review the employee's
disability and try to match that to available jobs. Workers who install windshields, for instance, but who develop problems
that restrict how high they can raise their arm, could be moved to door installation instead, since that job doesn't require
workers lift their arms above their shoulders, GM says.
Back and joint problems, cancer, and heart disease were among the leading causes of disability,
according to the insurance industry survey and a recent study by federal government's Institute of Medicine of the National
Academy of Sciences. Chronic bronchitis, congestive heart failure and diabetes also are growing among adults of working age.
Thfederal study also warned that growing incidence of asthma, autism and obesity among children and younger adults could limit
their ability to work or participate in daily activities in the future.
Another reason for the accelerating growth in disability claims in recent yearsis that more claims
are being filed for depression and other mental and nervousconditions, insurers say. Such diagnoses were often excluded in
the past. Also, insurers say that the larger number of women that began working outside the home in past years is behind the
fact that they are now filing claims at a rate twice as fast as men.
"The general health of the work force is declining" says Robert Taylor, executive director of the
insurance industry's Council for Disability Awareness. The council is launching an effort to promote sales of long-term-disability-income
insurance, which replaces a portion of one's wages if one is unable to work because of qualifying illness or injury. The group's
new informational web site is www.disabilitycanhappen.org. Currently only 36% of workers are covered by such a policy, mainly paid for by their employer.
"There are going to be a whole raft of people getting new knees and new hips. Some of those people
are going out on disability," says Ken Mitchell, Unums vice president for health and productivity development. Dealing
with workers who have disabilities can cause employers to bump up against health- care privacy laws, in their efforts to accomodate
employees with physical limitations and impairments. Some insurers, including Unum Group and MassMutual Financial Group, have
begun offering to assist employers by helping them with scheduling and payroll adjustments, technology and workstation
modifications to ease the transition back to wor4k after a long absence.
Insurers arguue that disability insurance is increasingly important as more families depend
on two incomes. Also, the growth of defined-contribution retirement plans, such as 401 (k)s means that a prolonged disability
could reduce a family's contributions to retirement savings.
Not all employers are accommodating workers with disabilities. Karen, 49, of Sacremento, Calif.,
a paralegal, says she first showed symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, a disorder that produces dizziness, exhaustion,
nausea and other symptoms, in 1988 after a severe viral illness. She recovered, but then relapsed in 2000 and has been unable
to work since mid-2003.
Karen, says she wants to work but potential employers have turned her down after learning that she
needs to be able to lie down for several hours during the day. "I had solutions for this but they didn't want to deal with
it. They wanted a healthy person who could do the job 40 hours a week," she says.
Instead Karen, started her own at-home business and works as many hours as she can. She also has
an individual disability insurance policy that she purchased in the 1980s that pays her "residual" benefits , which
make up the difference between what she can earn now and her former salary.
____________________________________________________________________
CVS Caremark Inks Disability Employment Pact
In a news release recently received from the American Association
of Persons with Disabilities, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy and
CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE CVS) have established a two-year nationwide alliance to promote the employment of people with
disabilities. The effort will include technical assistance, training and education, outreach and communication.
"This alliance will mutually benefit CVS Caremark, the company's work force and customers, the Labor
Department'sOffice of Disability Policy and the general public,"the ODEP's Karen M. Czarnecki, acting assistant secretary
of labor, said in a statement on October 23,2007.
"Hiring, retraining and advancing employees with disabilities is just good business,"she said. ODEP
and CVS Caremark will share information, guidance and resources that will help to develop model programs for other employers,
particularly in the retail and pharmacy services industries.
The agreement signed on October 23, 2007, by Czarnecki and Steve Wing, director of government programs
for CVS Caremark, at the Labor Department headquarters in Washington, D.C.
During the two years of the pact, CVS Caremark and the ODEP will jointly distribute training and
education materials and information on disability employment practices to the company's human resource leaders, and will collaborate
to identify technical-assistance resources for the workplace accommodations. They also will disseminate information, via a
variety of methods, to promote a national dialogue on disability employment issues. A lan of action is being developed by
ajoint implemention team comprisingrepresentatives of both organizations.
"CVS Caremark is pleased to form an alliance with ODEP, which will help us in our committment to
developing an inclusive, diverse company."V.Micheal Fernandi, the company's senior vice president of the human resources,
said in a statement. "We look forward to working together to recruit and train people with disabilities---and help putthem
on solid career paths at CVS Caremark."
CVS Caremark employs about 190,000 people at its 6,200 retail and specialty pharamacies, 11 mail-service
pharmacies and 14 call centers nationwide and its headquaters in Woonsocket.
a2006 recipient of the Secretary of Labor's New Freedom Initiative Award--for excellence and inovation
in furthering the employment and workplace enviorment for people with disabilities--the company is a member of the ODEP's
Circle of Champions, a group of U.S. employers that serve as an advisory panel to the federal agency.
CVS Caremark Corp. (NYSE: CVS) operates the CVS/ pharmacy stores, CVS.com online pharmacy; Caremark
Pharmacy Service; and the MinuteClinic retail-based health care. To learn more visit investor.cvs.com.
The federal Office of Disability Employment Policy is a division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Alliances with the ODEP are open to public-sector and private-sector organizations wishing to work with the agency to enhance
their recruitment, hiring and advancement of people with disabilities. To learn more, visit www.dol.gov/odep.
