Whistleblower probe uncovers widespread compliance gaps in federal disability hiring program

A whistleblower raised concerns that dozens of nonprofits in the AbilityOne program were not meeting the statutory requirement that at least 75% of labor hours be performed by workers who are blind or have significant disabilities. An AbilityOne inspector-general audit showed that 87% of nonprofits were out of compliance in fiscal 2022, with 50 entities failing every review from 2013 to 2022, and a 2017 complaint about Arbor Products, Inc. was only acted upon in 2022.

The Office of Special Counsel sent a letter to the president criticizing the agency’s lack of corrective action, calling the failures more than paperwork issues. AbilityOne responded that many problems stemmed from systemic challenges and pandemic-era flexibilities, not deliberate violations, and noted staffing shortages as a barrier to better oversight. The agency is revising its compliance procedures but has not yet fulfilled two inspector-general recommendations on employee training and nonprofit status verification.