Statement of the Department of Justice on Application of the Integration Mandate of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Olmstead v. L.C. to State and Local Governments’ Employment Service Systems for Individuals with Disabilities

2. What is the most integrated setting under the ADA and Olmstead in the context of a state and local government’s employment service system?

A: The “most integrated setting” is “a setting that enables individuals with disabilities to interact with nondisabled persons to the fullest extent possible.” ¹⁶ In the employment services context, state and local employment service systems provide services and supports that allow people with disabilities to work. Providing those services in an integrated setting enables an individual with a disability to work in a typical job in the community like individuals without disabilities. Such settings are commonly referred to as competitive integrated employment settings.¹⁷ An example of a competitive integrated employment setting is work on a full- or part-time basis, at minimum wage or above, at a location where the employee interacts with individuals without disabilities and has access to the same opportunities for benefits and advancement provided to non-disabled workers.

By contrast, segregated settings include settings that are managed, operated, or licensed by a service provider to serve primarily people with disabilities or whose workers are exclusively or primarily individuals with disabilities who are supervised by paid support staff. ¹⁸ Employment services provided to a person with a disability performing work tasks in a sheltered workshop,¹⁹ or to groups of employees with disabilities who routinely work in isolation from non-disabled peers or coworkers or who do not interact with customers or the general public in a manner similar to workers without disabilities performing similar duties, are examples of services provided in a segregated employment setting.