Illinois Tollway wins state award for leadership in hiring and assisting people with disabilities

DOWNERS GROVE, IL – The Illinois Tollway has been named the 2013 Agency of the Year by the Interagency Committee on Employees with Disabilities (ICED) for its efforts to expand opportunities for people with disabilities. The award recognizes Illinois government agencies for hiring people with disabilities, as well as developing innovative programs and providing accommodations to assist those employees.

“A diverse workforce that represents the population of Illinois will help us break down barriers and strengthen our state agencies,” Governor Pat Quinn said. “We will be better able to assist all Illinois residents by increasing our efforts to include workers with disabilities at the Illinois Tollway and across state government.”

The award will be presented at a ceremony on May 22 at the Department of Agriculture’s auditorium on the State Fairgrounds in Springfield.

“The Tollway was selected for this award because of its outstanding affirmative action record in employing people with disabilities, including recruitment, hiring and accommodation practices,” said ICED Co-Chair and Department of Human Rights Director Rocco Claps. “The Tollway is a leader in its employment practices when it comes to people with disabilities and should be commended for its extraordinary efforts.”

The ICED’s Agency of the Year award recognizes the Illinois Tollway as a leader among state agencies for its approach to implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Illinois Human Rights Act by fully engaging in a flexible and interactive process to explore reasonable, effective and sometimes creative accommodations.

“The Illinois Tollway values the diversity of our workforce and we are continually striving to improve access to our employment opportunities,” said Executive Director Kristi Lafleur. “We always look to deepen the Illinois Tollway’s talent pool by hiring the best and brightest people available and we continue to do so as we become more proactive in addressing the needs of people with disabilities.”

The Illinois Tollway is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities are aware of job opportunities, how to apply and how to request an accommodation to assist with the application process. The Tollway currently employs 176 people with disabilities, about 12 percent of its workforce of nearly 1,500 employees.

The Tollway’s most common accommodations include job restructuring such as modifying non-essential work functions, leaves of absence necessitated by an employee’s disability and improving worksite accessibility. The Tollway also created additional accessible parking spaces, provided sign language interpreters for customers contesting toll violations and built an accessible service desk in the I-PASS Customer Service Center at Tollway headquarters in Downers Grove.

In addition, the Illinois Tollway has revised its literature, internal paperwork and external postings to make sure that people with disabilities are aware of how to seek an accommodation. The agency also has drafted new policies allowing for assisted service for customers with disabilities and has made structural changes in order to make sure that all Tollway facilities are accessible.

The Tollway works closely with the ICED and several disability advocacy organizations in an effort to stay current on issues affecting people with disabilities, share best practices and for their help spreading the word about Tollway job opportunities.

The ICED advocates for the rights of state employees with disabilities, recommends ways to strengthen and promote disability-related affirmative action programs in state agencies and presents workshops on disability-related issues for state agency professionals.

About the Illinois Tollway

The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 286 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80).