physical ability test Archives - Biddle Consulting Group News

ODEP Seeking Input for “RETAIN” Demonstration Project; Participation as Good Faith Effort?

April 14, 2019 By Matt Nusbaum

The Department of Labor (DOL) has submitted an Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) information collection request proposal titled, “Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network [RETAIN] Demonstration Project and Evaluation.” The agency is seeking public comment under the Paperwork Reduction Act regarding a new program led by ODEP in partnership with DOL’s Employment and Training Administration and the Social Security Administration to “test the impact of early intervention strategies that improve stay-at-work/return-to-work (SAW/RTW) outcomes” of individuals who experience a disability while employed.

SAW/RTW programs are aimed at returning ill or injured workers to productive work as soon as medically possible during their recovery process by providing “interim part-time or light-duty work and accommodations.” The proposed program will operate through grants to state and local agencies that choose to participate in exchange for detailed information about program administration and outcomes.

Although the project is not currently aimed at the private sector, it raises a potential opportunity for federal contractor employers, particularly those that are currently scheduled for OFCCP’s new 503 (disability) focused reviews.

Employers that have or are developing programs aimed at retaining sick or injured employees should take credit for these efforts in OFCCP audits, especially 503 focused reviews. Such employers could also benefit from participating in the public comment process (offering to share information with ODEP about their programs, successes, and challenges). Participation in the public comment process itself can be a form of good faith effort.

Biddle Consulting Group (BCG) has long partnered with WorkSTEPS, the leading national provider of functional pre-employment and post-injury testing programs used by corporations nationwide. Corporations use WorkSTEPS’ proprietary tests to determine the overall fitness of employment candidates to perform essential job functions and tasks. BCG has partnered with WorkSTEPS on PAVE – a tool designed to develop validated physical ability tests for a variety of jobs. Providers like WorkSTEPS can assist employers that are seeking to review their policies and practices with regard to SAW/RTW programs and/or developing such programs from scratch.

Valid Physical Ability Testing

February 6, 2015 By editor

For decades, employers have used pre-employment testing to determine which of their job applicants possess the skills and abilities required for success on the job. Nearly all employers understand the importance of using tests that are valid for use in the at-issue position, and insist that they are so. Strangely, physical ability testing has remained mostly unaffected by this trend. Savvy employers are beginning to ask important questions about physical ability testing.

Why should we implement a physical ability testing program?
What are the benefits of physical ability testing?
What are some of the pitfalls to be avoided when implementing a physical ability testing program?
How can I create valid physical ability tests?
How can I validate my existing physical ability tests?

In this webinar, our featured guest is Larry Feeler, the president of WorkSTEPS, a physical ability test developer and administrator based in Austin, Texas. WorkSTEPS maintains the largest network of affiliated physical ability testing centers in the U.S. today. Larry will answer these questions and more in this most informative webinar!

PATJA: New Tool for Developing Validated Physical Ability Tests

April 3, 2013 By editor

Leading Functional Employment Testing Provider WorkSTEPS Announces Partnership with Validation-Experts Biddle Consulting Group to Release New Tool for Developing Validated Physical Ability Tests

WorkSTEPS , the nation’s leading provider of functional employment testing, recently announced a partnership with Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. to release the new Physical Ability Testing Job Analysis (PATJA) tool, which is designed to develop validated Physical Ability Tests for a variety of jobs.

The PATJA tool streamlines the collection of physical ability job analysis data, and then automatically creates a Physical Ability Test for positions in a way that addresses federal testing and job analysis standards. PATJA provides an unprecedented degree of validation of the job analysis process, and ensures that the process addresses the requirements set by the federal Uniform Guidelines of Employee Selection, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.

The exclusive WorkSTEPS/Biddle partnership provides unprecedented legal defensibility of the WorkSTEPS functional employment test, already recognized as the industry’s gold-standard. The PATJA tool, for the first time, automates the creation of testing criteria to yield objective and defensible functional employment tests.

WorkSTEPS is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and is a leading national provider of functional pre-employment and post-injury testing programs used by Corporations nationwide. Corporations use WorkSTEPS’ proprietary tests to determine the overall fitness of employment candidates to perform essential job functions and tasks. The Company’s tests are also used by its clients to compare the functional status of existing employees that are injured on the job both pre and post injury. WorkSTEPS’ appropriately administered and designed testing services help corporations mitigate the incidence and cost of worker injury, and provide them with better data used in remediation of claims such that incidence and costs are reduced almost immediately.

Biddle Consulting Group, Inc. (BCG) specializes in Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) consulting, litigation support, personnel testing software development, and Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) outsourcing and software. Since 1974, BCG has worked with thousands of employers in these areas, as well as providing litigation support as consultants or experts in over 200 state, federal, and circuit court of appeal EEO cases involving statistics and/or job-relatedness (test validity) analyses. BCG has developed and validated personnel tests in hundreds of situations used by thousands of employers.