Eleon Allen, Individually and for Others Similarly Situated v. Margaret Heckler

MIKVA, Circuit Judge:

This appeal involves a claim under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq. (1982) (“the Act”). Section 501 of the Act, 29 U.S.C. § 791 (1982), requires each federal executive department to formulate an affirmative action plan that provides adequate career opportunities for handicapped people. The plaintiffs, a class of former patients at St. Elizabeth’s, a federal mental hospital, were hired by the Hospital pursuant to one such plan. They now claim that this plan is inadequate because it allows St. Elizabeth’s to discriminate against them on the basis of…