Training Policy Handbook

Employees with Disabilities

This section addresses considerations impacting employees with disabilities.

Rehabilitation Laws

Each agency in the executive branch is required by Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act, Title 29 USC §791(b) and Section 401 of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistant Act, Title     `38 USC §4214 , to implement affirmative action plans for the hiring, placement, and advancement of people with disabilities. The plans should include a description how the special needs of disabled employees are being met and the methods used to accommodate these individuals. These provisions do not expand the training authority, but they influence the direction of training.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that each agency has a responsibility to ensure that an individual who has a disability has equal access to the agency's programs and activities. This includes making available auxiliary aids such as computer text readers, braille materials, audio recordings, amplified telephones, telecommunication devices for the hearing impaired, and others as are appropriate and reasonable. The regulations that require agencies to make reasonable accommodations to the known physical or mental limitations of an employee with a disability are located in Title 29 CFR §1614.

For additional information see Federal Employment of People with Disabilities