Ruling under or interpretations of the Act and the regulations
contained in this part 32 shall be made by the Assistant Secretary.
Appendix A to Part 32
Accommodations may take many forms based on the type of handicap and
the needs of the individual. In developing appropriate accommodations,
the individual should be consulted as to particular needs.
The following is a list of possible types of accommodations provided
for guidance and technical assistance. These suggestions are not
mandatory, and other forms of accommodation not described herein may be
required if they are appropriate to meet the needs of particular
handicapped individuals.
Accommodations for Participants and Employees
(a) Job restructuring means the procedure which includes:
(1) Identifying the separate tasks that comprise a job or group of
jobs;
(2) Developing new position descriptions which retain some of the
tasks of the original job; and
(3) Developing a career ladder which builds upward from the new
positions which contain the lesser skilled tasks to regular jobs. A
restructured job can be clearly different from the original one in terms
of skills, knowledge, abilities, and work experience needed to perform
the work. Job restructuring is intended to maximize the abilities of the
particular handicapped person and is not intended to permit a recipient
to underemploy or job-stereotype that person. A restructured job, for
example, could be one in which the more highly skilled but physically
less demanding duties are retained, e.g. operating controls and switches
in a steel mill, and less skilled, physically taxing duties, e.g.
lifting, pulling, are reassigned to non-handicapped employees.
(b) Modify job or program schedules, for example, by allowing for a
flexible schedule a few days a week so that a participant or employee
may undergo medical treatment or therapy. Work-times or participation in
program activities may also be altered to permit handicapped individuals
to travel to and from work during non-rush hours. For employees or
participants who become unable to perform the duties of their positions
because of a physical or mental condition, recipients may be required to
grant liberal time off or leave without pay when paid sick leave is
exhausted and when the disability is of a nature that it is likely to
respond to treatment of hospitalization. See, e.g., 339 Federal
Personnel Manual-1-3(b)(1).
(c) Modify program and work procedures and training time.
(d) Relocate particular offices or jobs or program activities so
that they are in facilities accessible to and usable by qualified
handicapped persons. For example, an employee or participant with a
respiratory ailment can be placed in a ``nonsmoking'' and/or well-
ventilated office.
(e) Acquire or modify equipment or devices. For hearing-impaired
participants or employees, this may include placing amplifiers on
telephone receivers, making telephone equipment compatible with hearing
aids, providing flashing lights to supplement telephone rings or
installing telecommunications devices (TDD's or TTY's). For blind
participants or employees, this may include providing tape recorders or
dictating machines for those who cannot type. For wheelchair-users, this
may include raising on blocks a desk that is otherwise too low for the
employee, rather than purchasing a specially-made desk. A recipient is
not obligated to acquire or modify equipment that enables a participant
or employee to perform a particular job or participate in a particular
program until after an employee with a need for these modifications is
hired for a particular office or admitted to a program.
(f) Provide readers, interpreters, and similar assistance as needed
for deaf, blind and other handicapped participants or employees. In most
instances, this would not require a full-time assistant.
(g) Decrease reliance solely on one form of communication. For
example, for deaf participants or employees this may include
supplementing program or job orientation sessions with written manuals
and other visual materials. If appropriate, a visual warning system
should be installed. It may also include providing flashing lights to
supplement auditory signals such as sirens and alarm bells. For blind
employees, this may include making some communications available in
braille, enlarged print, or on cassette recordings. A recipient should
tailor the accommodations listed above to the needs of the individual
participants or employees who have been admitted to a particular program
or hired for a particular office.
(h) Provide human relations-sensitivity training on issues
pertaining to handicapped discrimination to all recipient employees.
(i) Conduct ongoing training and planning sessions with recipient
supervisors, managers, personnel, technical experts and disability
rights advocates to implement and evaluate methods of reasonable
accommodation.
Accommodations for Applicants
(a) Announce program and job vacancies in a form readily
understandable by mentally handicapped persons and by persons with
impaired vision or hearing, for example, by making the announcements
available in braille or on cassette tapes. Sec. 32.4(e) of DOL's
proposed section 504 regulations requires recipients to insure that
communications with applicants are available to persons with impaired
vision or hearing. Recipients shall undertake to explain, as
appropriate, program and job announcements to mentally handicapped
participants or employees or applicants. For example, this might entail
notifying known mentally handicapped participants or employees of
openings for positions that they might be able to perform and taking
specific steps to clearly explain the nature of the program or job and
its benefits to that individual.
Handicapped Persons
(b) Provide readers, interpreters, and other similar assistance
during the application, testing, and interview process.
(c) Appropriately adjust or modify examinations so that the test
results accurately reflect the applicant's skills, aptitude or whatever
other factor the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the
applicant's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where
those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure). This
may require the extension of traditional time deadlines or allowing, for
example, a blind person to answer an examination orally.
(d) If necessary waive traditional tests and permit the applicant to
demonstrate his or her skills through alternate techniques and
utilization of adapted tools, aids, and devices.
