Policy, Data, Oversight Disability Employment

Under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, Federal agencies have a legal obligation to provide reasonable accommodations for their employees and job applicants with disabilities. A reasonable accommodation is any change in the work environment or the way things are usually done that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy Equal Employment Opportunity. Examples of reasonable accommodations include, but are not limited to, sign language interpreters for people who are deaf, screen readers for people who are blind, accessible work stations for people who use wheelchairs, and more.

In order to meet their accommodation obligations, agencies should think creatively about ways to make their workplace more accessible and create an environment where their employees who have disabilities can thrive. Here are some suggestions that relate specifically to reasonable accommodation issues.

• Review your reasonable accommodation procedures and update them if necessary. Consistent with Executive Order 13164 (Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodations), agencies should submit to the EEOC any modifications to their reasonable accommodation procedures at the time that those modifications are adopted.
• Establish/continue partnership with DOD Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP), a program that provides technology-based accommodations to interns and employees with disabilities at no charge to the agency. Information on establishing partnerships with CAP can be found on the CAP website.
• Establish a centralized fund to cover accommodation costs for which the agency is financially responsible. Further, make clear to management and staff that the determination of whether the cost of a particular accommodation represents an undue hardship is based, as a matter of law, on the agencies' overall budget, not the specific budget of the program office where the accommodation is needed. Therefore, when making a determination on whether a reasonable accommodation can be provided, the decision-maker should not consider just the budget in the office where the employee works but consider the budget of the entire agency. For this reason, denial of a reasonable accommodation request based on a financial undue hardship determination should be extremely rare.
• Consult with the Job Accommodation Network (JAN), a service offered through the Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. JAN provides expert accommodation information before, during, and after the recruitment and hiring process. It is a confidential service that allows any manager, applicant or employee to receive individualized information on his or her accommodation issue. JAN may be reached at (800) 526-7234 or on-line at www.askjan.org.
• In addition, the EEOC recently issued updated procedures for processing reasonable accommodation requests at their agency. Other Federal agencies should use these procedures as a model when developing and updating their own reasonable accommodation procedures.
• See the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) "Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship Under the Americans with Disabilities Act."
• Review the Office of Disability Employment Policy's website entitled "Advancing Opportunities: Accommodations Resources for Federal Managers and Employees."
• Look over the Office of Disability Employment Policy's "The Job Accommodation Process: Steps to Collaborative Solutions" website.
• Note the EEOC's "Policy Guidance on Executive Order 13164: Establishing Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation" and their "Questions and Answers: Policy Guidance on Executive Order 13164: Establishing Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation."
• Executive Order 13164 requires Federal agencies to establish procedures to facilitate the provision of reasonable accommodations.

Additional Resources Relating to Reasonable Accommodations, Assistive Technology and Accessibility

• ABLEDATA: Assistive technology - Provides information on assistive technology and rehabilitation equipment available from domestic and international sources for use within the United States.
• Federal Communications Commission, Disability Rights Office: What You Need to Know about the Telecommunications Relay Service
• Institute for Human Centered Design - Advocates for accessibility and universal designs for people with disabilities to participate fully in all aspects of society.
• Job Accommodation Network (JAN) - Provides information about job accommodations, the ADA and employment of people with disabilities.
• Telework provides employees additional flexibility by allowing them to work at a geographically convenient alternative worksite, such as home or a telecenter, on an average of at least one day per week. For more information about telework, see Telework.gov.
• University of Wisconsin-Madison: Trace Research and Development Center - Provides information on technology and disabilities.
• U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's "Enforcement Guidance: Reasonable Accommodation and Undue Hardship under the ADA"
• U. S. Department of Education: Assistive Technology - Uses assistive technology to assist Department of Education employees and customers with disabilities.
• U.S. Department of Defense/Office of Secretary of Defense: Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program (CAP) - Provides assistive technology to employees with disabilities at the Department of Defense and other Federal agencies.
• U.S. General Services Administration: Federal Relay Service - Describes the Federal relay service.
• Reasonable Accommodation Q&A
• Funding Reasonable Accommodations

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