Dear Bureau Pat,
I have a staff member with a chronic health condition who for years did not require any
special accommodations. Recently, his condition progressed to where he has requested special equipment to fulfill his day-to-day
activities at work. What are my obligations as a federal supervisor regarding reasonable accommodations and is my office responsible for personal items such as glasses, wheel chairs or hearing
aids?
Dear Perplexed,
As a model employer, the federal government has lead the effort in not
just educating the public about employment opportunities available for individuals
with disabilities, but understanding the
contributions that all people provide - even your old boss you swore was retarded.
In order to understand your responsibilities as a supervisor, Bureau Pat feels obligated to provide a little background first.
As a federal employer, you must first comply with Executive
Order 13163, Increasing the Opportunity
for Individuals with Disabilities to be Employed in the Federal Government,
where you and your employer are responsible for:
- Providing reasonable accommodations
for qualified applicants and employees with disabilities, consistent with
each agencies' reasonable accommodation policies as well as guidance from
the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC).
Specifically,
you are also required to be compliant with Executive Order 13164, Establishing Procedures to Facilitate the
Provision of Reasonable Accommodation, and resulting EEOC guidance dated
October 20, 2000, where reasonable accommodations must be provided to qualified
individuals with disabilities unless to do so would impose an undue hardship on
the agencies.
So
what is a reasonable accommodation?
It sure isn't Gitmo! Reasonable accommodation, according to the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973, is a change in the work
environment or in the way things are customarily done that would enable an
individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities. There are
three categories of reasonable accommodations:
- Modifications or
adjustments to a job application process to permit an individual with a
disability to be considered for a job (such as providing application forms
in alternative formats like large print or Braille);
- Modifications or
adjustments necessary to enable a qualified individual with a disability
to perform the essential functions of the job (such as providing sign
language interpreters); and
- Modifications or adjustments
that enable employees with disabilities to enjoy equal benefits and
privileges of employment (such as removing physical barriers in an office
cafeteria - sorry, we're talking inanimate objects here, not you large cubicle mates).
Remember, you do not have to provide reasonable
accommodations that would impose an undue
hardship on the operation of the agency.
So what is an undue hardship?
An undue hardship is a specific accommodation would require significant difficulty or expense. This
determination, which must be made on a case-by-case basis, considers factors
such as the nature and cost of the accommodation needed and the impact of the
accommodation on the operations of the agency.
Regarding your question on personal items, you are not required to lower quality or production standards to make
an accommodation, nor is an employer obligated to provide personal use items
such as glasses or hearing aids.
More importantly, the federal government has empowered you to make the decision in most cases to eliminate unnecessary levels of review and to
cut the typical bureaucratic red tape. If you deny this individual's request for a reasonable accommodation, you must notify the individual in writing of the denial and the reasons for it. The
denial should be written in plain language with as much specificity as
possible, and should identify the employee or office that made the decision. In other words, CYA!
I hope this information helps in your decision and serves you and your staff well.
The Only,
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