Executive Order: Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation (7/26/00)

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Executive Order: Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation (7/26/00)
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                              THE WHITE HOUSE

                       Office of the Press Secretary

                                                                 For
Immediate Release                             July 26, 2000


                              EXECUTIVE ORDER

                               - - - - - - -

            REQUIRING FEDERAL AGENCIES TO ESTABLISH PROCEDURES
          TO FACILITATE THE PROVISION OF REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION


     By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, including the Rehabilitation Act of
1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), as amended, and in order to promote a model
Federal workplace that provides reasonable accommodation for (1)
individuals with disabilities in the application process for Federal
employment; (2) Federal employees with disabilities to perform the
essential functions of a position; and (3) Federal employees with
dis-abilities to enjoy benefits and privileges of employment equal to those
enjoyed by employees without disabilities, it is hereby ordered as follows:

     Section 1.  Establishment of Effective Written Procedures to
Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation.  (a)  Each Federal
agency shall establish effective written procedures for processing requests
for reasonable accommodation by employees and applicants with disabilities.
The written procedures may allow different components of an agency to
tailor their procedures as necessary to ensure the expeditious processing
of requests.

     (b)  As set forth in Re-charting the Course:  The First Report of the
Presidential Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities (1998),
effective written procedures for processing requests for reasonable
accommodation should include the following:

          (1)  Explain that an employee or job applicant may initiate a
          request for reasonable accommodation orally or in writing.  If
          the agency requires an applicant or employee to complete a
          reasonable accommodation request form for recordkeeping purposes,
          the form must be provided as an attachment to the agency?s
          written procedures;

          (2)  Explain how the agency will process a request for reasonable
          accommodation, and from whom the individual will receive a final
          decision;

          (3)  Designate a time period during which reasonable
          accommodation requests will be granted or denied, absent
          extenuating circumstances.  Time limits for decision making
          should be as short as reasonably possible;

          (4)  Explain the responsibility of the employee or applicant to
          provide appropriate medical information related to the functional
          impairment at issue and the requested accommodation where the
          disability and/or need for accommodation is not obvious;

          (5)  Explain the agency's right to request relevant supplemental
          medical information if the information submitted does not clearly
          explain the nature of the disability, or the need for the
          reasonable accommo-dation, or does not otherwise clarify how the
          requested accommodation will assist the employee to perform the
          essential functions of the job or to enjoy the benefits and
          privileges of the workplace;

          (6)  Explain the agency's right to have medical information
          reviewed by a medical expert of the agency's choosing at the
          agency's expense;

          (7)  Provide that reassignment will be considered as a reasonable
          accommodation if the agency determines that no other reasonable
          accommodation will permit the employee with a disability to
          perform the essential functions of his or her current position;

          (8)  Provide that reasonable accommodation denials be in writing
          and specify the reasons for denial;

          (9)  Ensure that agencies? systems of recordkeeping track the
          processing of requests for reasonable accommodation and maintain
          the confidentiality of medical information received in accordance
          with applicable law and regulations; and

          (10)  Encourage the use of informal dispute resolution processes
          to allow individuals with disabilities to obtain prompt
          reconsideration of denials of reasonable accommodation.  Agencies
          must also inform individuals with disabilities that they have the
          right to file complaints in the Equal Employment Opportunity
          process and other statutory processes, as appropriate, if their
          requests for reasonable accommodation are denied.

     Sec. 2.  Submission of Agency Reasonable Accommodation Procedures to
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  Within 1 year from the
date of this order, each agency shall submit its procedures to the EEOC.
Each agency shall also submit to the EEOC any modifications to its
reasonable accommodation procedures at the time that those modifications
are adopted.

     Sec. 3.  Collective Bargaining Obligations.  In adopting their
reasonable accommodation procedures, agencies must honor their obligations
to notify their collective bargaining repre-sentatives and bargain over
such procedures to the extent required by law.

     Sec. 4.  Implementation.  The EEOC shall issue guidance for the
implementation of this order within 90 days from the date of this order.

     Sec. 5.  Construction and Judicial Review.  (a)  Nothing in this order
limits the rights that individuals with disabilities may have under the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.

     (b)  This order is intended only to improve the internal management of
the executive branch and does not create any right or benefit, substantive
or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United
States, its agencies, its officers, its employees, or any person.


                              WILLIAM J. CLINTON



THE WHITE HOUSE,
    July 26, 2000.


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