Requiring Federal Agencies To Establish Procedures To Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation

Executive Order 13164 of July 26, 2000

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 disabilities 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 accommodation, 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 representatives 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.

    (Presidential Sig.)

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    July 26, 2000.