[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 146 (Friday, July 28, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 46565-46566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-19323]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 146 / Friday, July 28, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 46565]]


                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;

[[Page 46566]]

(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.

[FR Doc. 00-19323
Filed 7-27-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P