Office of the Press Secretary

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For Immediate Release July 26, 2000
 

EXECUTIVE ORDER 13164
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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 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.