# Presentation: 425768

## Methods of AdministrationMOA Element 5

- Compliance with
- Disability Requirements and Section 504

## Agenda

**Presentation:****	**Learning Objectives
**Presentation:****	**Principles for Equally 	Effective Opportunity
**Presentation:****	**Defining the Term “Disability”
**Presentation:****	**Discrimination Prohibitions
**Presentation:****	**Accessibility & 	Accommodation
**Activity I:****	**Accommodation/Accessibility

## Agenda (cont.)

**Presentation:****	**Communications
**Presentation:****	**Employment Practices and
- 		Employment-Related Training
- 		Participation
**Activity II:****	**Disability-Related 	Requirements
**Presentation:****	**Documentation
**Presentation:** 	State’s Implementation

## Learning Objectives

- Explain federal disability requirements
- Describe how the state guarantees compliance
- Define the laws, legal theories, and acceptable practices related to providing services to individuals with disabilities
- Identify acceptable documentation to demonstrate compliance with disability requirements

## Principles for ProvidingEqually Effective Services

- WIA is committed to providing services to persons with disabilities that are as effective as “mainstream services.”
- Any differences in service must be meaningful differences that are “legally permissible.”

## A person who has the requisite skills, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the employment or training position that the individual holds or desires and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the position.

**5-**

**Term to Know:**
**Qualified Person with a Disability**

## Modifications or adjustments to an application/registration process that enables a qualified applicant/registrant with a disability to be considered for the aid, benefits, services, training, or employment that is desired; and
Modifications or adjustments that enable a qualified individual with a disability to take advantage of the same privileges of the aid, benefits, services, training, or employment as is provided to individuals without disabilities.

- Modifications or adjustments that enable a qualified individual with a disability to take advantage of the same privileges of the aid, benefits, services, training, or employment as is provided to individuals without disabilities.

**Term to Know:**
**Reasonable Accommodation**

**5-**

## Legal Structure for Serving Individuals with Disabilities

- Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA)
- Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Rehab Act)
- Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)

## Workforce Investment Act of 1998

- WIA required that states offer a range of different job training, education, and other human resource programs through the One-Stop system.
- Section 188 of WIA bars discrimination on the basis of disability in programs, services, and employment.

## Rehabilitation Act of 1973

- First federal law to forbid discrimination based on  “disability”:
**Rehab Act, Sec. 504:** Prohibits any program or activity that receives federal assistance and any Federal Executive agency from discriminating against qualified persons with disabilities
**29 CFR Part 32:** Implements Sec. 504 with respect to programs and activities receiving or benefiting from federal assistance from DOL

## “Handicapped” vs. Individual or Person with Disability

- The Code of Federal Regulations (20 CFR Part 32) has not yet been amended to clearly identify the terms “individual with disabilities” or “person with a disability” as the appropriate terms to use.
- However, the term “handicapped” is **unacceptable** and should not be used.

## Americans with Disabilities Actof 1990 (ADA)

- Prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in:
- Private sector
- Employers
- State and local governments
- Labor organizations
- Public accommodations
- Commercial facilities
- Transportation
- Telecommunications

## Americans with Disabilities Actof 1990 (ADA) (cont.)

**Title I of ADA**
- Contains the employment-related provisions
- Prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities
**Title II of ADA**
- Prohibits disability-based discrimination by public entities whether or not they receive federal financial assistance

## Defining “Disability”

- Physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person’s major life activities, or
- A record of such an impairment, or
- Being regarded (by a program, activity, training provider, employer, or other person or entity covered by the law) as having such an impairment.

## Physical or Mental Impairment

- Any physiological disorder or condition, cosmetic disfigurement, or anatomical loss affecting one or more of the following body systems -  neurological, musculoskeletal, special sense organs, respiratory (including speech organs), cardiovascular, reproductive, digestive, genito-urinary, hemic and lymphatic, skin, endocrine	OR
- Any mental or psychological disorder, such as mental retardation, organic brain syndrome, emotional or mental illness, and specific learning disabilities

## Physical or Mental Impairment (cont.)

**Examples:** orthopedic, visual, speech, and hearing impairments; cerebral palsy; epilepsy; muscular dystrophy; multiple sclerosis; cancer; heart disease; diabetes; mental retardation; emotional illness; specific learning disabilities; HIV; tuberculosis; drug addiction; and alcoholism.
**Does not include:**
- Homosexuality or bisexuality
- Simple physical characteristics (*e.g.,* eye color)
- Environmental, cultural, economic, or other disadvantages (*e.g.,* being poor)
- Age

## Major Life Activities

**EXAMPLES:**
- Caring for one’s self
- Performing manual tasks
- Walking
- Seeing
- Hearing
- Speaking
- Breathing
- Learning
- Working

**RECOGNIZED BY**
**COURTS & FEDERAL**
**AGENCIES:**
- Concentration
- Interacting with others
- Sleeping
- Reproducing

**Activities affected by physical or mental impairment.**

## Substantially Limits

- Impairment prevents or significantly restricts the performing of a major life activity

## A Record of Such an Impairment

- Includes documents showing that a person has a history of an impairment that substantially limited a major life activity
- Includes persons who have been misclassified as having an impairment
- Designed partly to protect individuals who have recovered from an impairment

## Being Regarded as HavingSuch an Impairment

- Has a physical or mental impairment that does not substantially limit major life activities but is treated by a recipient as constituting such a limitation
- Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits major life activities only as a result of the attitudes of others toward such an impairment
- Has none of the impairments covered but is treated by a recipient as having such an impairment

## Criteria for Individuals with a Disability

- Every person with a disability is not eligible for WIA services
- The laws discussed protect only qualified individuals with a disability.

## Satisfies the requisite skills, experience, education, and other job-related requirements of the employment or training position that the individual holds or desires and who, with or without reasonable accommodation, can perform the essential functions of the position

**Term to Know:**
**Qualified Person with a Disability**

**5-**

## Exceptions to the Definition of Individual with a Disability

- Sexual behavior disorders
- Current use of illegal drugs
- Current alcohol abuse in the work setting
- Current contagious disease or infection that affects job performance or safety

## Examples of Discriminatory Actions

- Denying a qualified individual with a disability the opportunity to participate in, or benefit from, a WIA activity because of their disability
- Failing to give a qualified person with a disability an equal opportunity to get the same results or benefits from a program or activity that people without disabilities receive
- Charging a particular person or group with a disability any extra fees to cover the costs of accommodating the disability

## What Recipients areNOT Required to Provide

- Personal devices such as wheelchairs
- Individually prescribed devices, such as eyeglasses or hearing aids
- Readers for personal use and study
- Services of a personal nature, such as assistance with eating, toileting, or dressing

## What is “Accessibility”?

- Operating in a manner such that all programs and activities are readily available to individuals with disabilities
- Requires recipients to do the following:
_**Not**_ wait until a person with a disability asks to participate in a program or service
_**Plan ahead**_ by anticipating the needs of persons with disabilities
_**Take action**_ to provide for those needs

## Two Types of Accessibility

- Architectural accessibility: The physical modifications of facilities to accommodate use by individuals with disabilities
- Parking lots and walkways
- Buildings
- Rooms
- Indoor facilities (*e.g.,* computer kiosk, office cubicle)
- Alarm systems
- Signs

## Two Types of Accessibility (cont.)

- Program accessibility: Setting up a program or activity in advance to be accessible to qualified persons with disabilities
- Access for physical disabilities
- Access for cognitive disabilities (*e.g.,* reading instructions, quiet space, oral explanation, repetition of instructions, use of less complex words and sentences)

## Reasonable Accommodation

- Actions a recipient must take, at a time that a particular qualified person with a disability wants to take part in a program, based on that person’s individual needs

## General Principles ofReasonable Accommodation

- Individuals with known disabilities are entitled to reasonable accommodations for the application process or admissions process.
- Once an applicant with a known disability is admitted, reasonable accommodations are changes that can be made to allow the individual to receive equal benefits.
- For individuals with disabilities hired to work for the program, reasonable accommodations are changes that can be made to enable them to perform the essential functions of the job.

## Undue Hardship:Significant Difficulty or Expense

- Factors to consider
- Type of accommodation asked for
- Net cost of the accommodation
- Overall size of the program
- Overall financial resources
- Effect that providing the accommodation would have on the program or facility’s ability to serve other customers and carry out its mission

## Undue Hardship: What to Do

- If a requested accommodation will cause undue hardship, the program must:
- Prepare written statement of reasons underlying decision
- Give copy of decision to the person requesting accommodation
- Take steps that will not cause undue hardship to enable the person with a disability to participate in the program to the extent possible

## Reasonable Accommodation:Time Period

- Provide reasonable accommodations as quickly as possible – not more than 60 days
- For structural changes, recipient must develop a transition plan in partnership with the person requesting the accommodation

## Activity I:Accommodation/Accessibility

**Purpose:**
- To identify when a reasonable accommodation for access should be provided
**Task:**
- You are a member of the EO monitoring team.  You’ve been asked to review cases and decide the appropriate accommodation.
- Read the cases.  Decide what is needed to achieve compliance.
- Share your decision and explanation with the class.
**Time:**
- 20 minutes

## Communications

- Recipients must take appropriate steps to ensure that communications with individuals with disabilities are as effective as communications with persons without a disability.

## Effective means of making orally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments.

Effective means of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments.

- Effective means of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments.

**Term to Know:**
**Auxiliary Aids or Services**

**5-**

## Effective Communication

- Give primary consideration to the requests or choice of the individual with the disability
- Consider the wide-range of disabilities, auxiliary aids, and services
- Ensure that information is provided as to the existence and location of accessible services, activities, and facilities

- Use the international symbol for accessibility at each primary entrance of an accessible facility

## Employment Practices &  Employment-Related Training Participation

**Review of Job Qualifications**
**(29 CFR Subpart B)**

- A recipient must develop and adhere to a schedule for reviewing the appropriateness of all job qualifications.
- Review ensures that qualifications are related to job performance and safety.

## Employment Practices &  Employment-Related Training Participation (cont.)

- Recipient may not ask an applicant whether he or she has a disability, or the severity of the disability.
- Exceptions:
- A recipient taking remedial action to correct the effects of past performance
- Determining the extent to which the recipient is operating its WIA funded program or activity in a nondiscriminatory manner
- For the purpose of collecting EO data

**Pre-employment or Pre-training Inquiries**

## Employment Practices &  Employment-Related Training Participation (cont.)

- When making inquires based on Exceptions, recipients should tell applicants:
- Purpose
- Voluntary
- Confidentiality
- Refusal will not result in adverse treatment

**Pre-employment or Pre-training Inquiries**

## Employment Practices &  Employment-Related Training Participation (cont.)

- Recipients may not make the results of a medical examination a condition for a job offer unless:
- A medical examination is required for a job category
- Results are not used to discriminate on the basis of disability
- Information is confidential

**Pre-employment Medical Examinations**

## Employment Practices &  Employment-Related Training Participation (cont.)

- Supervisors and managers, to explain limitations on activities and arrange for reasonable accommodation
- First aid and emergency personnel if the condition might require emergency treatment
- Government officials investigating compliance with disability nondiscrimination laws

**Results of medical examinations can be disclosed only to:**

## Activity II:Disability-Related Requirements

**Purpose:**
- To determine if a training practice is appropriate
**Task:**
- You’re a member of the EO MOA review team.  Review the memorandum on pre-employment medical inquiries that was submitted by the state as part of its documentation.
- Individually: evaluate the procedure described in the memo, identify parts that are inconsistent with the guidance, and determine changes to be made
- Discuss individual findings in your small group and come to a consensus on the changes required, if any.
- Select a spokesperson to report out.
**Time:**
- 20 minutes

## Supporting Documentation:Compliance with Disability Requirements

**Documentation describing how the state ensures that recipients:**

- Comply with requirements regarding prohibited discriminatory actions based on disability
- Provide reasonable accommodation, reasonable modification, architectural accessibility and programmatic accessibility
- Evaluate job/selection qualifications on a planned schedule.
- Limit pre-selection medical inquiries per federal law.
- Ensure confidentiality of medical information.
- Communicate effectively with individuals with disabilities.

## State’s Implementation ofDisability Requirements

- Policy communications and directives to LWIA’s that instruct recipients how they are to comply with the disability requirements and Sec. 504
- Procedures and systems that support the implementation of compliance with disability requirements and Sec. 504
- Additional MOA requirements imposed by the State to implement compliance with disability requirements and Sec. 504

## Compliance with
Disability Requirements and Section 504

- Disability Requirements and Section 504

**Methods of Administration****MOA Element 5**