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NASA

Policy

Directive

NPD 3713.8B

Effective Date: November 05, 2001

Expiration Date: November 05, 2019

COMPLIANCE IS MANDATORY

Printable Format (PDF)

Request Notification of Change (NASA Only) 

Subject: Provision of Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities

(Revalidated 11/05/14)

Responsible Office: Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity

Chg# Date Description/Comments

1 11/5/2014 Updated to comply with 1400 Compliance requirements to include

administrative changes. Updated the applicability statement, updated

authority, and applicable documents and forms, and added

measurement/verification. 

1. Policy 

It is NASA's policy to fully comply with the reasonable accommodation requirements of the Rehabilitation Act of

1973, as amended. In compliance with the law, NASA provides reasonable accommodation to qualified employees

or applicants with disabilities, unless to do so would cause undue hardship. NASA is committed to providing

reasonable accommodations to its employees and applicants for employment to assure that individuals with

disabilities enjoy full access to equal employment opportunity at NASA.

2. Applicability 

a. This NPD is applicable to NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including Component Facilities and Technical

and Service Support Centers. This directive applies to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a Federally Funded

Research and Development Center, and other contractors only to the extent specified or referenced in the

appropriate contracts.

b. In this directive, all mandatory actions (i.e., requirements) are denoted by statements containing the term "shall."

The terms: "may" or "can" denote discretionary privilege or permission, "should" denotes a good practice and is

recommended, but is not required, "will" denotes expected outcome, and "are/is" denotes descriptive material.

c. In this directive, all document citations are assumed to be the latest version unless otherwise noted. 

d. This directive is applicable to NASA directives developed or revised after the effective date of this NPR. 

3. Authority 

a. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 701, et seq.

b. Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, Section 403 of, as amended, 38 U.S.C. § 4214.

c. Requiring Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation,

E.O. No. 13,164, 3 CFR 286 (2000).

4. Applicable Documents and Forms 

a. Rehabilitation Act Regulations, 29 CFR § 1614.203.

b. Enforcement of Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Programs or Activities Conducted by the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration, 14 CFR Subpart 1251.5.

NPD 3713.8B -- main Verify Current version before use at:

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c. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Policy Guidance on Executive Order 13164: Establishing

Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of Reasonable Accommodation (October 20, 2000).

d. EEOC Management Directive 715.

5. Responsibility 

a. With regard to the provision of reasonable accommodations to qualified persons or applicants for employment

with a disability, the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity is responsible for the following:

(1) Developing reasonable accommodation procedures;

(2) Ensuring that NASA Headquarters and NASA Centers, including component operations, develop reasonable

accommodation procedures consistent with the Agency procedures, and (for implementing an informal dispute

resolution process);

(3) Providing guidance, and technical information to Center personnel concerning reasonable accommodation;

(4) Monitoring NASA Centers to determine that they have procedures in place and that any problems identified in

providing reasonable accommodation are resolved; and

(5) Establishing and maintaining a system of records of requests for reasonable accommodation.

b. Center Directors and at Headquarters, the Executive Director Headquarter's Operations, are responsible for:

(1) Establishing reasonable accommodation procedures to be effective 120 days after issuance of NASA Procedural

Requirements (NPR) 3713.3, Procedures for Providing Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities;

(2) Ensuring that all requests for reasonable accommodation are handled in a timely and efficient manner;

(3) Ensuring that Center managers, supervisors and employees are provided with appropriate information and

training in the procedures and the processes for handling reasonable accommodation requests;

(4) Implementing an informal dispute resolution process; and 

(5) Ensuring that all medical information obtained in connection with the reasonable accommodation process is kept

confidential.

c. The Inspector General is responsible for implementing Headquarters procedures to handle reasonable

accommodation requests for Office of Inspector General employees.

6. Delegation of Authority 

None.

7. Measurement/Verification 

a. Compliance with the requirements of this NPD will be verified by:

(1) The NASA HQ and Center Equal Opportunity (EO) Director/Officer shall prepare an annual Center Reasonable

Accommodations Report and provide it to the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity (ODEO) no later than

October 31.

(2) The Report will contain information regarding requests for rea

sonable accommodation, presented in the aggregate.

b. The information contained shall include: 

(1) The number of reasonable accommodations, by job type, that have been requested in the application process

and whether those requests have been granted or denied.

(2) The number of reasonable accommodations, by job type, requested by employees. 

(3) The number of reasonable accommodations approved, by job type, and the number of reasonable

accommodations, by job type, that have been denied.

(4) The number of requests that required further medical information.

(5) Reasons for denial in requests identified in (3) above.

(6) Number and type of reasonable accommodations requested related to privileges of employment.

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(7) Amount of time (in days) taken to process requests.

(8) Sources of technical assistance consulted. 

c. In addition, the Report shall provide a qualitative assessment of the reasonable accommodation program,

including any recommendations for improvement of NASA's reasonable accommodation policies and procedures.

8. Cancellation 

NPD 3713.8A, Provision of Reasonable Accommodation for Individuals with Disabilities (Revalidated 3/29/04), dated

November 5, 2001.

Revalidated with Change 1, November 5, 2014, ORIGINAL SIGNED BY:

/s/ Daniel S. Goldin

Administrator

Attachment A: (Text) 

None.

(URL for Graphic) 

None.

DISTRIBUTION:

NODIS 

This Document Is Uncontrolled When Printed.

Check the NASA Online Directives Information System (NODIS) Library

to Verify that this is the correct version before use: http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov

NPD 3713.8B -- main Verify Current version before use at:

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NPD 3713.8B -- main Verify Current version before use at:

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