Personal Assistance Services Procedures

On January 3, 2017, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published a Final Rule on Affirmative Action for Individuals with Disabilities in Federal Employment. Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act prohibits Federal agencies from discriminating against individuals with disabilities in employment and requires agencies to be model employers - that is, to engage in affirmative action on behalf of individuals with disabilities in order to promote their hiring, promotion, and retention. The Final Rule clarifies the obligations that the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 imposes on Federal agencies, as employers, that are over and above the obligation not to discriminate on the basis of disability. The requirements in the regulations apply to agencies as of January 3, 2018.

The Final Rule required Federal agencies to adopt written procedures for processing requests for Personal Attendant Services (PAS). Consistent with the Final Rule, the EEOC will generally use the same procedures it follows for processing requests for reasonable accommodation and will follow the same time frames for processing requests. This means employees should follow the guidance in the Reasonable Accommodation Procedures if they want to request PAS. For more information on PAS, see https://www.eeoc.gov/sites/default/files/migrated_files/eeoc/internal_eeo/EEOC-2018-Procedures-for-Providing-Reasonable-Accommod.