CDC workers with disabilities can no longer work remotely, documents show

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The CDC will no longer permit employees to work from home, even for those with disabilities or medical issues who previously had reasonable accommodations.This new policy from the Department of Health and Human Services follows a presidential memorandum requiring federal employees to return to in-person work.Existing long-term telework agreements will not be renewed, and new requests are currently paused.A union representing CDC employees has called the move a "sweeping civil rights violation," stating some workers had their accommodations revoked with little notice.Employees with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer be allowed to work from home, even if they previously were able to do so as part of reasonable accommodations for a disability or medical issue, according to internal documents shared with USA TODAY.Approved employees with qualifying disabilities and medical issues were previously allowed to work from home for the Department of Health and Human Services and CDC if their condition demanded or justified it. However, under the new HHS policy outlined in an email shared with USA TODAY, even those with qualifying conditions will still be required to attend work in person.In an email sent to senior CDC leadership on Sept. 15, the CDC’s Office of Human Resources said it was “awaiting further clarity” on a new HHS telework policy that excluded long-term telework, including for those with reasonable accommodations.“Until that time,” said the email, “all approvals for long-term telework, to include reasonable accommodation (RA) long-term telework, are paused until further notice.”The move was further confirmed in a newsletter sent from the Office of the Chief Operating Officer to employees on Sept. 16, which states that the HHS has updated its telework policy to no longer include long-term telework or telework as a reasonable accommodation for workers with disabilities.The notice says the removal of telework as a reasonable accommodation, which is given to employees with disabilities, was done in accordance with President Donald Trump’s presidential memorandum issued on Feb. 7 that required federal employees to transition to full-time, in-person work. The new policy was issued on Aug. 13, but an internal Q&A also shared with USA TODAY showed some CDC employees were allowed to work from home until Sept. 15, following an Aug. 8 shooting that killed an officer at the CDC office.In a copy of the policy and the accompanying Q&A, both sent by the Office of the Chief Operating Officer, telework is limited to two weeks or 80 hours per calendar year per employee, with no explicit exemption for accommodations.“CDC is currently adhering to HHS HR Policy 990-3 and President Trump’s Executive Order, Return to In-Person Work – The White House,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told USA TODAY in a statement. The CDC issued the same statement. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management did not respond to a request for comment.What are reasonable accommodations?Reasonable accommodations are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and, in the case of federal workers, the Rehabilitation Act (RA) of 1973, and refer to any change to a hiring process or job that allows a qualified person with a disability to perform essential job functions and enjoy equal employment opportunities. These can include anything from reading-assistance devices to providing reserved parking, according to the Congressional Research Service. An accommodation is considered “reasonable” when it does not present undue hardship to the employer.The U.S. Office of Personnel Management states not only that federal agencies are required by law to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees with disabilities, but also specifies that telehealth falls under these accommodations.It reaffirmed this in additional guidance issued on Jan. 22 after Trump’s Presidential Memorandum on in-office work, which states employees must return to the office “unless excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee’s supervisor.”The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clarifies that an employer is not obligated to offer a telework program to all employees under the ADA or Rehabilitation Act but must allow employees with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in such a program if it has one. The Rehabilitation Act, however, prohibits the blanket banning of any specific accommodation, such as a unilateral decision about telework across the board, and additional case law and acts, such as The Telework Enhancement Act of 2010, have muddied the legal waters.Employees must return regardless of health conditions, previous accommodationsThe Q&A sent to employees by the Office of the Chief Operating Officer said supervisors cannot currently approve any requests for reasonable accommodations to work from home and, instead, are encouraged to find an “interim solution.” Previously, they could authorize these requests in 90-day increments, a workaround that HHS instructed CDC to follow after it terminated its reasonable accommodation specialists and disbanded the Equal Employment Opportunity Office as part of the Trump administration’s reductions in force action in April.“Managers and supervisors should continue to engage in an interactive discussion to determine other effective accommodations, including modifications to the equipment at the worksite, modifications to the schedule, or some combination of accommodations,” it said. It also said employees could use annual, sick, or Family and Medical Leave Act leave as temporary solutions.Some employees who already have an active telework agreement in the system with final approval can continue to do so until the end date specified in the agreement, it said, but these approvals will not be renewable.However, Yolanda Jacobs, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, one of the unions representing CDC staffers, said in a news conference that dozens of people who already had longstanding accommodations to work from home also had their existing, permanent approvals revoked. Some were told to return to the office immediately with 24 hours or, in one case, less than eight hours’ notice.Jacobs said supervisors were left in the dark, only hearing that their employees’ accommodations had been terminated from the employees themselves. Pending requests were also unilaterally denied without explanation, said Jacobs, though federal law requires a dialogue about accommodation requests before denials or approvals can be made.In one email reviewed by USA TODAY, a CDC employee was informed that their reasonable telework accommodation request had been withdrawn with no further explanation or justification in the middle of the night, giving them fewer than eight hours of notice before the next workday began. The message was sent from a CDC automated administrator account and was news to the employee’s supervisor, as well.The union received more than 250 messages from concerned and potentially impacted employees from the Atlanta, Georgia, office alone in the 24 hours after the announcement, said Jacobs and fellow union members. Some are impacted by conditions like multiple sclerosis, compromised immune systems, or high-risk pregnancies that make it difficult or potentially dangerous to come into a physical office, they said.“This represents the most sweeping civil rights violation against federal employees in decades,” the union said in a statement. “Additionally, employees with disabilities may face retaliatory discrimination, disciplinary actions, and loss of essential workplace accommodations. CDC has engineered a no-win situation for its employees.”