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Effective January 3, 2018, amendment to regulations implementing Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, require the provision of Personal Assistant Services or PAS to certain employees with targeted disabilities who request and require non-medical and non-work task personal assistance, unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the agency. HHS anti-discrimination policies apply to this new affirmative action requirement, and no employee should be discriminated against based on need for PAS.
The following information defines PAS and qualifying factors to receive PAS support; how to request PAS, and the Agency’s PAS support delivery options:
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Personal Assistance Services are defined as "assistance with performing activities of daily living that an individual would typically perform if he or she did not have a disability, and that is not otherwise required as a reasonable accommodation; examples include, assistance with removing and putting on clothing, eating, using the restroom, and pushing a wheelchair or assistance with getting into or out of a vehicle at the worksite.” These examples are non-exhaustive, and serve to identify self-care type activities for this a PAS may be employed.
As with reasonable accommodation, an employee may request PAS by informing a supervisor, the Reasonable Accommodations program office, or other appropriate management official that he or she needs assistance with daily life activities because of a medical condition. The individual does not need to mention Section 501 or use specific terms such as "PAS", "affirmative action", or "Reasonable Accommodation" to trigger the agency's obligation to consider the request. Typically, the targeted disability and need for PAS will be obvious, such as with missing limbs or paralysis, and medical support may not be required. Where there is a requirement to clarify qualification of need and nature of PAS assistance, the reasonable accommodation (RA) interactive process should be engaged and a request for medically supporting information may be requested. For more information on the HHS RA procedures, contact the RA program office at EEOSC.Accommodations@hhs.gov, or at (202) 619-1564.
For more information on PAS or to make a request for reasonable accommodation, contact the Agency’s RA program office at EEOSC.Accommodations@hhs.gov, or at (202) 619-1564.