CDC pauses remote work arrangements for employees with disabilities, union says

"A union representing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers is accusing the federal agency of jeopardizing accommodations for its disabled employees by ending remote work. In January, the Office of Personnel Management said federal employees would have to return to the office full-time, with the exception of those "excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor.""

"Then, last month, the Department of Health and Human Services, the parent agency of the CDC, released an updated telework policy that does not include telework as a reasonable accommodation. Members of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), a union representing over 800,000 federal employees across the U.S., say that the revised policy's lack of clarity around remote work has stoked confusion among staff members with remote-work arrangements as well as their supervisors."

"NPR has obtained a copy of a memo with CDC branding from a person who was not authorized to release it. The memo, dated Sept. 16., says the new telework policy no longer includes telework as a reasonable accommodation available to employees. The CDC, it said, will defer to the HHS on how to proceed with disabled employees' telework accommodations, and that, "until additional clarification is received," approvals for any pending requests for remote work accommodations would be "paused until further notice.""

AFGE warns that CDC and HHS telework policy changes may jeopardize remote-work accommodations for disabled CDC employees. OPM directed federal staff to return to the office full-time except for those "excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head and the employee's supervisor." HHS issued an updated telework policy that omits telework as a reasonable accommodation. AFGE members report confusion among employees and supervisors and delayed communication. A CDC-branded memo dated Sept. 16 states CDC will defer to HHS and pause approvals for pending remote-work accommodation requests "until additional clarification is received." Some disabled employees await final decisions.

Read at TPR