The services assist employees with certain disabilities in their activities of daily living, helping them accomplish their work, but do not involve help with direct job-related tasks. Image: Stock-Asso/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffA survey by the EEOC has found that a tenth of federal agencies are not in compliance with requirements to provide personal assistance services to employees who qualify for such services under the Rehabilitation Act.
A report on the survey says that 89 percent of sampled agencies provide such services, in most cases as part of “reasonable accommodation” policies, although only 85 percent have written policies. Of those that provide the services, all but 5 percent rated them as at least moderately effective, including 31 percent rating them as highly effective.
The services assist employees with certain disabilities in their activities of daily living, helping them accomplish their work, but do not involve help with direct job-related tasks.
The survey also focused on the impact on such services from the high rates of telework in 2020-2021, saying that “providing PAS during the pandemic was not only a logistical matter but also a safety matter.” However, it found that about two-thirds of agencies did not receive any additional requests for assistance in either year, and nine-tenths “reported that telework during the pandemic did not affect their ability to provide PAS accommodations.”
The EEOC said that overall the results were “ encouraging,” but stressed that all agencies are required to adopt PAS procedures, which have been required since 2018.
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