[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 5, Volume 2, Parts 700 to 1199]
[Revised as of January 1, 2001]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 5CFR900.706]

[Page 493-494]
 
                    TITLE 5--ADMINISTRATIVE PERSONNEL
 
          CHAPTER I--OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT (Continued)
 
PART 900--INTERGOVERNMENTAL PERSONNEL ACT PROGRAMS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart G--Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Handicap in Federally 
         Assisted Programs of the Office of Personnel Management
 
Sec. 900.706  Employment practices.

    (a) General. (1) No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis 
of handicap, be subjected to discrimination in employment under a 
program or activity that receives or benefits from Federal financial 
assistance from OPM.
    (2) A recipient shall make all decisions concerning employment under 
any program or activity to which this subpart applies in a manner which 
ensures that discrimination on the basis of handicap does not occur and 
may not limit, segregate, or classify applicants or employees in any way 
that adversely affects their opportunities or status because of 
handicap.
    (3) The prohibition against discrimination in employment applies to 
the following activities:
    (i) Recruitment, advertising, and the processing of applications for 
employment;
    (ii) Hiring, upgrading, promotion, award of tenure, demotion, 
transfer, layoff, termination, right of return from layoff, and 
rehiring;
    (iii) Rates of pay or any other form of compensation and changes in 
compensation;
    (iv) Job assignments, job classifications, organizational 
structures, position descriptions, lines of progression, and seniority 
lists;
    (v) Leaves of absence, sick leave, or any other leave;
    (vi) Fringe benefits available by virtue of employment, whether or 
not administered by the recipient;
    (vii) Selection and financial support for training, including 
apprenticeship, professional meetings, conferences, and other related 
activities, and selection for leaves of absence to pursue training;
    (viii) Employer sponsored activities, including social or 
recreational programs; and
    (ix) Any other term, condition, or privilege of employment.
    (4) A recipient may not participate in a contractual or other 
relationship that has the effect of subjecting qualified handicapped 
applicants or employees to discrimination prohibited by this subpart. 
The relationships referred to in this paragraph include relationships 
with employment and referral agencies, with labor unions, with 
organizations providing or administering fringe benefits to employees of 
the recipient, and with organizations providing training and 
apprenticeship programs.
    (b) Reasonable accommodation. (1) A recipient shall make reasonable 
accommodation to the known physical or mental limitations of an 
otherwise qualified handicapped applicant or employee under any program 
or activity receiving Federal financial assistance from OPM unless the 
recipient can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an undue 
hardship on the operation of its program.
    (2) Reasonable accommodation may include, but shall not be limited 
to, making facilities readily accessible to and usable by handicapped 
persons, acquisition or modification of equipment or devices, 
appropriate adjustment or modification of examinations, the provision of 
readers and interpreters, job restructuring and providing part-time or 
modified work schedules and other similar actions.
    (3) In determining pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of this section 
whether an accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation 
of the recipient in question, factors to be considered by OPM include:
    (i) The overall size of the recipient's program with respect to the 
number of employees, number and type of facilities and size of budget;
    (ii) The type of operation, including the composition and structure 
of the work force; and
    (iii) The nature and the cost of the accommodation.
    (c) Employment criteria. (1) A recipient involved in activities 
receiving Federal financial assistance may not make use of any 
employment test or other selection criterion that screens out or tends 
to screen out handicapped persons or

[[Page 494]]

any class of handicapped persons in any program or activity that 
receives Federal financial assistance unless the test score or other 
selection criterion, as used by the recipient, is shown to be job-
related for the position in question and alternative job-related tests 
or criteria that do not screen out as many handicapped persons are not 
shown by the Office of Personnel Management's Personnel Research and 
Development Center to be available.
    (2) A recipient shall select and administer tests concerning 
employment so as to ensure that, when administered under any program or 
activity that receives Federal financial assistance from OPM, to an 
applicant or employee who has a handicap that impairs sensory, manual, 
or speaking skills, the test results accurately reflect the applicant's 
or employee's ability to perform the duties of the type of position in 
question rather than reflecting the applicant's or employee's impaired 
sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where those skills are the 
factors that the test purports to measure).
    (d) Preemployment inquiries. (1) Except as provided in paragraph 
(d)(2) of this section, a recipient, when considering an applicant for 
employment under any program or activity receiving Federal financial 
assistance from OPM, may not conduct a preemployment medical examination 
and may not make preemployment inquiry of an applicant as to whether the 
applicant is a handicapped person or as to the nature or severity of a 
handicap. A recipient may, however, make preemployment inquiry into an 
applicant's ability to perform job-related functions.
    (2) Nothing in this section shall prohibit an organization from 
conditioning an offer of employment under any program or activity 
receiving Federal financial assistance from OPM on the results of a 
medical examination conducted prior to the employee's entrance on duty: 
Provided, That (i) All entering employees are subjected to such an 
examination regardless of handicap or when a preemployment medical 
questionnaire used for positions which do not routinely require medical 
examination indicates a condition for which further examination is 
required because of the job-related nature of the condition; and
    (ii) The results of such an examination are used in accordance with 
the requirements of this subpart.