A recent order from President Trump to remove all federal DEIA-related positions has led to some deaf employees being unable to access ASL interpreting services and other accommodations.
White House ASL interpretation at news conferences, broadcasts & YouTube videos posted on their channel have not been provided.
Legal Experts are saying this may be a violation of Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Federal law requiring reasonable accommodations provided to employees by the government) & The Americans with Disability Act (requiring equal access to the disabled).
GEL Partner, Kevin Owen, recently shared his thoughts with WashingtonPost.com.
Kevin Owen, a Washington-area employment lawyer who represents federal employees, said he is seeing an increasing number of accessibility and accommodation issues arise in multiple parts of the government, which is concerning.
“It appears to be emerging more as an attack on the deaf community,” Owen said.
In some government agencies, accommodation services and DEI trainings are provided by the same offices, whereas other agencies keep the two separate, Owen said. As a result, some have placed interpreters and those who coordinate accommodation services on leave while others have not, he said.
Smaller agencies may be the first ones where accommodations services were affected, Owen said.
“If you’re a small agency, you may have the same person who did the annual DEI training and sexual harassment training also handling the accommodations services because they didn’t have the budget to separate them,” he explained.
Federal employees must file complaints with their agency’s equal employment opportunity office. If unresolved, the claims may make their way to the EEOC, the federal agency tasked with handling workplace discrimination claims, or U.S. district court, Owen said.
Even if equal employment opportunity offices are short-staffed or there is no response, the process is set up in a way where employees still have the right to file complaints and eventually take them to court, Owen said.
To learn more and read the full Washington Post article, click here.