Feds Only Reasonable Accomodations

[Anonymous]

Yes. Multiple serious ortho issues (several diagnosed since 2020, and leading to 3 surgeries and two total joint replacements since 2020). Cannot do a commute more than 15 minutes each way. Current office s 90 minutes.

My manager had the power to approve the RA— and did. That set things in motion, so if RTO happens, I’m exempt for now with a presumed approval. Normally, the agency EEOC coordinator would review, ask for any additional documentation (and you want surgical reports, operative reports, PT and OT reports, imaging studies, ablations, ESis, etc since 2020, and statements from pain management and orthopedics, I got them). But my agency fired the entire EEOC office, so there is literally no one left to do the final sign off. Per the union, manager’s approval stands until there is an EEOC process in place for RAs, which is required by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:a colleague with cancer applied for recovery after their surgery and was denied. 🤷🏻‍♀️

What???? Lord, what fresh hell is this???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A number of attorneys at my office are trying to claim reasonable accommodation in order to avoid RTO because they bought houses so far away.

Why do you care??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

why do you live so far away? I say this as I got a pied a tier across the street from my office when I had a very long round trip commute. Actually was relaxing. Even more so than WFH. Had best of both worlds.

DP. I was 60% telework until COVID. 100% since. So, my agency gave up our leased space in 2022, which was about a half hour commute, and very reasonable twice a week. I can’t return to my old office. Technically, I’m now stationed 1.5 hours away. But that space can only hold NBU employees— if they hotel and only come in twice a week.

We’ll see what happens. But many of us don’t live close to the office because the office no longer exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

OMG

I’m guessing agencies are going to get flooded with requests based on mental health conditions. They will all get denied.

Well, the ADA doesn’t just disappear because Elon Musk says so. People have rights!

Except that, if I recall correctly, the public trust screening every federal employee goes through includes some language that enables your employer to take away your job if you have certain types of mental health issues.

If you are adjudicated as mentally incompetent and put on an involuntary psych hold.

Federal government of 2025 no longer maintains the position Feds should hide treatment for depression, anxiety, etc or fail to get it. Maybe at high levels it’s an issue. At public trust, they only ask if you’ve been adjudicated in competed by a court. They do not ask about mental health diagnoses or treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

why do you live so far away? I say this as I got a pied a tier across the street from my office when I had a very long round trip commute. Actually was relaxing. Even more so than WFH. Had best of both worlds.

I’ve been in the same house since 2016. I live near the metro. I was hired for a fully remote position and my colleagues live all around the country. Even before Covid, almost no people in my office were commuting 5 days a week. The office I report to used to be in downtown DC but moved out of DC and is now 90-120 min by car or over 2 hours each way by Metro.

Pretty sure I’m at the same agency and I’m in an office that is the first to go back. It’s just juts RTO, it’s going to a whole new location with a whole new commuting pattern.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

OMG

I’m guessing agencies are going to get flooded with requests based on mental health conditions. They will all get denied.

Well, the ADA doesn’t just disappear because Elon Musk says so. People have rights!

They do, but that doesn’t mean most of these requests are going to be granted.

If they are not granted, all the employee needs to do is hire a lawyer and have them file a lawsuit.

You can definitely sue, whether you can sue successfully is a different question.

Just because you ask for something and you think it is both reasonable and medically necessary doesn’t mean your employer or the court has to agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to have to move closer to your employer’s location, I’m afraid.

My kids are in high school, I am a single mom, and the area near my employer’s location is a high crime area. Who is being reasonable?

But that’s not what the ADA is meant to protect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Multiple serious ortho issues (several diagnosed since 2020, and leading to 3 surgeries and two total joint replacements since 2020). Cannot do a commute more than 15 minutes each way. Current office s 90 minutes.

My manager had the power to approve the RA— and did. That set things in motion, so if RTO happens, I’m exempt for now with a presumed approval. Normally, the agency EEOC coordinator would review, ask for any additional documentation (and you want surgical reports, operative reports, PT and OT reports, imaging studies, ablations, ESis, etc since 2020, and statements from pain management and orthopedics, I got them). But my agency fired the entire EEOC office, so there is literally no one left to do the final sign off. Per the union, manager’s approval stands until there is an EEOC process in place for RAs, which is required by law.

If you are able to commute, but not from the distance where you happen to live, you are probably out of luck.

An employee who had the exact same medical condition that you do who lived 15 minutes away would be medically able to be in the office. Your employer doesn’t control where you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to have to move closer to your employer’s location, I’m afraid.

My kids are in high school, I am a single mom, and the area near my employer’s location is a high crime area. Who is being reasonable?

But that’s not what the ADA is meant to protect.

+1. The entitlement on display here is really something. Didn’t vote for Trump but sometimes I’m like, yeah, that a chainsaw to it. Eff these people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to have to move closer to your employer’s location, I’m afraid.

My kids are in high school, I am a single mom, and the area near my employer’s location is a high crime area. Who is being reasonable?

Of course, the RTO shenanigans are just meant to punish federal employees and make them quit, but at this point, you have to adapt to this new world rather than expecting accommodations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

why do you live so far away? I say this as I got a pied a tier across the street from my office when I had a very long round trip commute. Actually was relaxing. Even more so than WFH. Had best of both worlds.

I’ve been in the same house since 2016. I live near the metro. I was hired for a fully remote position and my colleagues live all around the country. Even before Covid, almost no people in my office were commuting 5 days a week. The office I report to used to be in downtown DC but moved out of DC and is now 90-120 min by car or over 2 hours each way by Metro.

This is unfortunate. Especially since you were hired for a fully remote job. I definitely understand your frustration.

Some of these posters are being jerks. But it seems like you only have a few options move closer, commute or quit.

[Anonymous]

One thing to keep in mind is that, even if a worker is entitled to an accommodation, it doesn’t have to be the accommodation preferred by the employee if another accommodation would allow the person to work.

So let’s the length of the commute is the problem. If the employer offered to waive core hour requirements so that the employee could commute off hours when the commute might be substantially shorter, that might suffice. If the employee complained that such unusually work hours wouldn’t be possible because of obligations to get kids to school, for example, that may not be the employers problem.

I would expect agencies to take a pretty hardline, even at the risk of possibly losing a case or two where the employee really has an issue that can’t be accommodated another the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are going to have to move closer to your employer’s location, I’m afraid.

My kids are in high school, I am a single mom, and the area near my employer’s location is a high crime area. Who is being reasonable?

But that’s not what the ADA is meant to protect.

Well, good news: I am not asking for accommodations because of that. I’m requesting accommodations due to multiple health conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m still waiting on mine. Multiple mental heath conditions that require sleep hygiene and medications not compatible with daily 4 hours spent commuting.

Commuting is not an ADA issue. You are not entitled to accommodations to avoid the commute regardless of the condition.