CDC backtracks on changing work-from-home accommodations
Days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told employees it was pausing all long-term work-from-home accommodations, the agency is reversing course, according to an email reviewed by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On Tuesday, the CDC posted an internal note detailing the Department of Health and Human Services’ updated policy that removed telework as a “reasonable accommodation” option for employees.
The CDC’s Office of Human Resources had requested clarification regarding the new policy but said until further notice all approvals, including those for employees with disabilities, were paused, according to the note.
But on Thursday, the CDC’s acting human resources director Nathan Wells sent an email to senior leaders and management instructing them to “please hold on taking any immediate action” as the CDC sought clarification and coordinated with HHS on “various implementation issues” related to the telework and reasonable accommodation policies, the message reviewed by the AJC said.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, two unions representing CDC employees condemned the policy change, saying it “violates the civil rights of federal workers with disabilities.”
“This represents the most sweeping civil rights violation against federal employees in decades,” two chapters of the American Federation of Government Employees said in a statement at the time.
AFGE Local 2883 later posted guidance for CDC supervisors on compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying the telework policy change “is not in compliance with federal employment disability law.”
“You must remain in compliance, at all times, with specific ADA and other federal employment disability rules, regulations, and procedures when handling reasonable accommodations. Failing to do so opens you and the Agency to legal liability,” the guidance said, with words italicized for emphasis.
The decision on pausing work-from-home approvals came just one day after CDC employees returned to work this week for the first time since a gunman opened fire on the agency’s headquarters on Aug. 8.
CDC employees were told to come back in an email from the agency’s new chief operating officer, Lynda Chapman, who said last month the agency was taking “necessary steps to restore our workplace” and would “return to regular on-site operations” by Sept. 15.
About the Author
Mirtha Donastorg is a reporter on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s business team focusing on Black wealth, entrepreneurship, and minority-owned businesses as well as innovation at Atlanta’s HBCUs.
