(a) An applicant or recipient adversely affected by an order suspending, terminating or refusing to grant or continue Federal financial assistance shall be restored to full eligibility to receive Federal financial assistance if it satisfies the terms and conditions of that order for such eligibility, brings itself into compliance with this part and satisfies the Assistant Secretary that it will fully comply with section 504 and this part.

(b) Any applicant or recipient adversely affected by an order suspending, terminating or refusing to grant or continue Federal financial assistance may request the Assistant Secretary to restore fully its eligibility to receive Federal financial assistance. Any such request shall be supported by information showing that the applicant or recipient has met the requirements of subparagraph (a) of this paragraph. If the Assistant Secretary determines that those requirements have been satisfied, the applicant's or recipient's eligibility shall be restored.

(c) If the Assistant Secretary denies any such request, the applicant or recipient may submit a written request for a hearing, specifying why it believes the Assistant Secretary to have been in error. It shall thereupon be given an expeditious hearing, with a decision on the record, in accordance with rules of procedure specified in this part. The applicant or recipient will be restored to such eligibility if it proves at such hearing that it satisfied the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section. While proceedings under this paragraph are pending, the sanctions imposed by the order suspending, terminating or refusing to grant or continue Federal financial assistance shall remain in effect.

(a) Each recipient shall maintain for a period of not less than three years records regarding complaints and actions taken thereunder, and such employment or other records as required by the Assistant Secretary or by this part and shall furnish such information in the form required by the Assistant Secretary or as the Assistant Secretary deems necessary for the administration of the Act and regulations in this part.

(b) Failure to maintain and furnish complete and accurate records as required under this section is a ground for the imposition of appropriate sanctions.

Each recipient shall permit access and copying during normal business hours to its places of business, books, records and accounts pertinent to compliance with the Act, and all rules and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto for the purposes of investigation.

Ruling under or interpretations of the Act and the regulations contained in this part 32 shall be made by the Assistant Secretary.

Accommodations may take many forms based on the type of handicap and the needs of the individual. In developing appropriate accommodations, the individual should be consulted as to particular needs.

The following is a list of possible types of accommodations provided for guidance and technical assistance. These suggestions are not mandatory, and other forms of accommodation not described herein may be required if they are appropriate to meet the needs of particular handicapped individuals.

(a) Job restructuring means the procedure which includes:

(1) Identifying the separate tasks that comprise a job or group of jobs;

(2) Developing new position descriptions which retain some of the tasks of the original job; and

(3) Developing a career ladder which builds upward from the new positions which contain the lesser skilled tasks to regular jobs. A restructured job can be clearly different from the original one in terms of skills, knowledge, abilities, and work experience needed to perform the work. Job restructuring is intended to maximize the abilities of the particular handicapped person and is not intended to permit a recipient to underemploy or job-stereotype that person. A restructured job, for example, could be one in which the more highly skilled but physically less demanding duties are retained, e.g. operating controls and switches in a steel mill, and less skilled, physically taxing duties, e.g. lifting, pulling, are reassigned to non-handicapped employees.

(b) Modify job or program schedules, for example, by allowing for a flexible schedule a few days a week so that a participant or employee may undergo medical treatment or therapy. Work-times or participation in program activities may also be altered to permit handicapped individuals to travel to and from work during non-rush hours. For employees or participants who become unable to perform the duties of their positions because of a physical or mental condition, recipients may be required to grant liberal time off or leave without pay when paid sick leave is exhausted and when the disability is of a nature that it is likely to respond to treatment of hospitalization. See, e.g., 339 Federal Personnel Manual-1-3(b)(1).

(c) Modify program and work procedures and training time.

(d) Relocate particular offices or jobs or program activities so that they are in facilities accessible to and usable by qualified handicapped persons. For example, an employee or participant with a respiratory ailment can be placed in a “nonsmoking” and/or well-ventilated office.

(e) Acquire or modify equipment or devices. For hearing-impaired participants or employees, this may include placing amplifiers on telephone receivers, making telephone equipment compatible with hearing aids, providing flashing lights to supplement telephone rings or installing telecommunications devices (TDD's or TTY's). For blind participants or employees, this may include providing tape recorders or dictating machines for those who cannot type. For wheelchair-users, this may include raising on blocks a desk that is otherwise too low for the employee, rather than purchasing a specially-made desk. A recipient is not obligated to acquire or modify equipment that enables a participant or employee to perform a particular job or participate in a particular program until after an employee with a need for these modifications is hired for a particular office or admitted to a program.

(f) Provide readers, interpreters, and similar assistance as needed for deaf, blind and other handicapped participants or employees. In most instances, this would not require a full-time assistant.

(g) Decrease reliance solely on one form of communication. For example, for deaf participants or employees this may include supplementing program or job orientation sessions with written manuals and other visual materials. If appropriate, a visual warning system should be installed. It may also include providing flashing lights to supplement auditory signals such as sirens and alarm bells. For blind employees, this may include making some communications available in braille, enlarged print, or on cassette recordings. A recipient should tailor the accommodations listed above to the needs of the individual participants or employees who have been admitted to a particular program or hired for a particular office.

(h) Provide human relations-sensitivity training on issues pertaining to handicapped discrimination to all recipient employees.

(i) Conduct ongoing training and planning sessions with recipient supervisors, managers, personnel, technical experts and disability rights advocates to implement and evaluate methods of reasonable accommodation.

(a) Announce program and job vacancies in a form readily understandable by mentally handicapped persons and by persons with impaired vision or hearing, for example, by making the announcements available in braille or on cassette tapes. § 32.4(e) of DOL's proposed section 504 regulations requires recipients to insure that communications with applicants are available to persons with impaired vision or hearing. Recipients shall undertake to explain, as appropriate, program and job announcements to mentally handicapped participants or employees or applicants. For example, this might entail notifying known mentally handicapped participants or employees of openings for positions that they might be able to perform and taking specific steps to clearly explain the nature of the program or job and its benefits to that individual.

(b) Provide readers, interpreters, and other similar assistance during the application, testing, and interview process.

(c) Appropriately adjust or modify examinations so that the test results accurately reflect the applicant's skills, aptitude or whatever other factor the test purports to measure, rather than reflecting the applicant's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where those skills are the factors that the test purports to measure). This may require the extension of traditional time deadlines or allowing, for example, a blind person to answer an examination orally.

(d) If necessary waive traditional tests and permit the applicant to demonstrate his or her skills through alternate techniques and utilization of adapted tools, aids, and devices.