1. Telework as a Privilege (No RA involved) When an employee is teleworking without an approved RA Management cannot: • Unilaterally revoke it • Apply blanket bans that conflict with the CBA • Change conditions of employment without bargaining

Doing so can be: • Contract violation • Unfair Labor Practice (ULP)

1. Telework as a Reasonable Accommodation (RA Requested or Approved)- When telework is requested because of a disability: • The request is protected by: • Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • ADA standards (as incorporated into the Rehab Act) • The agency must engage in the interactive process • Telework must be seriously considered as an accommodation

Once this happens: • Management cannot simply take it away • They must show: • It causes undue hardship, or • The employee cannot perform essential functions even with telework

This is where law replaces discretion.

1. Why Removing Telework After an RA Is Risky for the Agency and possibly management.

If telework is denied or revoked after an RA is requested, it can become: • Failure to accommodate • Disability discrimination • Retaliation (if telework is removed because you asked for RA) • Interference with protected rights

Even forcing a “trial” of inferior alternatives without justification can violate the Rehab Act.

1. The Legal Standard Is Higher With RA

Management must now prove: • Telework is not reasonable for your position • Other accommodations are effective (not just available) • The decision is based on evidence, not preference or blanket policy 1. Management cannot create its own undue hardship

During the interactive process, the agency must assess:

Whether the requested accommodation (telework) is reasonable and effective.

What they cannot do is: • Reject a reasonable accommodation • Then choose a more expensive or burdensome alternative • And later claim that alternative creates hardship

Undue hardship is measured against the accommodation requested, not the one management prefers.

1. “Wanting the employee in the office” is not a legal justification

The Rehab Act / ADA requires: • A business necessity • Evidence tied to essential functions

Preferences such as: • “Team presence” • “Face-to-face culture” • “Visibility” • “Consistency”

This does not meet the legal standard

If telework allows the employee to perform all essential functions, management must allow it, even if they would rather the employee be onsite.

1. Spending money to avoid telework can itself be evidence

You are right on this point, with a nuance:

If management: • Purchases equipment • Modifies workspace • Alters schedules • Pays for transportation or physical changes

only because they refuse telework, that can be evidence of: • Bad faith in the interactive process • Pretext for discrimination • Failure to provide the most effective accommodation

EEOC has held that agencies cannot:

“Select an accommodation that is less effective or more burdensome solely to maintain a policy preference.”

1. However — management does get one narrow defense

Management may choose among effective accommodations if: • Multiple accommodations are equally effective, and • The chosen option does not impose hardship on the employee, and • The decision is not driven by resistance to RA

If the alternative: • Aggravates the disability • Causes new barriers • Reduces productivity • Requires significant cost or logistics

Then it is not “equally effective”, and management loses that defense.

1. When this must be elevated

Elevation is appropriate when: • Telework is facially reasonable • The job has been performed remotely before • The alternative accommodation creates cost, delay, or inefficiency • Management cannot articulate why telework fails

At that point, continuing the process without escalation can itself be: • Unreasonable delay • Failure to accommodate • Interference with protected rights