Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account Guidelines

Attachment to Administrative Bulletin #20

Section 1: Establishment of Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account

Pursuant to Executive Order 526, or the successor executive order thereto, and with the approval of the Secretary for Administration and Finance, the Executive Office for Administration and Finance does hereby establish the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account or RACRA.

Section 2.  Purpose of Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account

The Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account, or RACRA, has been established to assist executive branch agencies in responding reasonably and responsibly to employee requests for reasonable accommodations in the workplace.  The RACRA shall not take the place of the agency’s responsibility to be responsive to an executive branch employee’s request for a reasonable accommodation.  Instead, the RACRA exists where an agency would experience a financial hardship in providing an otherwise reasonable accommodation pursuant to Section 3 of this Administrative Bulletin.

Section 3. Eligible Criteria to Access the RACRA

The Process for requesting assistance from the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account shall be as follows:

1. Once an eligible reasonable accommodation[1] has been requested and approved, the agency shall calculate the financial cost and determine whether the cost presents a financial hardship to the agency.
2. To qualify as a financial hardship and be eligible to receive money from the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account, the agency must either (1) establish that the specific reasonable accommodation exceeds $2,500 OR (2) identify that the agency has already spent more than 0.5% of its annual budget on reasonable accommodations for the fiscal year.   
3. If the reasonable accommodation does not qualify as a financial hardship according to paragraph (b), the Executive Office for Administration and Finance acting through the Office of Access and Opportunity will, on a case by case basis, determine whether the agency will be eligible for funding from the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account.
4. If the cost of the reasonable accommodation does present a financial hardship, as described, then the agency may fill out Reasonable Accommodation Funding Eligibility Form and apply to access the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account to cover the financial costs of the reasonable accommodation.

Section 4.  Application Process

1. The agency requesting assistance from the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account shall submit an application for assistance to the Massachusetts Office on Disability (MOD) for initial review and assessment of eligibility.  The application for assistance is attached as Appendix I.
2. The agency requesting assistance from the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account should submit the application for assistance no later than five (5) business days after the agency has determined that the employee’s request for reasonable accommodations should be approved.
3. The Director of the Massachusetts Office on Disability, or her designee, shall review the application for assistance to determine whether the application for assistance and the proposed use of funds meet the eligibility criteria established pursuant to Section 3 of this Administrative Bulletin.
4. The Massachusetts Office on Disability shall, within five business days, review the application for assistance and make a recommendation to the Office for Access and Opportunity to approve the application for assistance if the application for assistance meets the eligibility criteria established pursuant to Section 3 of this Administrative Bulletin.  Should the Massachusetts Office on Disability determine that the application for assistance does not meet the eligibility criteria as established pursuant to Section 3 of this Administrative Bulletin, it shall notify the agency requesting assistance forthwith.
5. If the Massachusetts Office on Disability recommends approval of the application for assistance to the Office for Access and Opportunity, said Office for Access and Opportunity shall have five (5) days to approve or disapprove of the application for assistance.
6. If a request for funding has been approved but the available capital in the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account is insufficient to cover 100% of the cost of the accommodation, then the agency will be responsible to fund the remaining amount.  In order to receive the funds available in the Reasonable Accommodation Capital Reserve Account, the requesting agency must document that it will pay for all remaining costs associated with the accommodation request.  When submitting an application for assistance, the Massachusetts Office on Disability will advise the agency submitting said application for assistance as to whether the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account can support 100% of the funds requested.
7. Once final approval has been made by the Office for Access and Opportunity, the Massachusetts Office on Disability will notify the agency.
8. To procure the commodity or commodities for which the funds were requested and approved, the Office for Access and Opportunity will work with the agency to effect the purchase(s).

An agency may submit an application for assistance to the Massachusetts Office on Disability at any time during the fiscal year until such time as the Office for Access and Opportunity communicates to executive branch agencies that no further applications for assistance will be accepted, upon which notice no additional applications for assistance will be accepted until the start of the new fiscal year.

Section 5.  Fiscal Year Review

The Office for Access and Opportunity, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Office on Disability and any other executive branch agency as determined by said Office for Access and Opportunity, will produce an annual report on the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account. Said annual report shall include, but not be limited to the following:

• A list of executive branch agencies that submitted applications for assistance;
• A list of the reasonable accommodations supported by the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account;
• A list of any applications for assistance that were denied assistance;
• An assessment as to the sufficiency of the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account to meet the demand of applications for assistance;
• An assessment as to the appropriateness of the indicated agency level of effort as identified in Section 3 of this Administrative Bulletin;
• The appropriateness and timeliness of the application for assistance and approvals process, and
• Any other information as determined by the Office for Access and Opportunity.

Said annual report shall be produced within sixty days after the end of the preceding fiscal year.  Said annual report may be included as part of the annual report of the Office for Access and Opportunity as required pursuant to Executive Order 527. Said annual report shall be posted on the website of the Office for Access and Opportunity.

Section 6. Prior Guidelines Rescinded

The guidelines for the Reasonable Accommodations Capital Reserve Account, as previously prepared and published by the Massachusetts Office on Disability shall be revoked and superseded upon approval of this Administrative Bulletin by the Secretary for Administration and Finance.

[1] For purposes of the Reasonable Accommodations Reserve Account, an “eligible reasonable accommodation” shall include the following: the acquisition or modification of equipment, acquisition of IT equipment including information and assistive technology, hardware and software, the reconstruction of an individual workspace to meet the accessibility needs of an employee, and/or other capital expense subject to the approval of the Massachusetts Office on Disability and the Office of Access and Opportunity.