Disability-Rights Advocates Worry Politics Delays Workplace Rule

Advocates for employees with disabilities said new guidelines on discrimination in the workplace from the U.S. Equal Employment Commission are being delayed by political opposition from business.

The agency abruptly deleted the proposal today from the agenda for a meeting, a week after business groups led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce pressed the Obama administration to block the guidelines.

Employers are required to provide “reasonable accommodation” for people with disabilities, such as extended unpaid leave for necessary treatment. The Chamber said it was concerned that the guidelines, which weren’t released, would make it harder for employers to deal with requests for leave.

“It just does worry me that political opposition from one side, sort of in the middle of the process, generates a political response of delay,” Brian East, senior attorney with Austin, Texas-based Disability Rights Texas, said in an interview. “It reminds me of the early days of agency regulation and how we went years without regulations and clear enforceable mandates.”

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