Review new OCR letter that may suggest a more flexible approach to process

Abstract

As previous columns have noted (https://doi.org/10.1002/dhe.31107), the Office for Civil Rights denial of accommodation investigations focus almost exclusively on process. These determination letters frequently include lengthy descriptions of how the institution processed a request, a focus that might suggest that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is an administrative procedure statute. But Section 504 is a civil rights statute whose purpose is to prohibit disability discrimination, not a procedural code for processing accommodation requests. Nevertheless, if OCR unearths process shortcomings in its investigation, it regularly relies on process failure to conclude that an institution has violated section 504, issuing a finding of discrimination and direction to reconsider the request based solely on its assessment that the institution's process fell short.