The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has put on hold a policy change made earlier this week that prohibited workers with disabilities from working from home as a reasonable accommodation, according to internal documents shared with USA TODAY.

Approved employees with qualifying disabilities and medical issues were previously allowed to work from home for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and CDC if their condition demanded or justified it. However, a recent HHS telework policy issued on Aug. 13, but not enforced until Sept. 15, repealed that option in what the agencies described as compliance with President Donald Trump’s return-to-work memorandum issued on Feb. 7, as previously reported by USA TODAY.

As of Friday, Sept. 19, the CDC has reversed course on the measure, at least temporarily. In emails reviewed by USA TODAY, employees were told by the CDC Office of Human Resources (OHR) that the implementation of the new policy had been "put on hold" and employees could continue their telework agreements until further notice.

One email from the OHR sent to CDC supervisors and management told them to hold off on taking immediate action on the policy announced last month as the CDC "seeks clarification" from HHS. In one email sent to all staff, a CDC supervisor said he believed the move to be an "interim pause" until HHS provides more information.

USA TODAY had reached out to HHS and CDC for comment.

Union president: 'Sweeping civil rights violation'

Yolanda Jacobs, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2883, one of the unions representing CDC staffers, said dozens of people who already had longstanding accommodations to work from home due to conditions like multiple sclerosis, compromised immune systems, or high-risk pregnancies, also had their existing, permanent approvals revoked the week of Sept. 15. Some were told to return to the office immediately with 24 hours or, in one case, less than eight hours’ notice, Jacobs said.

"This represents the most sweeping civil rights violation against federal employees in decades,” the union said in a statement. Reasonable accommodations are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act and, in the case of federal workers, the Rehabilitation Act (RA) of 1973, but the legal waters around telework as specifically protected accommodation are muddy.

"Reversing such a flagrant violation of federal disability law is a step in the right direction," Jacobs said in a statement to USA TODAY. "For the sake of the hundreds of employees with disabilities who would be severely impacted by a return to their recent stance, I hope the agency continues to do the right thing, the legal thing."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: CDC backtracks on remote work ban for employees with disabilities

Reporting by Mary Walrath-Holdridge, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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