Thread Subject: Subpart A Definitions-Undue Burden- Action Needed

Note

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From: Deborah Buck
Date: Tue, May 01 2007 6:25 AM

UNDUE BURDEN
This term is referenced in the 508 law and is defined in the Standards under
Definitions:
Reference in 508 Law: The term Undue Burden is used in section 4 of the Law
(4) ACQUISITION PLANNING.-In the event that a Federal department or agency
determines that compliance with the standards issued by the Access Board
under paragraph (2)relating to procurement imposes an undue burden, the
documentation by the department or agency supporting the procurement shall
explain why compliance creates an undue burden.

Reference in 508 Standards:
Defined in 508 Standards under Definitions
§ 1194.4 Definitions.
Current Definition:
Undue burden. Undue burden means significant difficulty or expense. In
determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, an agency
shall consider all agency resources available to the program or component
for which the product is being developed, procured, maintained, or used.


RECOMMENDATION: The Subpart A Workgroup acknowledged that the term Undue
Burden and Undue Hardship is a term already in place in other Statutes-
Section 504, the ADA, etc. The term as it is defined in the 508 Standards is
consistent with these other Statutes. In determining if an action
constitutes an Undue Burden organizations refer to the factors or
considerations set forth is those standards. Excerpt from ADA follows. The
Subpart A Workgroup is recommending that rather than including these factors
in the 508 Standards that a recommendation be made to the Access Board that
technical assistance, resources and supports should be developed to address
the needs of the 508 coordinators.

Under Title III Public Accommodations of the ADA Undue Burden is defined in
the regs: (28 C.F.R. § 36.104)
Definitions

5. The term "undue burden" means: significant difficulty or expense. In
determining whether an action would result in an undue burden, factors to be
considered include:

a. The nature and cost of the action needed;
b. The overall financial resources of the site or sites
involved in the action; the number of persons employed at the site; the
effect on expenses and resources; legitimate safety requirements that are
necessary for safe operation, including crime prevention measures; or the
impact otherwise of the action upon the operation of the site;
c. The geographic separateness, and the administrative or
fiscal relationship of the site or sites in question to any parent
corporation or entity;
d. If applicable, the overall financial resources of any
parent corporation or entity; the overall size of the parent corporation or
entity with respect to the number of its employees; the number, type and
location of its facilities; and
e. If applicable, the type of operation or operations of any
parent corporation or entity, including the composition, structure and
functions of the workforce of the parent corporation or entity. 28 C.F.R. §
36.104; 28 C.F.R. § 35.164.

Title I Employment of the ADA uses the term Undue Hardship- rather than
undue burden


ACTION:
Please indicate whether you can support this definition or if you think it
should be changed- please include your suggested changes:

___ I can accept this recommendation for increased training and technical
support.
___ I can accept this recommendation. I am recommending that the following
changes be considered.


COST BENEFITS OF PROPOSED CHANGE
Do you think this change will result in increased costs?
Do you think this proposed change will result in benefits such as increased
access for people with disabilities, increased implementation of Section
508, improve the likelihood that developers and manufacturers can and will
build products to meet the applicable standards?


BACKGROUND/EXPLANATION OF THESE EMAILS
Subpart A Workgroup Members- In the next few days you will receive several
emails from the Subpart A co-chairs. We have made significant progress in
our work of late, but need to come to some resolution. Recognizing that not
all of you have been able to join the conference calls and participate in
our discussions, we have decided to take this approach to determine whether
we have reached consensus.

You will receive several emails- the emails will be broken down between the
2 sections of Subpart A that we have been addressed to date- Definitions and
Exceptions. Within each of these categories you will received an email on
each of the issues or topics. For example, under the Definitions section we
have been reviewing and have made recommendations for definitions on
accessibility, assistive technology, comparable access, etc. You will
receive individual emails on each of the terms we've addressed. You will be
asked to take action on the terms.
* After reviewing the information you will be asked to indicate
whether you agree with the recommendation or disagree.
* If you disagree, specify the changes you think are needed. If you
need to explain your rationale, please do so. If at all possible, please do
not disagree, but then not provide alternative language.
* The group also needs to deal with cost-benefit impact of the
recommendations. Please indicate whether you think the recommended changes
will have an impact on cost of implementation and what the benefits will be
as a result of the proposed change.
* If you want, you can modify the subject in your response to indicate
whether you accept or reject the proposed language. This will enable us to
sort and categorize the responses more quickly and be prepared to see where
our efforts might need to be focused for our meeting on Thursday, May 3,
2007.
* Our plan is to have resolution of these topics and transmit the
information to the Access Board. We will then move to developing
recommendations on Subpart A: Application and hopefully close out our work.

If you need back ground information on some of the discussions- you should
refer to the Subpart A Report
http://teitac.org/wiki/Subpart_A_Report_2007-04-18





Deborah V. Buck, Executive Director
Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs (ATAP)
PO Box 32
Delmar, NY 12054
518.439.1263 (voice)
518.439.3451 (fax)
518.441.7204 (cell)
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
http://www.ataporg.org

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