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discrimination under any program or activity conducted by the agency.

$1175.150 Program accessibility: Existing facilities.

(a) General. The agency shall operate each program or activity so that the program or activity, when viewed in its entirety, is readily accessible to and usable by handicapped persons. This paragraph does not

(1) Necessarily require the agency to make each of its existing facilities accessible to and usable by handicapped persons; or

(2) Require the agency to take any action that it can demonstrate would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens. In those circumstances where agency personnel believe that the proposed action would fundamentally alter the program or activity or would result in undue financial and administrative burdens, the agency has the burden of proving that compliance with § 1175.150(a) would result in such alteration or burdens. The decision that compliance would result in such alteration or burdens must be made by the agency head or his or her designee after considering all agency resources available for use in the funding and operation of the conducted program or activity, and must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for reaching that conclusion. If an action would result in such an alteration or such burdens, the agency shall take any other action that would not result in such an alteration or such burdens but would nevertheless ensure that handicapped persons receive the benefits and services of the program or activity.

(b) Methods. The agency may comply with the requirements of this section through such means as redesign of equipment, reassignment of services to accessible buildings, assignment of aides to beneficiaries, home visits, delivery of services at alternate accessible sites, alteration of existing facilities and construction of new facilities, use of accessible rolling stock, or any other methods that result in making its programs or activities readily accessible to and usable by handi

capped persons. The agency is nor required to make structural changes in existing facilities where other methods are effective in achieving compliance with this section. The agency, in making alterations to existing buildings, shall meet accessibility requirements to the extent compelled by the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4151 through 4157), and any regulations implementing it. In choosing among available methods for meeting the requirements of this section, the agency shall give priority to those methods that offer programs and activities to qualified handicapped persons in the most integrated setting appropriate.

(c) Time period for compliance. The agency shall comply with the obligations established under this section by June 6, 1986, except that where structural changes in facilities are undertaken, such changes shall be made by April 7, 1989, but in any event as expeditiously as possible.

(d) Transition plan. In the event that structural changes to facilities will be undertaken to achieve program accessibility, the agency shall develop, by October 7, 1986, a transition plan setting forth the steps necessary to complete such changes. The agency shall provide an opportunity to interested persons, including handicapped persons or organizations representing handicapped persons, to participate in the development of the transition plan by submitting comments (both oral and written). A copy of the transition plan shall be made available for public inspection. The plan shall, at a mini

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(1) Identify physical obstacles in the agency's facilities that limit the accessibility of its programs or activities to handicapped persons;

(2) Describe in detail the methods that will be used to make the facilities accessible;

(3) Specify the schedule for taking the steps necessary to achieve compliance with this section and, if the time period of the transition plan is longer than one year, identify steps that will be taken during each year of the transition period; and

(4) Indicate the official responsible for implementation of the plan.

[51 FR 4578 and 4579, Feb. 5, 1986; 51 FR 7543, Mar. 5, 1986]

§ 1175.151 Program accessibility: New construction and alterations.

Each building or part of a building that is constructed or altered by, on behalf of, or for the use of the agency shall be designed, constructed, or altered so as to be readily accessible to and usable by handicapped persons. The definitions, requirements, and standards of the Architectural Barriers Act (42 U.S.C. 4151 through 4157), as established in 41 CFR 10119.600 to 101-19.607, apply to buildings covered by this section.

88 1175.152-1175.159 [Reserved]

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(a) The agency shall take appropriate steps to ensure effective communication with applicants, participants, personnel of other Federal entities, and members of the public.

(1) The agency shall furnish appropriate auxiliary aids where necessary to afford a handicapped person an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, a program or activity conducted by the agency.

(i) In determining what type of auxiliary aid is necessary, the agency shall give primary consideration to the requests of the handicapped person.

(ii) The agency need not provide individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices of a personal nature.

(2) Where the agency communicates with applicants and beneficiaries by telephone, telecommunication devices for deaf persons (TDD's) or equally effective telecommunication shall be used.

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(b) The agency shall ensure that interested persons, including persons with impaired vision or hearing, can obtain information as to the existence and location of accessible services, activities, and facilities.

(c) The agency shall provide signage at a primary entrance to each of its inaccessible facilities, directing users to a location at which they can obtain information about accessible facilities. The international symbol for accessi

bility shall be used at each primary entrance of an accessible facility.

(d) This section does not require the agency to take any action that it can demonstrate would result in a fundamental alteration in the nature of a program or activity or in undue financial and administrative burdens. In those circumstances where agency personnel believe that the proposed action would fundamentally alter the program or activity or would result in undue financial and administrative burdens, the agency has the burden of proving that compliance with §1175.160 would result in such alteration or burdens. The decision that compliance would result in such alteration or burdens must be made by the agency head or his or her designee after considering all agency resources available for use in the funding and operation of the conducted program or activity, and must be accompanied by a written statement of the reasons for reaching that conclusion. If an action required to comply with this section would result in such an alteration or such burdens, the agency shall take any other action that would not result in such an alteration or such burdens but would nevertheless ensure that, to the maximum extent possible, handicapped persons receive the benefits and services of the program or activity.

§§ 1175.161-1175.169 [Reserved]

1175.170 Compliance procedures.

(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, this section applies to all allegations of discrimination on the basis of handicap in programs or activities conducted by the agency.

(b) The agency shall process complaints alleging violations of section 504 with respect to employment according to the procedures established by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 29 CFR Part 1613 pursuant to section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 791).

(c) The Director, Office of Equal Opportunity shall be responsible for coordinating implementation of this section. Complaints may be sent to Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, National Endowment for the Humanities,

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(d) The agency shall accept and investigate all complete complaints for which it has jurisdiction. All complete complaints must be filed within 180 days of the alleged act of discrimination. The agency may extend this time period for good cause.

(e) If the agency receives a complaint over which it does not have jurisdiction, it shall promptly notify the complainant and shall make reasonable efforts to refer the complaint to the appropriate government entity.

(f) The agency shall notify the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board upon receipt of any complaint alleging that a building or facility that is subject to the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968, as amended (42 U.S.C. 4151 through 4157), or section 502 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 792), is not readily accessible to and usable by handicapped persons.

(g) Within 180 days of the receipt of a complete complaint for which it has jurisdiction, the agency shall notify the complainant of the results of the investigation in a letter containing

(1) Findings of fact and conclusions of law;

(2) A description of a remedy for each violation found;

(3) A notice of the right to appeal. (h) Appeals of the findings of fact and conclusions of law or remedies must be filed by the complainant within 90 days of receipt from the agency of the letter required by § 1175.170(g). The agency may extend this time for good cause.

(i) Timely appeals shall be accepted and processed by the head of the agency.

(j) The head of the agency shall notify the complainant of the results of the appeal within 60 days of the receipt of the request. If the head of the agency determines that additional information is needed from the complainant, he or she shall have 60 days from the date of receipt of the additional information to make his or her determination on the appeal.

(k) The time limits cited in paragraphs (g) and (j) of this section may

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(a) Purpose. Many individuals in society possess great productive potential which goes unrealized because they cannot meet the requirements of a standard workweek. Permanent parttime employment also provides benefits to other individuals in a variety of ways, such as providing older individuals with a gradual transition into retirement, providing employment opportunities to handicapped individuals or others who require a reduced workweek, providing parents with opportunities to balance family responsibilities with the need for added income, and assisting students who must finance their own education or vocational training. In view of this, the National Endowment for the Humanities will operate a part-time career employment program, consistent with its responsibilities and in accordance with Pub. L. 95-437, the Federal Employees' Part-Time Career Employment Act of 1978.

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(b) Program Coordinator. The Personnel Officer is responsible for program operation and coordination.

81176.2 Definitions.

(a) "Part-time employment" means employment of 16 to 32 hours a week under a schedule consisting of an equal or varied number of hours per day, whether in a position which would be part-time without regard to the Act or one established to allow job-sharing or comparable arrangements, but does not include employment on a temporary or intermittent basis.

(b) "Career employment" includes competitive and excepted service employees in tenure groups I and II.

§ 1176.3 Criteria.

Positions becoming vacant, unless excepted as provided by § 1176.8, will be reviewed to determine the feasibility of converting them to part-time. Among the criteria which may be used when conducting this review are: (a) Mission requirements. (b) Workload.

(c) Employment ceilings and budgetary considerations.

(d) Availability of qualified applicants willing to work part-time.

§ 1176.4 Establishing and converting parttime positions.

Position management and other internal reviews may indicate that positions may be either converted from full-time or initially established as part-time positions. Criteria listed in § 1176.3 may be used during these reviews. If a decision is made to convert to or to establish a part-time position, regular position management and classification procedures will be followed.

§ 1176.5 Annual plan.

(a) An agencywide plan for promoting part-time employment opportunities will be developed annually. This plan will establish annual goals and set interim and final deadlines for achieving these goals. This plan will be applicable throughout the agency, and will be transmitted to the Office of Personnel Management with the required report to OPM on the status of

the program as of September 30 of each year.

(b) Beginning in FY 1981 in administering personnel ceilings, part-time career employees shall be counted against ceiling authorizations as a fraction. This will be determined by dividing 40 hours into the average number of hours of such employee's regularly scheduled workweek.

81176.6 Review and evaluation.

Regular employment reports will be used to determine levels of part-time employment. This program will also be designated an item of special interest to be reviewed during personnel management reviews.

§ 1176.7 Publicizing vacancies.

When applicants from outside the Federal service are desired, part-time vacanies may be publicized through various recruiting means, such as:

(a) Federal Job Information Centers. (b) State Employment Offices. (c) Veterans' Administration Recruiting Bulletins.

§ 1176.8 Exceptions.

(a) The Personnel Officer may except positions from inclusion in this program to provide fewer than 16 hours per week. This will normally be done in furtherance of special hiring programs such as the Stay-in-School or Handicapped Employment Program.

(b) On occasions when it becomes necessary to allow supervisors and managers to temporarily increase the hours of duty of employees above 32 hours per week for limited and specific periods of time to meet heavy workloads, perform special assignments, permit employee training, etc., the Endowment policy is as follows:

(1) Requests to work NEH employees on a 32 hour/week appointment more than 32 hours must be submitted in advance to the Personnel Office;

(2) Justification should be concise but specific and must state the exact time frame for the increase in hours above 32 hours per week; and

(3) The Program Coordinator will decide if the request meets the intent of the law and this agency's policy.

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§ 1177.1 Purpose and scope.

This part prescribes standards and procedures for officers and employees of the National Endowment for the Humanities who are responsible for the collection and disposition of debts owed to the United States. The authority for this part is the Federal Claims Collection Act of 1966, as amended, 31 U.S.C. 3711 and 3716 through 3719; the Federal Claims Collection Standards at 4 CFR Parts 101 through 105, as amended by 49 FR 8889, 5 U.S.C. 552a, and Office of Management and Budget Circular A-129. The activities covered include: collecting claims in any amount; compromising claims, or suspending or terminating the collection of claims that do not exceed $20,000 exclusive of interest and charges, and referring debts that cannot be disposed of by the Endowment to the Department of Justice or to the General Accounting Office for further administrative action or litigation.

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gram beneficiaries; overpayments to contractors and grantees, including overpayments arising from audit disallowances; excessive cash advances to grantees and contractors; and civil penalties and assessments. A debt is overdue or delinquent if it is not paid by the due date specified in the initial notice of the debt (see § 1177.6 of this part) or if the debtor fails to satisfy his or her obligation under a repayment agreement.

(b) "Debtor" means an individual, organization, group, association, partnership, or corporation indebted to the United States, or the person or entity with legal responsibility for assuming the debtor's obligation.

(c) "Endowment" means the National Endowment for the Humanities.

(d) “Administrative offset” means satisfying a debt by withholding money payable by the United States to or held by the United States for a debtor.

§ 1177.3 Other remedies.

The remedies and sanctions available to the National Endowment for the Humanities under this part are not intended to be exclusive. The Chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities or his designee may impose other appropriate sanctions upon a debtor for prolonged or repeated failure to pay a debt. For example, the Chairperson or his designee may place the debtor's name on a list of debarred, suspended, or ineligible grantees and contractors, convert the method of payment under a grant from an advance to a reimbursement method, or revoke a grantee's letter of credit. In such cases the debtor will be advised of the Endowment's action.

§ 1177.4 Claims involving criminal activity or misconduct.

(a) A debtor whose indebtedness involves criminal activity such as fraud, embezzlement, theft, or misuse of government funds or property is subject to punishment by fine or imprisonment as well as to a civil claim by the United States for compensation for the misappropriated funds. The Endowment will refer these cases to the

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