U.S.

Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Office of the Assistant Attorney General Washington, D.C. 20035

Ms. Susan Logan

Associate Director
Division of Continuing Education
Texas Tech University
Box 4110
Lubbock, Texas 79409-2191

Dear Ms. Logan:

This letter is in response to your letter regarding the

applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act's (ADA)
requirements to warehouse rooms.

The ADA authorizes the Department to provide technical

assistance to entities that are subject to the Act. This letter
provides informal guidance to assist you in understanding how the
ADA may apply to your University. This technical assistance,
however, does not constitute a determination by the Department of
Justice of the University's rights or responsibilities under the
ADA and does not constitute a binding determination by the
Department of Justice.

Texas Tech University, as we understand, is a public entity,

which is covered by title II of the ADA. Effective January 26,
1992, title II prohibits discrimination on the basis of
disability by public entities. The Department of Justice is
responsible for implementation of title II of the ADA. Enclosed
are copies of our title II rule and a technical assistance manual
explaining the rule.

If Texas Tech University is part of a program that receives

financial assistance from any Federal agency, then the University
is also subject to section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,
as amended, and the implementing Department of Education
regulation at 34 C.F.R. pt. 104 (1991). Section 504 prohibits
discrimination on the basis of handicap in federally assisted
programs and activities.

01-00706​
-2-
In your letter, you explained that in order to house a large
inventory of textbooks, the University is making two changes to a
warehouse room. First, sales transactions will occur at the door
of the warehouse room. The door is being fitted with a half door
with a ledge built onto the bottom half of the door to facilitate
transactions. It is not apparent from the letter whether the
ledge would be accessible to persons who use wheelchairs.
Second, the University is arranging seven foot high shelves to
house the large inventory of textbooks, and the arrangement of
shelving will not provide wheelchair access to the textbooks in
the room.

You also explained that employees in the warehouse room

would bring boxes of books from the basement of the building,
stock high book shelves, retrieve the books from these shelves,
and conduct sales transactions from the door. Specifically you
asked whether the nature of the work to be done in the warehouse
room would disqualify persons who use wheelchairs from employment
in the room and whether the room would be exempt from the ADA.

Many of the provisions contained in the title II regulation

are based on section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and its
implementing regulations. The following are basic employment and
program accessibility requirements under title II and section
504.

With respect to possible employment in the warehouse,

covered entities must provide reasonable accommodation to the
known physical or mental limitations of a qualified individual
with a disability who is an applicant or employee, unless the
entity can demonstrate that the accommodation would impose an
undue hardship on the operation of the program (see 28 C.F.R.
S35.140 (title II rule); and 34 C.F.R. S104.12 (Education's
section 504 rule)). If an individual with a disability works in
the warehouse room, the question of whether an accommodation,
including modifying the shelves, is required, would need to be
determined on a case-by-case basis.

As to access at the door of the warehouse room for students

with disabilities who want to purchase textbooks, two different
requirements are applicable. First, the title II rule, as well
as the section 504 rule, requires that alterations, to the
maximum extent feasible, be made in an accessible manner
01-00707​
-3-
(S35.151(b) of the title II rule; and 34 C.F.R. S104.23(b)
(section 504 rule)). The section 504 rule at S104.23 provides
that compliance with the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards
(UFAS) is considered compliance with the alterations
requirements. The title II rule at S35.151(c) permits the use of
either UFAS or the ADA Accessibility Guidelines, which are an
appendix to the Department's regulation implementing title III of
the ADA (also enclosed). Section 7 of each of these standards
covers sales and service counters.

Second, the title II rule, like the section 504 rule, also
requires a public entity to make its programs, services, and
activities accessible, except where to do so would result in a
fundamental alteration in the nature of the program or in undue
financial and administrative burdens (see SS35.150(a) and (a)(3)
of the title II rule). With respect to the services provided at
the door of the warehouse room, if necessary to achieve program
accessibility, the University may need to lower the ledge of the
door to an accessible height, or open the door to provide the
service.

I hope this information has been helpful.

Sincerely,

John R. Dunne
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division

Enclosures (4)
01-00708