DOL Emailed Disability Accommodation Data to a Personal Inbox: What Affected Federal Employees Should Know
If you asked the Department of Labor for a disability accommodation, your name — and the reason you asked — may be sitting in somebody’s personal email inbox right now. That is what the department itself is telling employees, in letters reported by Government Executive: someone with authorized access emailed a spreadsheet of accommodation data to a personal email address — and not just once.
What Was in the Spreadsheet
According to the notices, the data included names, duty stations, job titles, and pay grades — along with the category of each employee’s functional limitation, such as mental health, chronic health conditions, pregnancy, vision, hearing, or mobility. One union official put it this way: “We have been contacted by about 80 people in an hour … essentially everyone who has applied for an RA.” DOL says it learned of the incident on July 22 and that no Social Security numbers or specific diagnoses were included.
What the Law Requires
Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act carries the ADA’s confidentiality rules: medical information from the accommodation process is supposed to stay in separate, confidential files. The EEOC has treated improper disclosure as itself a violation. So yes — this is alarming, and there very well might be a legal violation.
Honest Lawyer Talk: What a Breach Claim Is Worth
What a breach claim is worth varies with the harm you can prove. Would it surprise us if, based on this alone, there were awards of $500, $1,000, or $5,000? No — but it would depend on the actual damages you went through.
Your Stronger Claim May Be Underneath
The bigger question may be whether DOL has constructively denied your reasonable accommodation request. The department has a backlog of hundreds of these requests — some pending over a year. Under EEOC guidance, an unreasonable delay can itself be a denial, and a wrongful denial may be your strongest case. These cases have to be handled case by case, and we cannot speak categorically — but accommodation requests are usually decided in about 30 days. If you have been waiting longer than a month or so, you may have a strong legal claim, and it may be worth consulting a federal employee attorney about the costs and benefits of pursuing it.
What to Do Now
To every employee who filled out that paperwork: you shared that information because the law asks for it — so you could keep doing your job. You are not overreacting.
Save everything — the breach notice, your original request, the dates, the follow-ups, any denial. And remember the EEO clock is short: generally 45 days to contact an EEO counselor. Whether to file is a personal decision, and it is one worth making with full information.
If this is you, Southworth PC offers free, confidential consultations — we represent federal employees nationwide and worldwide, wherever you are. Your service is worth protecting; if you ever need legal help, we hope you will consider protecting it together with the federal employee lawyers at Southworth PC.
Legal Disclaimer: This content is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Federal employment situations are fact-specific and time-sensitive. Please consult a qualified federal employment attorney about your specific situation.