Resolution 2021-05 Regarding the Inaccessibility of Kronos

Resolution: 2021-05

WHEREAS, Kronos is an online web-based system used by state employees to track work hours, breaks, and all types of leave; and

WHEREAS, because Kronos is not compatible with the screen reading programs needed by blind employees to perform their jobs, it is, in effect, not accessible to nor usable by nonvisual users; and

WHEREAS, as a result, state employees who need to use screen reading software to perform their jobs must prevail upon their supervisors or obtain other visual assistance to enter time worked, request leave, check leave balances, and (in the case of management personnel) approve the time entered by others; and

WHEREAS, by contrast, other states have implemented time-tracking systems that are completely accessible to and usable by blind employees who use screen reading software on the job, thus confirming that there are nonvisually accessible systems on the market which could replace Kronos; and

WHEREAS, since 2001, the State of Colorado has been mandated by law to acquire technology that is nonvisually accessible, and since the passage of HB21-1110, the State of Colorado is required now to ensure that systems and software are not only accessible to the blind but also to people with other disabilities; and

WHEREAS, while Governor Polis and state departments within the Executive Branch have dramatically increased their focus on equity, diversity, and inclusion, this focus has, ironically, not translated into efforts to make Kronos more accessible to blind state employees: Now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado in convention assembled this 31st day of October, 2021, in the city of Lone Tree, Colorado, that this organization condemn and deplore the policies and practices in Colorado State government that have permitted Kronos—a system that is completely inaccessible to and unusable by blind people who use screen reading software—to operate for decades; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization declare that Kronos is a system that is in direct violation of state law and determinedly opposed to the spirit of equity, diversity, and inclusion expressed in Governor Polis’ executive order D 2020 175 in which he declared, “We do not build walls of exclusion in Colorado—we build ladders of opportunity”; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization insist that all agencies in Colorado State government move speedily toward the implementation of a Kronos replacement that is fully accessible to everyone—including blind users who rely on screen reading software—thereby creating a ladder of opportunity which enables them to perform the duties of their jobs without any unnecessary impediments to full and equal access to information.