Essential Functions
SUMMARY: When thinking about reasonable accommodations in the workplace for an employee with a disability, it is often useful to consider essential functions and marginal functions.
Essential Functions
According to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), “essential functions are the basic job duties that an employee must be able to perform, with or without a reasonable accommodation,” in order to be qualified for a job. It is important to remember that in order to be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), an individual must be qualified. Therefore, essential functions are a key component in determining whether or not someone is qualified for their job.
Essential job functions are determined using a number of factors. The EEOC states that “if a written job description has been prepared in advance of advertising or interviewing applicants for a job, this will be considered as evidence, although not conclusive evidence, of the essential functions of a job.”
Other considerations in determining essential functions of a job include whether the position exists to perform that function, the number of employees available to perform the function or among whom the function can be distributed, and the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function. The EEOC also considers the employerÌ¥’s judgment on what is essential, whether or not incumbents or past employees actually completed the specific function, the time spent performing the function, the consequences of not performing the function, and in unionized environments, the terms of collective bargaining agreements.
Marginal Functions
Some job duties do not meet the essential standard. These are called marginal job functions. Marginal job functions are duties that are not central to the position. A qualified individual with a disability does not have to be able to perform marginal functions of a position in order to be qualified.
Reasonable Accommodations and Job Functions
Although an employer is under no obligation to remove essential job functions as a reasonable accommodation, it is reasonable to ask that marginal job functions be reassigned.