Feature Article: Redefining Essential Functions to Ensure Compliance

Compliance Showcase

Redefining Essential Functions to Ensure Compliance

By Rachel Shaw, Principal Consultant and Founder, Shaw HR Consulting

@Work Magazine, January 2025

Employers are receiving more requests for accommodation, from “No heavy lifting” and “Can’t work with supervisor” to “Limited bending” and “No twisting.” How can an employer decide what is reasonable to accommodate? 

When it comes time to meet with employees to determine if they can be accommodated, there is one definitive must-have: detailed and clear data. This includes functional limitations provided by a healthcare provider and a clear, accurate picture of the demands of a job, which are often captured in a job analysis or essential functions position analysis (EFPA).

Employers commonly work to obtain medical clarification on an employee’s functional limitation, but sometimes they cut corners and don’t document (in writing) a position’s essential job functions and how they are performed. Documentation is extremely helpful to the interactive process as it can turn what might feel like a subjective analysis of an employee’s abilities into an objective analysis between two key documents: a medical note and an EFPA.

An EFPA describes the traditional physical, mental, and emotional demands of any given job classification. It is not written for individuals but for an entire job classification. Employees may perform the job slightly differently than others in the job classification, but the work they do — the essential job functions — remains the same. Understanding how those essential job functions are traditionally performed is helpful to start and support an analysis of the reasonableness of any accommodation. For example, healthcare providers don’t comment on essential functions; they state limitations such as lifting, carrying, typing, or bending restrictions. Once these are clarified, an employer can review the job analysis or EFPA to see which essential functions are affected by the restricted activity. If the activity can be performed sufficiently to complete the essential function, then this is not an issue for the employee to continue to safely perform regular duty. However, if the activity restriction does not allow an essential function to be performed as it would be traditionally, the parties will discuss whether there are accommodations such as tools or methods to accomplish the essential function. For example, if a restriction calls for reduced bending, the employee might kneel instead of bend to do the low work, or even sit on a low chair or stool.

An EFPA is a collection of straightforward and accurate data, not a personal document. It represents functions everyone in that job classification traditionally performs. Using an EFPA as an established yardstick often helps employers and employees evaluate situations in a less emotional way because it isn’t personal to the employee seeking an accommodation. It helps evaluate the employee’s abilities or limitations against the reality of the job. Because the EFPA is developed for the job, it can be used for an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation request, preemployment medical testing, and workers’ compensation claims.

An EFPA does not replace an existing job description. It complements the job description by answering questions that a job description typically does not include regarding how the essential functions in a position are performed. For example, exactly how much weight does a bus driver need to be able to push/pull to complete the essential function of wheelchair access support on a bus? Or how often, and for how long, would a plumber bend at the waist when installing new equipment?

The following chart shows an example of an EFPA section. The function numbers correlate to earlier pages in the document that list the specific essential job functions and how this specific physical activity is performed. This is important because healthcare providers rarely restrict essential functions. They offer or should be offering functional limitations such as lifting, carrying, pushing, or pulling:

Lift/Carry Weight Requirements

An EFPA is a critical and often overlooked tool in the interactive process as it ensures that when comparing the employee’s limitations with the actual job requirements, employers use data of the work completed and observed, not a particular supervisor’s opinions or perceptions.

This approach depersonalizes the analysis of how restrictions will affect the job and allows parties to focus on data and trust the outcome more. It also protects the organization when employers use accurate data and not subjective opinions of any one party in the process.

Employers should always seek out and implement reasonable accommodations whenever possible.  The goal is to make sure the accommodations resonate with the employer and employee. If a healthcare provider sends you suggested accommodations, such as “work from home,” ask for functional limitations so you can consider alternate accommodations. Healthcare providers are required to provide these specifics when they’re requested, and it is important for employers to make the request and obtain the information.

Having an objective employer document will help employers connect all of the dots and ensure reasonable accommodations are met. Employers can create these documents in-house or work with consultants to develop a bank of them for use as needed. The good news is that once these documents are created, they can be effective for a decade or more unless the work changes significantly.

DMEC-Related Resources

• Reasonable Accommodation Process Resources & Tools
• Finding the Right Fit for the Job