A recent case highlighted for me (and now for you) an interesting point under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) – whether essential job functions can change. As you may know, the ADA protects employees with disabilities who, with or without reasonable accommodations, are able to perform the essential functions of his/her job. This means that the issue of what are the essential functions of the job is critically important.

According to the EEOC, the following factors should be taken into account in determining whether a job function is essential:

• whether the reason the position exists is to perform that function,
• the number of other employees available to perform the function or among whom the performance of the function can be distributed, and
• the degree of expertise or skill required to perform the function.

The EEOC also identifies the following types of evidence that can be used to establish that certain job functions are essential:

• the employer’s judgment as to which functions are essential,
• a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing for a job
• the actual work experience of present or past employees in the job,
• the time spent performing a function,
• the consequences of not requiring that an employee perform a function, and
• the terms of a collective bargaining agreement.

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