The Importance of Defining Essential Demands

While not quite an ergonomics issue, a recent letter from the EEOC to several employers that advised the employers that their practice of requiring a high school diploma as a job requirement may violate the ADA. David Boyer in the Washington Times has an interesting article on the situation that may be caused by this "letter" which is not an actual decision.

However, it's not necessarily a problem for all employers - provided that they have a good handle on why they have established a particular job demand as essential.

“The EEOC may be inclined to test its view on the high school diploma requirement and its impact on the disabled in a court case,” said Ms. Metzler, who is advising clients to “review their job descriptions to determine if a high school degree is truly necessary, or would aid the employee in performing the essential functions of the particular job."

A lawyer from the EEOC also stated in the article that "issue would come up only when high school graduation standards are not related to a specific job."

As we noted here on the blog earlier this week, it's important to spend time to carefully define the essential demands - in all aspects - that are listed in your customized job descriptions. If you have questions as to the essential physical and postural demands of the employees at your company, give us a call at (732) 741-5085 or drop us an e-mail at info@biokineticsllc.com.

Happy New Years (and check your job descriptions)

Hopefully everyone had a safe and Happy New Year’s. With a brand new year upon us, it’s a good time for employers to take a look at how they can make 2012 an even better year. One of the areas that deserves a look is your current job descriptions for your employees. A couple of questions to ask yourself are:

1. Do we have customized job descriptions for our employees?
2. If you have customized job descriptions, how explicit are they? Do they list the minimum essential demands that must be performed as a function of the job position?
3. Do they explicitly define the essential strength demands into how much weight the employee must be able to lift, carry, push and pull? Do they describe what heights the lifting tasks are performed at (floor, waist, shoulder, etc.)? Do they describe the frequency with which these tasks occur?
4. Do you have an explicit description of all the tasks associated with the job title that are your basis for the essential demands?

Having a good, solid customized job description provides an employer with important information that can be used to establish a post-offer pre-employment testing process, the foundation for a solid stay at work program that can provide detailed information to treating physicians in determining appropriate modified duty, and a solid basis for comparison when a Functional Capacity Evaluation is required to determine whether an injured employee can return to work.

The importance of having detailed information became even more clear several years ago when we were asked to generate a customized job description for the job of mechanics assistant within a public works department for a large municipality. The town had a custom job description for their mechanics and mechanics assistants that rated the position as an occasional 100 pound demand. As this was the only weight load listed, it allowed the injured mechanics assistant’s lawyer to argue that there really wasn’t that much “heavy” work to do and that the work could be performed by an assistant (yes, an assistant to the assistant). An onsite review revealed a significant number of essential tasks that were between 60 and 100 pounds and well in excess of the injured employee’s physical ability as determined by a functional capacity evaluation.

If you have any questions about your current job descriptions or need a customized job description for positions at your company, give Biokinetics a call at (732) 741-5085.