In order to establish a prima facia case in disability, among other things, a person must show they are qualified to perform the essential functions of the job, with or without accommodation. In the case at hand, the Minnesota Federal District Court needed to evaluate whether an employee was disabled and could not operate a certain type of forklift. The factors cited by the Court in determining whether a task qualifies as an essential function were as follows:

Employer’s judgment as to which functions are essential;
Job descriptions prepared before advertising or interviewing applicants;
Amount of time spent on the job performing the function;
Consequence of not requiring the employee to perform the function;
Terms of a collective bargaining agreement;
Work experience of past employees in the job; and
Current work experience of employees in similar jobs.

In this case, the evidence showed that to use the certain forklift would involve four to six hours per day to handle the workloads of both the north and south plants, cover vacations and otherwise provide for an equitable distribution of overtime, which is required by the collective bargaining agreement. The employee’s argument that she should not have to work in the south plant where the special forklift was required would not be a reasonable accommodation as it would cause other employees to work harder, and longer, and be deprived of other opportunities. Moreover, the employer need not reallocate or eliminate the essential functions of a job to accommodate a disabled employee. Therefore there was no disability found, as she was not qualified for the job, even with reasonable accommodations. Partington v. Intek Plastics, Inc. (D.C. Minn. 2009)