What should job descriptions include?
Essential Job Duties:
What are essential vs non-essential job duties?
Effective job descriptions separate essential job duties from other duties that may be performed in the role. Essential job duties are fundamental duties that must be completed to hold the position. Non-essential job duties are those that can be easily completed by other employees, are completed infrequently, and/or are not critical to the job.
Designating certain duties as “essential” can be especially important in the event of a workplace accommodation request under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under the ADA, employers are not required to remove any essential duties from an employee’s role. However, employers may be required to remove other job duties as part of the accommodation process.
Note: While employers are not required to remove essential job duties, they may be required to provide an accommodation to allow the successful completion of essential job duties.
Non-Essential Duty Example:
An Office Manager is unable to lift more than 50 lbs. Approximately once per month, they refill the water jugs in the water dispenser. Based on the lifting restrictions, the Office Manager requests that someone else be assigned this duty. In this case, refilling the water dispenser likely would not be considered an essential job function since it is done infrequently and the task can easily be transferred to another employee.
Essential Duty Example:
A Home Health Nurse cannot drive due to a medical condition and requests and accommodation to work from home under the ADA. The ability to drive to a patient’s home is necessary in order to provide Home Health services. Removing the requirement to drive would result in the nurse’s inability to perform any of their job duties. As such, the ability to drive to homes to provide Home Health services would likely be considered an essential function of their role.
How do you determine minimum qualifications?
Minimum qualifications are qualifications an employee must possess in order to successfully complete the job. Listing inflated qualifications may lead to discrimination charges if members of a protected class are disproportionately impacted.
Minimum Requirement Example:
Must be able to lift 100 pounds on a regular basis versus must be able to lift up to 50 pounds occasionally.
Employers/managers may feel that increasing the limit and frequency of the lifting requirements decreases the risk of hiring a new employee who is unable to meet the lifting requirements. However, the inflated lifting requirements has the potential to rule out female applicants, older applicants, and/or applicants with disabilities. In the event of a discrimination claim, the job description could be found to have a disparate impact on certain protected classes if the employer is unable to support the need for the listed filing requirements. Applicants who meet the actual lifting requirements, but were ruled out based on the higher requirements, may be able to support a charge of discrimination pertaining to their inclusion in one or more adversely impacted protected class.
Education requirements should also be reviewed. Is a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree truly required, or are they preferred? If an applicant does not have a degree, but has several years of experience, is that acceptable?
How can job descriptions help with performance management?
Although not legally required, a well-crafted job description can be helpful when completing performance evaluations or issuing disciplinary action related to an employee’s failure to satisfactorily complete their assigned job duties. The ability to cite specific duties noted in the job description supports that the employee is aware that they are expected to successfully complete those job duties.
A Caution When Enforcing “Other Duties as Assigned”:
Managers frequently lean on the “other duties as assigned” wording to add additional tasks to an employee’s job duties. Managers should be mindful of the additional assignment of duties and evaluate their relevance to the primary job functions. This wording in a job description is intended to account for the fact that it is nearly impossible to list every task an employee might complete on a daily/weekly/annual basis related to their job title. It is not intended to be magical language that allows employers to make employees do whatever they want.
Accountant “Other Duties” Example:
*Maintain company LinkedIn profile and post at least one blog per week.
This task is unrelated to duties typically completed by accountants. An accountant likely would not have the skills required to successfully complete this task which would prevent them from successfully completing this assignment. An applicant or employee reading the job description would not imagine blog posting being a possible job duty that could be assigned to them.
*Compile weekly accounting spreadsheets in main accounting folder.
This task is directly related to the primary function of an accountant and should be able to be satisfactorily performed by someone in the role.
Assigning “other duties” that are completely unrelated to an employee’s primary job functions could result in issues related to accommodations under the ADA, wrongful termination allegations, and discrimination and/or retaliation charges.
Should you include a signed acknowledgement?
Job descriptions should include a section where applicants/employees acknowledge that they have been provided a copy of the job description. They should also confirm that they meet the minimum qualifications and can successfully complete the essential functions of the role with or without an accommodation. Employees should sign new job descriptions when they change positions or when the job description for their current role changes substantially.
Why should you review your job descriptions periodically?
As we are all aware, change is constant in today’s environment. Job descriptions should be reviewed on a consistent basis to ensure they still accurately reflect the duties and requirements of the role. Have minimum requirements changed? Are the same programs, processes, and job responsibilities still utilized. Have certain tasks been eliminated due to automation?
Need Assistance with Job Descriptions?
While job descriptions may not feel like the most important piece of documentation you have to contend with, a well-crafted job description plays a crucial role in many employment situations.
Let us help review and update your Job Descriptions to ensure that they provide the maximum value to your organization as well as your employees. Book a free consultation today!