Department of Human Resources

Job Description

Some General Guidelines

• Establish the needed job qualifications, including requirements related to: education; skills; work experience; licenses or certifications; physical or mental abilities; health and safety; or other requirements such as judgment, ability to work under pressure, or interpersonal skills.
• Focus on the essential functions of a job. This is an important nondiscrimination requirement.
• Essential qualifications and selection criteria must be job related and consistent with business necessity.
• Essential qualifications and selection criteria must be legitimate measures for the specific job they are being used for. It is not enough that it measures qualifications for a general class of jobs.

Demonstrate that functions are essential

• An employer's judgment as to which functions are essential is important evidence.
• A written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing applicants for a job will be considered as evidence along with other relevant factors.
• The amount of time spent performing the function would be evidence.
• The consequences of not requiring a person in this job to perform a function is an important factor that will be considered. Sometimes a function that is performed infrequently may be essential, because there will be serious consequences if it is not performed.
• Where a collective bargaining agreement lists duties to be performed in particular jobs, the terms of the agreement may provide evidence of essential functions.