Job Descriptions And Responsibilities 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An employer discovers that an employee's actual daily tasks have diverged significantly from their written job description over two years. What is the FIRST recommended step?
- Terminate the employee for performing unauthorized duties
- Conduct a job analysis and update the description to reflect actual duties (Correct answer)
- Issue a formal warning to the employee
- Demote the employee to match the original description
Correct answer: Conduct a job analysis and update the description to reflect actual duties
The appropriate first step is a job analysis to document the actual role, then updating the description to realign it with real responsibilities.
Question 2: Which of the following responsibilities would be flagged as potentially discriminatory if required without business justification?
- Submitting weekly reports
- Must be able to lift 75 pounds regularly (Correct answer)
- Responding to customer inquiries via email
- Participating in team meetings
Correct answer: Must be able to lift 75 pounds regularly
Physical requirements must be essential to the job; without documented business necessity, they can screen out disabled candidates in violation of the ADA.
Question 3: What is the purpose of listing responsibilities in order of importance in a job description?
- To ensure alphabetical compliance with HR standards
- To help candidates and managers understand which duties take priority (Correct answer)
- To reduce the total number of listed responsibilities
- To automatically generate a performance review template
Correct answer: To help candidates and managers understand which duties take priority
Prioritized responsibilities help both the applicant and hiring manager understand where most of the employee's time and effort should be focused.
Question 4: A sales representative job description includes 'achieve quarterly revenue targets.' This responsibility is BEST categorized as:
- Operational
- Performance/results-based (Correct answer)
- Compliance
- Administrative
Correct answer: Performance/results-based
Revenue targets are performance-based responsibilities because they define expected outcomes rather than specific actions or processes.
Question 5: Which of the following is the BEST reason to separate 'essential' from 'non-essential' functions in a job description?
- It helps recruiters write shorter postings
- It is required by the ADA to enable reasonable accommodation analysis (Correct answer)
- It allows managers to eliminate non-essential duties from all employees
- It satisfies OSHA documentation requirements
Correct answer: It is required by the ADA to enable reasonable accommodation analysis
The ADA requires identifying essential functions so employers can determine whether a disabled candidate or employee can perform them with or without reasonable accommodation.
Question 6: A job description for a project manager includes 'own project outcomes end-to-end.' The word 'own' in this context primarily signals:
- The employee will receive equity in the company
- Full accountability and decision-making authority over the project lifecycle (Correct answer)
- The employee works independently without team support
- The employee is responsible only for documentation
Correct answer: Full accountability and decision-making authority over the project lifecycle
'Own' in job descriptions signals that the employee has complete accountability and authority over a deliverable or process from start to finish.
Question 7: When a company uses the same job description for multiple employees in the same role across different states, what is a KEY legal consideration?
- Federal job posting laws require state-specific descriptions
- State-specific wage, hour, and leave laws may affect how certain responsibilities are performed or compensated (Correct answer)
- Different states require different numbers of listed responsibilities
- OSHA mandates unique job descriptions per facility
Correct answer: State-specific wage, hour, and leave laws may affect how certain responsibilities are performed or compensated
State laws on overtime, breaks, leave, and pay can affect how responsibilities are carried out, so a single description may need state-specific addendums.
Job Descriptions And Responsibilities 5
An employer discovers that an employee's actual daily tasks have diverged significantly from their written job description over two years.
What is the FIRST recommended step?