"Other Duties as Assigned"

Job Description-Definition:

The term Job description refers to the required tasks, knowledge, skills, abilities, and reporting structure required for jobs.

“A job description is the official written account of an employment position. It is a structured and factual statement of a job's functions and objectives, and should give the boundaries of the position holder's authority. This account usually lists the typical tasks to be performed by the position holder, the training, education, and experience required to do the work, and it includes a description of the essential functions to be performed”

We all have had nightmares about this line in our job descriptions “Perform other duties as assigned”. What does this mean? Would I find myself reordering my boss’ desk as a consequence of this? Well, I can tell you from now that this line (I call it the bag line because it holds everything) is used to avoid legal suits or complaints to the Ministry of Labor for assigning tasks to employees that are not included in the job description.

While is understandable that it would not be feasible for employers to list ALL possible duties in the job description, it is only fair for employees to be provided with clear job descriptions.

The main purposes of job descriptions are:

· Recruitment and Selection (the job description is used in job adverts to help applicants to understand the requirement of the post and ultimately if the qualify for the position)

· Performance Appraisals (job descriptions are used to measure performance, how an employee could be evaluated if nor the worker or the manager know what he/she supposed to be doing?)

· Set clear expectations (help the employee to understand the requirements of the position, what tasks he/she is expected to do and what are the performance standards of these tasks)

This vague line “Perform other duties as assigned” is not aiming to any of the 3 objectives stated above.

2. What about Jamaica?

In Jamaica, like in many other countries, this line is used often. However, the recommendations from the Labor Code 1976 indicate that employers have a duty to set clear expectations. In Part III “Personnel Management” Section 9 (iii) it is stated that employment policies should:

“make clear to the workers the requirements, terms and conditions of employment including inter alia—

(a) general conditions of employment;

(b) job requirements and the person to whom the worker is directly responsible"

Therefore, although we know that the Labor Code is not a law per se, it has semi-legal status because it was established in accordance with the provisions of section 3 of the Labor Relations and Industrial Disputes Act. Furthermore, its guidelines and recommendations will also lead arbitrators at the Industrial Dispute Tribunal when making a decision in a case.

Considering the above, I feel comfortable saying that this line “Perform other duties as assigned” has the potential of exposing employers to liability if abused.

3. What you could do to mitigate the negative effects of this line?

I you are a business owner or manager, you could specify that those additional duties will be JOB RELATED, and you could provide some examples of extra duties that, according to the operations of your business, the employee may be required to do from time to time.

If you are an employee, ask your supervisor or a rep from HR to explain to you what this means and what could be those hypothetical extra duties. You could ask them also to include in the job description that the extra duties will be job related as stated above.

References:

https://definitions.uslegal.com/j/job-description/#:~:text=Job%20description%20refers%20to%20the,a%20basis%20for%20performance%20reviews.

Labor Code 1976

Labor Relations and Industrial Dispute Act 1975

MIND-Professional Certificates Industrial Relations-Notes from Daun Beckford-MSc BSc Dip in Teaching (Lecturer)