Reference
ADA Job Description Checklist
A seven-section structured-review framework for reviewing job descriptions against ADA Title I qualification-standard risk. The same framework Hireposture's rule library is built around. Each section names the rule, the risk pattern, and a worked example.
Hireposture is an automated review tool. It is not legal advice and does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Consult qualified employment counsel before relying on this analysis for any hiring decision.
Qualification standards
Rule. Every listed qualification must be job-related and consistent with business necessity.
Risk pattern. Standards that screen out individuals with disabilities and cannot be defended on job-relatedness grounds.
Example. "5+ years of management experience" is fine if the role requires management of others. "5+ years of continuous full-time employment" carries risk because it screens out individuals who took disability-related leave.
Physical-demand language
Rule. Frame physical demands in terms of essential functions, not body-state assumptions.
Risk pattern. Customary or template-carried-over physical demands that are not actually essential to the job.
Example. "Must be able to lift 50 pounds" in an office-based PM role is flagged. "Must move boxes weighing up to 50 pounds in the warehouse picking workflow" ties the demand to the essential function.
Medical and disability status
Rule. Do not require disclosure of medical history, disability status, prior workers' comp claims, or current medications as a condition of application.
Risk pattern. Pre-offer medical inquiries restricted under 42 U.S.C. § 12112(d)(2).
Example. "Please disclose any chronic conditions on this application" — flagged. Post-offer conditional examinations are allowed but the JD itself must not pre-condition the application.
Perception-based language
Rule. Communication and presentation standards must tie to actual job function, not subjective impression.
Risk pattern. Generic professional-appearance, communication-clarity, or no-visible-marks language that perception-screens applicants.
Example. "Must have a professional appearance" — flagged unless the role has a public-facing function where appearance is genuinely material. "Must communicate clearly with customers in spoken English" is more defensible than "must have excellent verbal skills".
Accommodation language
Rule. JD must leave room for reasonable accommodation discussions.
Risk pattern. Language that pre-rejects accommodation requests or assumes 100% on-site availability without case-by-case review.
Example. "No accommodations available" — flagged. "Reasonable accommodations available; discuss with hiring manager" is the safer framing.
Drug-and-alcohol policy framing
Rule. Distinguish current illegal drug use (not ADA-protected) from recovery and prescribed medication (which can be).
Risk pattern. Language that conflates the two and screens out individuals in recovery or on prescribed medication.
Example. "Must pass drug screening" — usually fine for safety-sensitive roles. "Must have no history of substance abuse" — flagged because recovery is ADA-protected.
Audit-trail discipline
Rule. Record what was reviewed, against which rule library version, by which person, on what date.
Risk pattern. A reviewed JD without a record is indistinguishable from an unreviewed JD if the posting is later challenged.
Example. Hireposture's append-only trail does this automatically. A spreadsheet log with "Reviewed by Jane on 4/15" is the manual equivalent and beats nothing, but it isn't append-only.
How to apply this checklist
Two ways. Manual: walk a JD section-by-section against the seven categories, flag any matches, and document the review in a log. Adequate for a team writing fewer than ~10 JDs per quarter.
Tooled: use a structured-review tool that maintains the rule library, applies it consistently, and writes the audit trail automatically. Hireposture is built for this. The seven categories above map to rule families in the library; each finding cites the rule_id and source language.
The trade-off is the usual one. Manual review is free and slow and degrades when the person doing it is on PTO. Tooled review costs money and requires trust in the rule library, but stays consistent and produces a defensible audit trail. Above ~10 JDs per quarter, the tooled approach is the cheaper of the two when total cost (including the cost of an undefended JD if challenged) is honestly accounted for.
What this checklist does not cover
Title VII (race, color, religion, sex, national origin), ADEA (age), GINA (genetic information), USERRA (military service), state-specific protected classes, and equal-pay statutes. Each of those has its own JD-review rule set. The seven sections above target ADA Title I specifically.
Hireposture's current rule library covers ADA Title I. Other rule sets are roadmap candidates, gated on counsel review.
Related
What is Hireposture? — the definitional anchor for the product.
Textio alternatives for SMB hiring teams — how Hireposture compares to writing-assistant tools that score JDs for inclusive language and predicted application rates.
ADA + EEOC + bias in one audit — the differentiation pillar covering the three layers of risk most JDs need reviewed simultaneously.
Methodology — how Hireposture produces a review.