--- title: "Are Job Descriptions Required by Law?" description: "[NewSearch millions of jobs from your AI agent with MCP→](/blog/jobspipe-mcp-server)" canonical: https://jobspipe.dev/blog/are-job-descriptions-required-by-law last_updated: 2026-09-10 --- [NewSearch millions of jobs from your AI agent with MCP→](/blog/jobspipe-mcp-server) [All posts](/blog) ![](/listly/card-field.png) GuideRequired Guide·Sep 9, 2026·3 min read # Are Job Descriptions Required by Law? Are job descriptions required by law? No US federal law requires one; they matter as evidence under the ADA and FLSA, and pay range rules cover postings. ![Dvir Atias](/authors/dvir-atias.jpg) Dvir Atias Founder, JobsPipe Are job descriptions required by law? In the United States, no general federal law requires an employer to write one. They matter legally in two other ways: as evidence of a role’s essential functions and exempt status, and because pay transparency laws now dictate what a public posting must include in several jurisdictions. This is general information, not legal advice. ## Where job descriptions are required by law, and where they only help 1. **No federal mandate to have one.** No US statute says every job must carry a written description. Employers write them for hiring, performance management and compliance, not because a rule requires the document. The nearest thing to a mandate is indirect: the laws below assume a description exists and judge the employer by it. 2. **ADA: evidence of essential functions.** The regulations under the Americans with Disabilities Act treat a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing as evidence of which functions are essential. Without one, an employer argues from memory in an accommodation dispute. 3. **FLSA: exempt status turns on duties.** Whether a role is exempt from overtime depends on the duties actually performed, not the title or the paperwork. A description that matches reality supports the classification; one that does not is a liability in a wage claim. 4. **Pay transparency laws cover the posting.** Colorado, California, Washington and New York are among the US states that require a pay range on job postings, and more have followed. In the EU, the Pay Transparency Directive requires pay information in the vacancy notice or before the first interview; member states were due to transpose it by June 2026 and many were still late, so the rules in force differ by country. 5. **Other countries want particulars, not descriptions.** The UK requires a written statement that includes the job title or a brief description of the work, and many jurisdictions require similar particulars of employment. That is a right for the employee, not a rule about postings. 6. **What a posting must include in practice.** Anti-discrimination law limits what you may ask for; pay rules add a range where they apply; everything else is convention. The reasons to write one anyway are in [why are job descriptions important](/answers/why-are-job-descriptions-important), and length is covered in [how long should a job description be](/answers/how-long-should-a-job-description-be). Pay disclosure is the one legal requirement visible in posting data, because a range either appears on the posting or it does not. Here is the share of active postings that state a salary, by board: - Y Combinator67.7% - Ashby56.1% - Greenhouse46.8% - Indeed36.8% - Workday23.3% - Lever22.7% - LinkedIn22.1% - Workable19.6% - Paylocity10.7% - SmartRecruiters5.3% Share of active postings that state a salary, by collected board. How this was measured Measured from active postings per collected board. Generated 2026-09-09. Shares only: JobsPipe publishes percentages, not counts. Read this as how far pay disclosure has spread by publisher, not as a compliance rate: a stated range may be voluntary or required depending on where the job is located, and a board’s share reflects the mix of employers and countries it carries. A salary counts when the board supplies it as structured data or the posting text states it. ``` curl -X POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/jobs/search \ -H "Authorization: Bearer $JOBSPIPE_API_KEY" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"min_salary_usd":1,"job_country_code_or":["US"],"posted_at_max_age_days":30,"limit":50}' ``` ## Where JobsPipe fits JobsPipe is a jobs data API that collects live postings from LinkedIn, Indeed, Y Combinator, Naukri, Workday, Greenhouse, Workable, SmartRecruiters, Ashby, Lever and Paylocity, returns them as one schema with closure tracking and a ghost score, and includes a free tier of 1,000 jobs a month. Filter with `min_salary_usd` and every row that returns carries a stated floor, or cut by `job_country_code_or` and `source_or` to read disclosure in one market. Per-board field coverage is on the [sources page](/sources). Read pay disclosure across boards from live postings - free tier included. ![](/listly/shape-heart.png) FAQs ## Frequently Asked Questions ### Do pay transparency laws require a job description? No. They require pay information. Several US states require a pay range on job postings, and the EU Pay Transparency Directive requires pay information in the vacancy notice or before the first interview, as each member state transposes it. None of them mandates a written job description, though the posting itself usually contains one. ### Does the ADA require job descriptions? No, but it rewards them. The ADA regulations treat a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing as evidence of a role's essential functions, which is the question at the centre of most accommodation disputes. An employer without one has a weaker position. This is general information, not legal advice. ### What must a job posting include? It depends on the jurisdiction. Anti-discrimination law limits what you may ask for everywhere; a growing set of US states and EU countries require a pay range or pay information; some places require the employer's identity. Beyond that, a title, responsibilities and requirements are convention rather than law. [ ← Previous Where Can I Find My Job Description? ](/blog/where-can-i-find-my-job-description)[ Next → Why Do Jobs Ghost You? ](/blog/why-do-jobs-ghost-you) --- Canonical URL: https://jobspipe.dev/blog/are-job-descriptions-required-by-law Title: Are Job Descriptions Required by Law? Description: Are job descriptions required by law? No US federal law requires one; they matter as evidence under the ADA and FLSA, and pay range rules cover postings. --- AI agents: the full machine-readable index of this site is https://jobspipe.dev/llms.txt?src=md-twin - API quickstart, no-key sandbox (POST https://api.jobspipe.dev/v1/sandbox/jobs/search), MCP server, pricing. Free key: https://jobspipe.dev/signup