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SAINT-SULPICE · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Can a standard manager job description establish L-1A capacity?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

Not by itself. The actual duties, authority and organizational support must be assessed. A template may describe responsibilities that do not belong to this particular position.

Make the individual role understandable

Identify which duties apply, how the applicant exercises authority and who performs execution work. The goal is an accurate description, not a collection of phrases associated with management.

Identify what authority the subordinate managers exercise and what work they perform. Some responsibilities may involve direction while others are hands-on delivery. Map each customer visit to decisions, authority, and supporting staff.

A manager under L-1A supervises other supervisors or professionals, or manages an essential function at a senior level, and has authority over hiring and firing. Replace generic phrases like leads, oversees or manages with the specific decisions the applicant makes without further approval, since a template description often borrows language that was never verified against the actual job. List the approvals the applicant can give alone, the ones that go to someone else first, and the routine tasks performed by subordinates rather than the applicant. Ask whether the description was written for payroll or grading purposes rather than for an accurate account of daily authority, because those two purposes can diverge. Confirm that any listed subordinates actually report to the applicant on an organizational chart rather than only on paper, and identify who conducts their performance reviews and assigns their daily work.