For purposes of this subchapter, the following definitions apply:

(1) "Adverse impact" means that members of a group identified and protected from discrimination such as sex, race, or ethnicity who experience a substantially lower rate of selection in hiring, promotion, pay rates, and other benefits of employment.

(2) "Agency" means a department, board, commission, office, bureau, institution, or unit of state government recognized in the state budget, as provided in 2-18-101 , MCA, unless excepted in 2-18-103 or 2-18-104 , MCA.

(3) "Bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) " means a legal exception to an otherwise discriminatory hiring practice that is allowed where the reasonable demands of a position require an age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sex, religion, or national origin distinction. "Reasonable demands" is to be strictly construed, as provided in 49-2-402 , MCA, and the burden rests with the department to demonstrate that the exemption should be granted.

(4) "Competencies" means sets of measurable and observable knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors that contribute to success in a job.

(5) "External recruitment" means the open, competitive solicitation of applications from any interested persons which includes the general public and current state employees.

(6) "Internal recruitment" means the open, competitive solicitation of applications that, at the discretion of the agency, is limited to:

(a) current employees of the agency, the division, or other appropriate internal unit;

(b) employees in a reduction-in-force pool who have been laid off from the agency; or

(c) job registry participants.

(7) "Internet applicant" means an individual who satisfies the following three criteria:

(a) the agency has acted to fill a particular position;

(b) the individual has followed the agency's standard procedures for submitting applications; and

(c) the individual has indicated an interest in the particular position.

(8) "Job analysis" means the process of gathering, analyzing, and creating information about a position in order to identify the essential duties, functions, roles, and competencies required to perform the work of the position, and the written documentation of the results of the analysis.

(9) "Job expert" means a person who is knowledgeable about the position being filled or a person who has expertise in the recruitment and selection process.

(10) "Job-related" means criteria shown by a job analysis to be directly related to specific duties in a job or to be directly related to a qualification or competency necessary to perform a job.

(11) "Qualifications" means the minimum competencies needed to perform the job and the education and experience associated with successful job performance.

(12) "Reasonable accommodation" means:

(a) a change in the work environment or in the way work is accomplished that enables an individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities; or

(b) adjustments to work schedules to accommodate an individual's religious beliefs or practices. (Types of reasonable accommodations and the criteria for evaluating undue hardship can be found in the reasonable accommodation guide and the Nondiscrimination-Equal Employment Opportunity Guide available from the State Personnel Division, Department of Administration web site: http://hr.mt.gov/HRServices/policiesguides.asp.)