diff --git a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
index fef4591ce7590b4dcfe595356fb4634cb5a7aa65..b7ab77cd91d6de9e632ac920794915f5243b9d6a 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/job_mgr.c
@@ -7844,7 +7844,10 @@ void purge_old_job(void)
 
 
 /*
- * _purge_job_record - purge specific job record
+ * _purge_job_record - purge specific job record. No testing is performed to
+ *	insure the job records has no active references. Use only for job
+ *	records that were never fully operational (e.g. WILL_RUN test, failed
+ *	job load, failed job create, etc.).
  * IN job_id - job_id of job record to be purged
  * RET int - count of job's purged
  * global: job_list - global job table
diff --git a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
index 497061843d7dfa50f6115a8f0ed4c37b5348a5cb..5fae8f45de18488c6b1f107ef57bce65ebf626a2 100644
--- a/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
+++ b/src/slurmctld/step_mgr.c
@@ -262,7 +262,8 @@ extern void delete_step_records (struct job_record *job_ptr)
 }
 
 /*
- * step_list_purge - Simple purge of a job's step list records.
+ * step_list_purge - Simple purge of a job's step list records. No testing is
+ *	performed to insure the step records has no active references.
  * IN job_ptr - pointer to job table entry to have step records removed
  */
 extern void step_list_purge(struct job_record *job_ptr)