You can use the TruncateTime method of the EntityFunctions to achieve a correct translations of the Date
property into SQL:
using System.Data.Objects; // you need this namespace for EntityFunctions
// ...
DateTime ruleData = Convert.ToDateTime(rule.data).Date;
return jobdescriptions
.Where(j => EntityFunctions.TruncateTime(j.JobDeadline) == ruleData);
Update: EntityFunctions
is deprecated in EF6, Use DbFunctions.TruncateTime