Summary
This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Office Human Capital Services. As the Director, the incumbent serves as an advisor and consultant to VBA's corporate level leadership concerning all LER matters.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
Open to Veteran Affairs Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) eligible applicants only.
Duties
Specific duties include:
- Serves as VBA's senior ELR advisor to senior level management.
- Established VBA'S ELR strategy and framework in accordance with VA and VBA's missions and strategic plans.
- Evaluates and determines the impact on VBA when new policy, legislation, executive orders, and agency guidance are issued. Keeps abreast of trends and changes in ELR concepts and communicates changes to management and subordinate staff.
- Develops, implements, and interprets VA and VBA-wide Labor Relations policy and procedures.
- Provides national level Labor Relations guidance and support in the areas of contract negotiation administration, management rights, unfair labor practices charges and complaints, arbitration of grievances, and resolution of negotiability issues.
- Serves as VBA's Chief Negotiator in the negotiation and administration of the national-level bargaining unit. Enters into agreement on behalf of VBA when mediating and resolving union-management disputes.
- Serves as agency advocate at third party proceedings. Represents the agency before the Federal Service Impasses Panel, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
- Develops, implements, and interprets VA and VBA-wide Employee Relations policy and procedures, in addition to case law. Provides national level Employee Relations guidance and support in the areas of disciplinary and adverse actions, employee grievances and administrative appeals, performance management, telework, reasonable accommodation, EEO, mediation, ADR, employee development, etc.
- Manages VBA's National Suitability function. Has responsibility and oversight of this program to include the functional areas of pre-hire screening, on-boarding, applicant/appointee appeal rights, appropriate agency responses, third-party appeals, alternative dispute resolution and post-appointment suitability cases which possibly require disciplinary and/adverse actions of the appointee/employee.
- Oversees development of special studies and reports on VBA's ELR program. Conducts research into problems to develop more effective ELR procedures that result in greater program efficiencies, enhanced service delivery, and increased cost savings for VBA. Prepares briefing papers for higher level management on various ELR topics that impact the Administration. Oversees preparation of VBA-wide reports on ELR processes or requested data to OMB, Congress, GAO, or at various VA ELR leadership meetings.
- The Director may be called upon to lead highly sensitive, complex actions and requirements in support of significant program functions. This includes taking on the responsibility him or herself and/or leading a team to support the effort. These special assignments are often very unusual and have little precedence as reference.
- Plans work to be accomplished by subordinates, sets and adjusts priorities, and prepares schedules for completion of work. Develops long and short-term goals through subordinate staff.
Promotion Potential: None
Work Schedule: Full time, Monday through Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Compressed/Flexible: Not Available
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: Yes, this is a virtual position.
Position Description/PD#: Director of Human Resources (ER/LR); 41217-0
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
- Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
- You may be required to serve a probationary period
- Subject to background/security investigation
- Selectees are required to service a one-year supervisory probationary period if not previously completed in a Federal position.
- Open to CTAP applicants only.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement: 07/02/2024.
TIME-IN-GRADE REQUIREMENT: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements.
To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50). The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. You must provide a copy of your most recent SF-50 that indicates proof of status, and shows Time in Grade (for example, you were a career or career-conditional employee) and identifies your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure, and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must also submit your most recent promotion or within-grade increase in addition to your recent SF-50. If you previously held a higher grade, you must also submit any SF-50 showing that grade. DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade.
- For a GS-15 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-14 level.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENT: You may qualify based on your experience as described below for the GS-15 Grade Level: GS-0201, levels 12-15 Requirement: To qualify for a Human Resources (HR) Specialist GS-0201 at the GS12-15 grade levels, candidates cannot qualify based on education only, they must possess either:
- Criteria 1: Graduate level degree or higher and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-13 grade level OR
- Criteria 2: One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least GS-14
Specialized Experience: Applicant must have one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-14 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization.
Specialized Experience is defined as: Labor Employee Relations (LER) administrative investigations, fact finding, performance management, LER guidance and training, bargaining negotiations, unfair labor practice resolutions, and grievances; demonstrated supervisor/management experience over labor and employee relations personnel, planning work, setting priorities; experience interpreting and writing LER policy or guidance, implementing related federal and state legal and regulatory requirements on complex LER matters; experience developing methods of measurement on organizational LER program(s) and making recommendations.
Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.
Full vs. Part-Time Employment: Full-time employment is considered to be at least 35 hours per week. Part-time experience will be credited on a pro-rated basis; when including part-time employment in your resume you must specify the average hours worked per week.
Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary, although some slight physical effort may be required. Public speaking is required; therefore, employee must be able to travel. Travel within the organizational area will be required.
For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website athttp://://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/
Education
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education to be credited towards qualifications. Provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
All education claimed by applicants will be verified upon appointment. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript to receive credit.
Benefits
A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
Review our benefits
Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.
IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Applicants who do not fully address the specialized experience needed for the position (as described above in the job announcement) in their resume will not be referred for consideration.
After you have met the minimum qualifications, you will be rated on the following competencies based on your application for this position:
Competencies:
- Employee Relations - Knowledge of laws, rules, regulations, case law, principles, and practices related to employee conduct, performance, and dispute resolution.
- Labor Relations - Knowledge of laws, rules, regulations, case law, principles, and practices related to negotiating and administering labor agreements.
- Problem Solving - Researches, analyzes and identifies probable solutions to help determine accuracy and relevance of information; uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives, and to make persuasive recommendations that will resolves issues.
- Leadership - Influences, motivates, and challenges others; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations.
- Communication - Effectively expresses information to multiple audiences through clear, convincing oral and written communications; demonstrates logical thinking when describing facts and concepts, and shapes communications to meet the needs of a specific audience; actively listens to others and demonstrates understanding of their comments and/or questions.
Narrative responses are not required at this time. If you are referred for consideration, you may be asked to submit additional job related information, which may include, but not limited to; responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities; completion of a work sample, and/or an interview.
Required Documents
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package to include the documents detailed below. Your resume and supporting documentation will be verified. Failure to submit the documents as specified may result in loss of consideration for this job announcement.
- Resume detailing specialized experience and competencies as they relate to this position.
- For each position in your resume, you must specify the start and end dates (month/year) and a description of duties. If the position was Federal, you should also indicate the grade level. Resumes containing a general summary of all positions held, not specifying start/end dates, and/or not including documentation supporting Federal grade level(s) are insufficient to determine basic qualifications.
- Your most recent NON-AWARD SF-50. The SF-50 must indicate proof of status and should identify your position title, series, grade, step, salary, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). DO NOT submit Award SF-50's and/or General Adjustment SF-50's as they cannot be used to prove time-in-grade.
- Your SF-50 reflecting when you entered your highest grade (e.g. Promotion, Appointment, etc.) in order to verify time-in-grade requirements.
- 2 most recent Annual Performance Appraisals (2022 & 2023) *required for GS-15 position.
Additional Documents accepted:
- CTAP documentation - RIF notice, SF-50 showing VA employee, and performance appraisal
Please use this checklist to make sure you have included all documents required for your application. You will not be contacted for additional information.
If you are relying on your education to meet qualification requirements:
Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from
schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.
How to Apply
Complete the questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 07/02/2024 to receive consideration. It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12453491.
- To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
- Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package.
Click here for instructions on viewing your application status.
Next steps
Once your online application is submitted you will receive a confirmation notification by email. After we receive application packages (including all required documents) and the vacancy announcement closes, we will review applications to ensure qualification and eligibility requirements are met. After the review is complete, a referral certificate(s) is issued and applicants will be notified of their status by email. Referred applicants will be notified as such and may be contacted directly by the hiring office for an interview. All referred applicants receive a final notification once a selection decision has been made.
You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center.
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