Summary
The Honors Program in the Office of the Solicitor (SOL) provides challenging professional opportunities for outstanding law school graduates. Regional Honors Attorneys engage in all aspects of trial litigation under the many employment laws DOL enforces. After completing the two-year program, Honors Attorneys continue their careers as permanent employees of SOL. Most Regional Honors Attorneys elect to remain in the office where they began the program.
This job is open to
Clarification from the agency
This is an Excepted Service position and is open as well to Non-Citizens as allowed by law. This position will be filled through an alternative hiring process and is not in the competitive civil service.
See eligibility requirements as described in the Requirements section of this vacancy announcement.
Duties
WHO WE ARE
The Office of the Solicitor serves as the legal counsel for the U.S. Department of Labor. The approximately 500 attorneys in SOL enforce and interpret occupational and mine safety and health laws, civil rights laws, pension and health benefit laws, minimum wage and overtime requirements, whistleblower protections, and international labor standards. SOL also provides legal services to programs that pay Federal benefits to the victims of certain occupational diseases and accidents, provide grants in support of employment and training programs, and administer unemployment benefits. In all, SOL attorneys work with more than 180 labor and employment laws.
SOL has more independent litigating authority than virtually any other cabinet department outside the Justice Department. SOL attorneys represent the Secretary of Labor in proceedings before federal district courts, federal courts of appeals, and administrative law judges. SOL attorneys also play a leading role in important and high-profile federal rulemakings and policy decisions.
About half of SOL's attorneys serve in the National Office in Washington, D.C., and the remainder work in one of the 14 regional and branch offices across the country. Those offices are located in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Cleveland, Denver, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Arlington.
The Department of Labor's mission is to promote the welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees, to improve working conditions, to advance opportunities for profitable employment, and to ensure work-related benefits and rights. Honors Attorneys play a crucial role in enabling the Department to carry out its mission. Like the Department, the Honors Program fosters a diverse and inclusive work environment that promotes collaboration, flexibility and fairness so that all individuals are able to participate and contribute to their full potential.
THE WORK OF A REGIONAL HONORS PROGRAM ATTORNEY
Applicants for this position should specifically be interested in trial litigation. Honors Attorneys in SOL's Regional Offices engage in all aspects of trial litigation under the various statutes enforced by the Department of Labor, including analyzing an investigative file, filing a complaint, engaging in negotiations and discovery, preparing briefs, and arguing motions, and serving as lead counsel in cases that go to trial. Regional Honors Attorneys have:
- Provided pre-litigation advice to client agencies in significant cases
- Filed complaints in federal district court to recover employees' benefits and wages under pension and wage and hour laws
- Appeared before administrative law judges in cases involving Occupational Safety and Health and Mine Safety and Health laws.
Honors Attorneys in Regional Offices also may receive select assignments from the National Office divisions to complement their trial work or to expose them to practice areas usually handled by the National Office. Funding permitting, these attorneys will travel to the National Office in Washington, D.C. to participate with their National Office colleagues in training and networking opportunities. Regional Office Honors Attorneys may also volunteer to rotate to the National Office for a temporary assignment, usually lasting about three months.
After two years, Honors Attorneys will be permanently placed in a specific office in SOL. Most Regional Honors Attorneys elect to remain in the office and region where they began the program. All efforts will be made to accommodate attorneys' preferences.
The Honors Program gives attorneys a unique opportunity to help interpret and enforce a broad range of labor and employment laws while working in one of the largest legal offices in the Federal government. Honors Attorneys will gain experience that would be difficult to obtain in years of private practice and will share the honor and privilege of furthering the Department of Labor's mission and engaging in public service.
Requirements
Conditions of Employment
- Appointment to this position may require a background investigation.
- Requires a trial period if the requirement has not been met.
- Relocation expenses will not be paid.
- This position is outside the bargaining unit.
- Must be at least 16 years old.
- Must be a U.S. Citizen.
- Reference the "Required Documents" section for additional requirements.
Qualifications
IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. POSITION TITLES ALONE CANNOT BE USED TO DETERMINE IF YOU ARE QUALIFIED. PLEASE LIST DATES IN MM/DD/YYYY FORMAT, HOURS, AND IF FULL-TIME, OR PART-TIME. EXPERIENCE AND DATES WILL NOT BE ASSUMED.
Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements.
Eligibility is limited to graduating law students who will graduate from law school between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025, and recent law school graduates who began participating in and continue to be employed in eligibility preserving employment within 9 months of law school graduation. Eligibility preserving employment includes full-time activities starting after law school graduation that can preserve a law school graduate's eligibility for the Honors Program such as judicial clerkships or time-limited court staff attorney positions; federal agency or state government Honors Attorney programs; or legal fellowships.
Qualifications:
All applicants must be ranked or have graduated in the top half of their class or have a minimum GPA of 3.0 at the time of application (if currently enrolled in law school) or upon graduation from law school.
FOR LAW CLERK POSITIONS:
Applicants who have not been admitted to a state bar may be selected for a Law Clerk, GS-0904-11 position. Appointments as a Law Clerk are limited to 14 months during which time the appointee must be admitted in good standing to the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the United States, after which the Law Clerk will be appointed to a permanent appointment as an Attorney.
FOR ATTORNEY POSITIONS:
Applicants applying for the General Attorney, GS-0905 positions, must possess a professional law degree (LL.B. or J.D.); be a member in good standing of the bar of a court of general jurisdiction of a state, territory or possession of the U.S.; and have acquired the amount of experience indicated below for each grade level.
GS-11, applicants must possess progressively responsible legal experience of a professional nature which demonstrates the ability to perform the work at this level.
GS-12, applicants must possess (1) year of progressively responsible legal experience of a professional nature which demonstrates the ability to perform the work at this level.
GS-13, applicants must possess (2) years of progressively responsible legal experience of a professional nature which demonstrates the ability to perform the work at this level.
GS-14, applicants must possess (3) years of progressively responsible legal experience of a professional nature which demonstrates the ability to perform the work at this level.
NOTE: A LL.M. may be substituted for a maximum of one year of experience.
Education
If you do not submit sufficient academic documentation necessary to demonstrate that you meet the eligibility and minimum qualification requirements described in this announcement, your application will be deemed incomplete and you will be ineligible for further consideration for this vacancy.
Any applicant falsely claiming an academic degree from an accredited school will be subject to actions ranging from disqualification from federal employment to removal from federal service.
If your education was completed at a foreign college or university, you must show comparability to education received in accredited educational institutions in the United States and comparability to applicable minimum course work requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information.
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.
Applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements for this position will be further evaluated against the following evaluation factors. Current and/or past supervisors may be contacted unless specified otherwise. A panel and/or the selecting official or his/her designee may interview applicants. Selections are made based on many elements of a candidate's background, including:
- Demonstrated commitment to or interest in labor law, employment law, government service, or public interest law;
- A record of accomplishment, such as: academic achievement; leadership positions; law journal experience; or achievement in moot court or mock trial;
- Strong writing skills;
- Past employment, including internships and externships; clinical experience; or extracurricular activities that relate to the work of the Department of Labor; and
- Any other work or life experiences that could bring a unique perspective to the work of the Department of Labor.
It is the responsibility of the applicant to supply sufficient information to provide a basis for rating the elements listed above. The information you may provide may be verified by a review of your work experiences and /or education, by checking references, and through other means (ex. Interview).
INFORMATION FOR ICTAP/CTAP ELIGIBLE(S) ONLY: If you are eligible for special priority selection under ICTAP/CTAP, you must be well-qualified for the position to receive consideration. ICTAP/CTAP eligible(s) who are placed into Category "well-qualified" or higher will be considered "well-qualified." Be sure to review the eligibility questions to reflect that you are applying as an ICTAP or CTAP eligible and submit supporting documentation.
Required Documents
The following documents must be submitted by 11:59 p.m. (ET) on the vacancy closing date. Warning: If you submit a document using the same document title, the 2nd submission will OVERWRITE the 1st submission. You are not required to submit a document if it does not apply to you.
Complete application packages include:
- Resume - is mandatory. Please be sure that your resume includes your GPA and /or class rank as well as detailed information to support your qualifications for this position, as failure to provide sufficient evidence in your resume may result in a "not qualified" determination.
- Cover Letter - - is mandatory and should address the factors indicated in the Qualifications and Evaluations section above.
- Unedited Writing Sample -is mandatory and must be 5-10 pages in length, double-spaced and with 1-inch margins. The sample must be one project, rather than multiple shorter projects. It should demonstrate your ability to properly cite and analyze legal authority. The writing sample must reflect your own work and must not have been edited by another person.
- Transcripts: an official or unofficial law school transcript is mandatory. Should you be selected for this position, verification of your academic degree(s) is necessary to determine your qualifications or eligibility for this position. You will be required to submit official transcripts for verification purposes before you are hired.
- Bar Certification: Should you be selected for an Attorney, GS-0905 position, you will be required to submit documentation verifying that you are an active member of the Bar in Good Standing of any State, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or any Territorial Court under the U.S. Constitution. This letter and/or certificate should be dated within the last six months prior to entry on duty.
- Veterans Documents (if applicable): Attorney appointments within the Department of Labor are positions in the excepted service, not the competitive service. There is no formal rating system for applying veterans' preference in attorney appointments; however, the Department of Labor considers veterans' preference eligibility as a positive factor in attorney hiring. In order to receive positive consideration, you must indicate your eligibility, in response to the appropriate item on the vacancy questionnaire. Additionally, you must submit a copy of your Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, DD214 showing the type of discharge and dates of active duty and, if applicable, a VA letter certifying the present existence of the service-connected disability which indicates the percentage of your disability. (For active-duty service members expecting to be honorably discharged or released within 120 days, click Active Duty) Without this documentation, you will not receive the veteran's consideration. Additional information is available at Feds Hire Vets - Veterans Preference
You may also find more information on positive considerations for attorney hiring.
- Displaced Employee Placement Documents: These documents are only required if you are requesting priority consideration under ICTAP/CTAP Eligibility. Applicants with disabilities (SCHEDULE A) applying under the area of consideration must submit proof of certification by counselors, State vocational rehabilitation agencies, or the Veterans Administration.
Applicants selected for employment that are not current DOL employees will be required to provide proof of citizenship, or non-citizenship as allowable in Excepted Service hiring through P.L. 112-10, and the E-Verify system will be used to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires.
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
To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, including submission of the required documentation specified in the "Required Documents" section.
Follow the steps below to apply. Your application and ALL required supplemental documents MUST be received by 11:59 pm Eastern Time (ET) on the vacancy closing date to receive consideration. Paper applications and supplemental documents submitted in any other manner without prior approval from the vacancy contact will not be considered. Click here for information on Reasonable Accommodations.
SAVE your information before the 30 MINUTE TIMEOUT! For help, go to USAJOBS Help Center.
STEP 1 - Create USAJOBS Account on www.usajobs.gov, including Resume and Saved Documents Your resume must provide sufficient information to substantiate your responses to the self-assessment vacancy questions. If not, HR may amend your responses to more accurately reflect the competency indicated by resume content. FOR EACH EMPLOYMENT PERIOD, include start/end month & year and note full-time or part-time (if part-time, include # of hours worked per week); otherwise, your application may be considered incomplete.
STEP 2 - Complete the 1st part of the application process (USAJOBS) Once you have identified a job on USAJOBS that you wish to apply for, click on the title and click the "Apply" button. For questions about the vacancy, contact the Agency Contact at the bottom of the announcement. Click "Start Application" and proceed through the 5 steps noted at the top of the USAJOBS page. You will be able to select a resume and documents from your USAJOBS Account that you can submit as a package as part of your DOL application. At Step 5, click "Continue to Agency Site".
STEP 3 - Complete the 2nd part of the application process (DOL) On the Department of Labor (DOL) page, create a DOL Account if you have not already and click "APPLY TO THIS VACANCY". Continue through the 7 progress steps indicated by circles at the top of the DOL page. The 3rd progress step is where you answer the vacancy specific questions. The 4th progress step "Documents" is where you submit required documents (only if applicable to you) specified in the "Required Documents" section of this vacancy. If you submit a document using the same document title, the 2nd submission will OVERWRITE the 1st submission.
STEP 4 - On the "Review and Submit" step, click "Submit Application" The last "Confirmation" step will turn green noting that your application was submitted successfully.
STEP 5 - Edit Application as needed by 11:59 pm ET of Closing Date by returning to USAJOBS, clicking the vacancy, then "Update Application".
Next steps
Once your complete application is received, we will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications and refer candidates for selection consideration. Candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for further consideration and possible interviews. You will be notified of the outcome.
For instructions on how to check the status of your application, go to USAJOBS Help Guide.
USAJOBS will no longer send status alert email notifications. You can check your application status in the TAS by logging into USAJOBS and in the Applicant Dashboard, click the hiring agency Talent Acquisition System (TAS). If the TAS does not provide application tracking information, contact the agency's point of contact on the job announcement.
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