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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.
Learn more about this agency07/13/2023 to 09/11/2023
$76,990 - $168,569 per year
GS 11 - 14
No
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Occasional travel - 1-5 days per month.
No
Permanent
Full-time
Excepted
14 - There is no obligation to provide future promotions if you are selected. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, meet all the performance requirements, and supervisor's recommendation to the next grade.
No
No
EX-23-SOL-HONORS-07
737052700
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
Current students enrolled in accredited educational institutions from high school to graduate level. Includes internships, pathways and other student programs.
Individuals who have graduated from an accredited educational institute or certificate program within the last 2 years or 6 years for Veterans.
Current excepted service federal employees.
Federal employees who meet the definition of a "surplus" or "displaced" employee.
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.
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, Virginia.
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:
IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.
Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements.
Eligibility is limited to graduating law students who will graduate from law school between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024, and recent law school graduates who began participating 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.
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.
Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Reference the "Required Documents" section for additional requirements.
Career Level Promotion (CLP) - There is no obligation to provide future promotions if you are selected. Promotions are dependent on your ability to perform the duties at a higher level, meet all the performance requirements, and the supervisor's recommendation to the next grade.
Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing, blind, or have speech disabilities, please dial 711 to access telecommunications relay services.
The mission of the Department of Labor (DOL) is to protect the welfare of workers and job seekers, improve working conditions, expand high-quality employment opportunities, and assure work-related benefits and rights for all workers. As such, the Department is committed to fostering a workplace and workforce that promote equal employment opportunity, reflects the diversity of the people we seek to serve, and models a culture of respect, equity, inclusion, and accessibility where every employee feels heard, supported, and empowered.
Refer to these links for more information: GENERAL INFORMATION, REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION, FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES
The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, volunteer, and other lived experience, as it demonstrates the competencies or skills required for the position to be filled. Your evaluation may include an interview, reference checks, or other assessment conducted by HR specialists, subject matter experts, or panel members and may include other assessment tools (ex. interview, structured interview, written test, work sample, etc.). The examining SOL Human Resources Office makes the final determination concerning applicant.
Position Telework eligibility is determined by management based on position duties during the recruitment process. Employee participation in telework on a routine or situational basis is determined by management primarily based on business needs. Employees participating in telework are subject to the terms and conditions of the Department of Labor's Telework Program.
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.
Evaluation Factors:
Selections are made based on many elements of a candidate's background, including a demonstrated commitment to or interest in labor law, employment law, government service, or public interest law; academic achievement; strong writing skills; leadership positions; law journal experience; moot court or mock trial experience; clinical experience; and past employment or extracurricular activities that relate to the work of the Department of Labor. Applicants for this position should specifically demonstrate specific background, education, and/or an interest in becoming a trial litigator, including any relevant background, education, or experience. It is the responsibility of the applicant to supply sufficient information to provide a basis for rating the elements listed above. The information you provide may be verified by a review of your work experience and/or education, by checking references, and through other means (ex. interview).
It is the responsibility of the applicant to supply sufficient information to provide a basis for rating each of the evaluation factors listed above.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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".
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. A selection is expected to be made within 30 calendar days from the issuance date of the certificate.
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.
The Federal hiring process is set up to be fair and transparent. Please read the following guidance.
This job originated on www.usajobs.gov. For the full announcement and to apply, visit www.usajobs.gov/job/737052700. Only resumes submitted according to the instructions on the job announcement listed at www.usajobs.gov will be considered.
Learn more about
The Office of the Solicitor's (SOL) mission is to meet the legal service demands of the entire Department of Labor to help achieve the Department's mission, which is to promote the welfare of wage earners, job seekers, and retirees, to improve working conditions, to advance opportunities for profitable employment, and to provide and protect work-related benefits and rights. SOL's activities and priorities help promote and protect opportunity for all workers and employers, and help advance the policy priorities of each of our client agencies.
