Clarification from the agency

Open to current, permanent VISN 6 HR employees.

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Duties for this position include but are not limited to:

• Plan, implement, coordinate and review all Employee and Labor Relations program activities to ensure conformance with OPM, VA, VHA, VISN 6 and Medical Center objectives.
• Provide advice, consultative service and guidance to all supervisory levels throughout the VISN on human resources management principles, techniques, and acceptable personnel practices.
• Provide advice consultative service and guidance on statutory, regulatory, and procedural requirements from agencies/organizations such as the Merit System Protection Board, Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General, Joint Commission, and other bodies.
• Responsible for internal control and operation of service activities and for the planning, directing and managing of the VISN 6 Employee and Labor Relations Division.
• Ensure national policy and program updates, changes, announcements, etc. are implemented in the VISN, including all necessary trainings occur for proper implementation.
• Evaluate the HR employee relations program and review and analyze the effects of proposed and actual changes to policies and guidelines.
• Provide advisory services to program managers on significant issues, such as establishing criteria, formulating projects, or researching or analyzing a variety of unusual conditions, problems, or questions.
• Review performance and conduct related actions and provide guidance.
• Communicate agency-wide labor relations policies and procedures to management VISN-wide.
• Serve as a team member in planning, organizing, and directing team efforts in conducting major evaluations of VISN employee and labor relations program operations and comparable studies.
• Plan, organize, direct, coordinate, review, and evaluate the work of subordinate HR staff.
• Identify training needs and directs or provides for training.
• Counsel employees on behavior and initiates disciplinary actions if required.

Work Schedule: Mon-Fri 8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Telework: Ad-hoc, as determined by VA policy
Virtual: Selectee will remain at their current duty station. The final salary determination will be based on the selectee's physical location.
Position Description/PD#: Supervisory Human Resources Specialist (Employee Relations/ Labor Relations) Temp. Promotion/ Detail/PD99979S
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary period or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your probationary period or trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/13/2026.

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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-14 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-13. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. 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 provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment.

You may qualify based on your experience as described below:

The BASIC REQUIREMENT for the HR Specialist GS-0201 series is presumed met if found qualified at the GS-0201-7 level and above.

To qualify for this position at the GS-14 level, you must meet one of the following listed Criteria:

Criteria 1- Graduate Degree and Specialized Experience: Successful completion of a graduate level degree or higher (transcript required) and three years of progressive specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level. Specialized Experience at least GS 12 level equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to successfully perform the duties of this position and that is typically in and/or related to the position being filled includes: provides technical guidance, information, and assistance to management and senior leadership officials on sensitive, serious, and controversial employee labor relations issues, reviews third-party involvement in negotiations and represents the network in complex cases, performs a full range of supervisory duties, plans and directs work, assigns tasks, evaluates work performed, advises employees, selects applicants to fill vacant positions, handles complaints, grievances, and disciplinary problems regarding subordinate staff.

~OR~

Criteria 2- Specialized Experience: You must have at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-13 grade level in federal service that demonstrates HR management knowledge, concepts and principles and the performance of work in one or more of the HR specialty areas. Such experience may be gained in administrative, professional, technical or other responsible work positions in the public (i.e., Government or military) or private sector. Qualifying specialized experience includes: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-13 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Experience serving as a senior staff advisor/supervisor or technical expert in BOTH Employee Relations and Labor Relations; resolve issues that had potential bargaining unit impacts; developing and arguing arbitration, Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and unfair labor practice cases on behalf of the Medical Center; providing a wide range of advisory services to managers relative to disciplinary and adverse actions, grievances, appeals, unfair labor practices, contract violations, workforce/work environment factors; independently resolving issues on the application of negotiated agreements and Federal Labor Relations Authority decisions, resolution of grievances, and arbitration proceedings; establish guidelines and performance expectations for staff; plan and conduct ER and LR program reviews to evaluate program effectiveness; develop work improvement plans; direct and provide oversight of a team engaged in special studies affecting major programs and/or policies.

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.

Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment.

Physical Requirements: The work is mainly sedentary. Typically, the employee sits comfortably to do the work. However, there is also daily walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items such as papers, books and small objects.

For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position:

• Communication
• Employee Relations
• Human Resources Management
• Labor Relations
• Technical Competence

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.

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 contact for an interview. Your resume and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating or consideration for employment.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document.

Placement Policy: The posting of this announcement does not obligate management to fill a vacancy or vacancies by promotion. The position may be filled by reassignment, change to lower grade, transfer, appointment, or reinstatement. Management may use any one or any combination of these methods to fill the position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.