Lead Human Resources Specialist (ER/LR)-Temp Promo
About This Position
The length of this temporary promotion is NTE 1 year, with the possibility of becoming permanent without further competition. Area of Consideration: Open to current, permanent VISN 12 ER/LR Service line employee's only. Location may vary based on the selected candidate's current reporting location.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
Qualifications
To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/12/2026. 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-13position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-12.
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. Specialized Experience GS-13: You must possess at least one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to GS-12 grade level in Federal service which involved providing the knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the Human Resources (Employee Relations/Labor Relations) position. Specialized experience is considered to be expert knowledge of OPM, VHA Directives, organizational best practices, and HR case law, principles, and regulations; providing formal and informal assistance, advise and conducting special projects; serving as the principle management advocate in presenting and defending management positions on issues to arbitrators; providing formal and informal training on all aspects of employee and labor relations programs; knowledge of Federal time and attendance, leave administration, Equal Employment Opportunity, etc.; monitoring legislative and regulatory changes in employee relations in order to identify required changes in regulations, policy or instruction; reviews grievance's files and discusses with supervisors, managers, and researches potential union proposals in preparation for negotiation; knowledge of a wide range of FLRA, FSIP, MSPB, EEOC laws, regulations, policies and Federal HR management concepts, practices, analytical and diagnostic methods and techniques to identify, draw conclusions and/or resolve complex interrelated employee and/or labor relations issues; knowledge of Federal regulations pertaining to physical requirements, fitness of duty and accommodation of disabled employees; knowledge of and skill in mediation and alternative dispute resolution principles and applications; and skills in written and oral communication sufficient to prepare findings and recommends.
Major Duties
The Lead Human Resources Specialist serves as a subject matter expert in all matters of Employee/Labor Relations within the VISN and resolves employee and labor relation issues within the VISN Shared Services Unit (SSU). Duties Include: Lead Duties -Plans and directs work, assigns tasks, evaluates work, advises employees, handles complaints, and grievances with the oversight of the supervisor. -Evaluates unit productivity, quality, regulatory compliance, and technical competence. -Makes changes in work assignments and workflow and balances workload among positions to increase effectiveness of operations. -Meets with subordinates to discuss production reports, offers and solicits, recommendations for improvement, and ensures staff maintain optimum case load management. -Leads the team in identifying, distributing and balancing workload and tasks among employees in accordance with established workflow, skill level and/or occupational specialization. -Monitors and reports on the status and progress of work, checking on work in progress and reviewing completed work to ensure the supervisor's instructions on work priorities, methods, deadlines and quality have been met. -Intercedes on behalf of the supervisor in inform of any performance issues/problems noted and recommends/requests related actions, such as: assignments, reassignments, promotions, schedule changes and performance appraisals. -Coaches the team in the selection and application of appropriate methods and techniques, providing guidance on work methods, practices and procedures. Employee and Labor Relations -Plans work and carries out activities to manage employee/labor relations for an integrated healthcare network. -Responsible for Employee Relations/Labor Relations, Reasonable Accommodation, Performance Management, and Drug-free Workplace for the Network. -Monitors, evaluates, and adjusts plans, considering organizational needs and viewpoints, regulatory and legal limits, and organizational changes. -Provides guidance in unresolved, complex cases, referring to the supervisor only those problems which exceed the scope of the organizations served. -Interprets and clarifies policies for managers and employees. -Ensures HR Program specialty training courses for managers and supervisors are delivered. -Develops new operating procedures as necessary to deal with emerging human resource management issues within the serviced area. -Provides technical guidance, information, and assistance to management and senior leadership officials on sensitive, serious, and controversial employee labor relations issues regarding employees in a variety of occupations, including Title 5 General Schedule (GS) and Wage Grade (WG), administrative and clinical, and Title 38. -Provides technical guidance, information and assistance includes subject matters such as actions of a disciplinary or adverse nature, grievances, demands to bargain, impasse proceedings, local bargaining, performance management and recognition, employee counseling, appeals, complaints, drug testing, and other related functions. -Researches and interprets legal and regulatory program guidance, including case law, collective bargaining agreements, United States Code, Code of Federal Regulations, and VA Handbooks and Directives.
Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday-Friday, Admin Hours Telework: This position may be authorized for ad-hoc telework. Position Description/PD#: Lead Human Resources Specialist (ER/LR)-Temp Promo/PD99969S Physical Requirements: The work required does not inherently include any physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with accommodation or workplace adjustment. A pre-placement physical examination is 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)
Education
There is no educational substitution for the GS-13 level.
How You Will Be Evaluated
You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Communication Compliance Employee Relations Labor Relations Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. 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. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE.
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. 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.
Additional Information
Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. VA may offer newly-appointed Federal employee's credit for their job-related non-federal experience or active duty uniformed military service. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.
How to Apply
All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must 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 03/12/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12905643. 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. For more information on the "Who may apply" eligibility requirements, please refer to the OHRM Status Candidates and Other Candidate Definitions document. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan.
Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job.
Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed.
Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement.
Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX).
We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans.
Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.
Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at: https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/hiring-information/merit-hiring-plan-resources/applicant-guidance-on-the-two-page-resume-limit/ Special Employment Consideration: VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply, including those eligible for hiring under 5 CFR 213.3102(u), Schedule A, Appointment of persons with disabilities [i.e., intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities], and/or Disabled veterans with a compensable service-connected disability of 30% or more. Contact the Agency Contact for information on how to apply under this appointment authority via the Selective Placement Coordinator. The Interagency Career Transition Assistance Plan (ICTAP) and Career Transition Assistance Plan (CTAP) provide eligible displaced VA competitive service employees with selection priority over other candidates for competitive service vacancies.
To be qualified you must submit appropriate documentation (a copy of the agency notice, your most recent performance rating, and your most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location) and be found well-qualified for this vacancy. To be well-qualified: applicants must possess experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors, and who are proficient in most of the required competencies of the job. Information about ICTAP and CTAP eligibility is on OPM's Career Transition Resources website at http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ " target="_blank">"http://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/workforce-restructuring/employee-guide-to-career-transition/ During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions.
Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
Required Documents
To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes: Resume The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please make sure you have included other documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), documentation to support Veterans Preference claims, or ICTAP/CTAP documentation (for displaced Federal employees).
You will not be contacted for additional information. Cover Letter DD-214/ Statement of Service Disability Letter (Schedule A) Disability Letter (VA) License Other (1) PCS Orders Performance Appraisal Professional Certification Resume Separation Notice (RIF) SF-15 SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility): Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee An SF-50 showing 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 Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade. Examples of appropriate SF-50's include: Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.