Duties

Summary

Securing Travel, Protecting People - At the Transportation Security Administration, you will serve in a high-stakes environment to safeguard the American way of life. In cities across the country, you would secure airports, seaports, railroads, highways, and/or public transit systems, thus protecting America's transportation infrastructure and ensuring freedom of movement for people and commerce. For additional information about our agency please: Click Here

Learn more about this agency

Responsibilities

This Equal Employment Specialist position is located in the EEO Management Branch within the Civil Rights, Diversity & Inclusion Division (CRDI), Office of Civil Rights and Liberties, Ombudsman and Traveler Engagement (CRL/OTE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Typical Duties include:

• Serving as the subject matter expert providing technical advice and assistance to managers, supervisors, applicants for employment, employees and former employees, on all aspects and stages of the federal EEO complaint process.
• Demonstrating mastery of conflict resolution and facilitation skills.
• Serving as a Senior EEO Specialist providing technical assistance and training, of varying degrees of complexity, to lower graded EEO Specialist, and TSA employees.
• Ensuring EEO complaints are processed in accordance with regulatory requirements, policy, and current federal sector case law.
• Conduct training to include, but not limited to, EEO skills and procedures, and effective conflict resolution.
• Utilizing case tracking software and Excel to generate reports, respond to requests for data, including the EEOC 462, and No FEAR reports.
• Leading and participating in results driven cross-functional teams to address equal employment opportunity or processing challenges, resulting in recommendations and implementation of strategic actions.

The major duties described above reflect the full performance level of this position. Typically, the lower pay band (G and H bands) performs the same duties but will receive more guidance and training; and/or projects/work assignments may be less complex.

Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

This position is also being announced through Government Wide procedures under Announcement #HQ-CRLOTE-19-584802-G. Candidates who wish to be considered under both Public (US Citizens) and Government-Wide procedures must apply to both announcements.

Travel Required

Not required

Supervisory status
No

Promotion Potential
I

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• Selective Service registration is required.
• You must possess U.S. Citizenship or be a U.S. National.
• You must complete a favorable Background Investigation (BI).
• See additional "Conditions of Employment" and "Other Information" section

Applying to this announcement certifies that you give permission for DHS to share your application with others in DHS for similar positions.

Any offers of employment made pursuant to this announcement will be consistent with all applicable authorities, including Presidential Memoranda, Executive Orders, interpretive U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidance, and Office of Management and Budget plans and policies concerning hiring. These authorities are subject to change.

Qualifications

To qualify for the SV-H Pay Band (equivalent to GS-11/12), you must meet one of the qualification requirements (A, B, OR C) outlined below:

Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-F or GS-9 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Experience conducting fact findings, limited inquiries, or administrative investigations;
• Experience providing technical or policy guidance to individuals at various levels of an organization;
• Experience conducting technical or legal-based presentations; AND
• Experience drafting professional correspondence, legal documents or technical reports with attention to detail.

OR
B. Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this band level you must possess a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree; OR three (3) full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree OR have successfully completed an LL.M. degree.

OR
C. Combining of Education and Experience: Combinations of successfully completed graduate education and experience as described above, may be used to meet total qualification requirements for this position that equates to one year of experience. The total percentages must equal at least 100 percent to qualify for the position.

GRADUATE EDUCATION: Education at the graduate level in an accredited college or university in the amounts indicated above meets the requirements for this position. Such education must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. One year of full-time graduate education is considered to be the number of credit hours that the school attended has determined to represent one year of full-time study. If that information cannot be obtained from the school, 18 semester hours should be considered as satisfying the one year of full-time study requirement.

Applicants who meet the qualifications listed above based on education or a combination of education and experience MUST provide proof of education such as a list of completed college courses or the date and school of degree including the number of semester or quarter hours or a transcript from an accredited college or university. The information must be provided as an attachment to the application by the closing date of the announcement. If selected, the applicant must supply a transcript or certification of degree.

To qualify for the SV-H Pay Band (equivalent to GS-12), you must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-G Pay Band or GS-11 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Experience drafting EEO acceptance letters, procedural dismissal letter, reports of investigation and/or merit based determinations for civilian federal sector EEO complaints;
• Experience reviewing EEO reports of investigation for legal sufficiency or compliance; AND
• Experience facilitating conflict resolution discussions to resolve EEO related workplace disputes.

To qualify for the SV-I Pay Band (equivalent to GS-13), you must have one year of specialized experience at the SV-G Pay Band or GS-12 in the Federal service or equivalent experience in the private sector. Specialized experience is defined as experience that has equipped you with the knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position. Specialized experience is defined as:

• Experience managing third-party contractor EEO investigations; processing mixed case complaints, appealable to the Merit Systems Protection Board;
• Experience determining legal sufficiency of EEO Reports of Investigation; AND
• Experience preparing case files for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) hearings and/or appeals with the EEOC's Office of Federal Operations.

Note: Credit for experience is given based on a 40-hour workweek. Part-time experience is credited on a part-time ratio, i.e., working 20 hours per week for two months' equals one month of experience. No additional credit is given for overtime. 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; religious; 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 Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must authorize employment offers made to current or former political appointees. If you are currently, or have been within the last 5 years, a political Schedule A, Schedule C, Non-career SES or Presidential Appointee employee in the Executive Branch, you must disclose this information to the Human Resources Office.

Veterans and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the documentation that is required, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement.

Education

Additional information

Conditions of Employment:

• You must be able to obtain and maintain a Secret security clearance.

Telework may be available at supervisor discretion, this is not a virtual position.

Eligibility to apply for other Federal positions: TSA is an Excepted Service agency exempt from most of Title 5 United States Code, including regulations which apply to displaced Federal employees (CTAP/ICTAP) of other agencies, and employment with TSA does not confer "Competitive Status" that generally results from selection and service in Competitive Service agencies. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has established an Interchange Agreement, which allows most permanent TSA employees to apply and be considered for vacancies in Competitive Service agencies. Information from OPM on this or other Interchange Agreements is available at: http://www.opm.gov .

To ensure the accomplishment of our mission, DHS requires every employee to be reliable and trustworthy. To meet those standards, all selected applicants must undergo and successfully pass a background investigation as a condition of placement into this position.

DHS uses E-Verify, an Internet-based system, to confirm the eligibility of all newly hired employees to work in the United States. Learn more about E-Verify including your rights and responsibilities.

TSA employees who are absent for the purpose of performing military duty may apply for any vacancies announced in their absence.

It is the policy of the Government not to deny employment simply because an individual has been unemployed or has had financial difficulties that have arisen through no fault of the individual. Information about an individual's employment experience will be used only to determine the person's qualifications and to assess his or her relative level of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Although an individual's personal conduct may be relevant in any employment decision, including conduct during periods of unemployment or evidence of dishonesty in handling financial matters, financial difficulty that has arisen through no fault of the individual will generally not itself be the basis of an unfavorable suitability or fitness determination. For more information, click here .

Payment of relocation expenses (Permanent Change of Station) is not authorized.

More than one position may be filled from this announcement.

If you are entering TSA employment on an appointment without time limitations, you must serve a basic trial period unless you have already met the requirement.

TSA policy requires verification of Selective Service registration for male applicants born after 12/31/59. For more information click here .

View common definitions of terms found in this announcement.

Veterans and persons with disabilities possess a wealth of unique talents, experiences, and competencies that can be invaluable to the DHS mission. If you are a member of one of these groups, you may not have to compete with the public for federal jobs. To determine your eligibility for non-competitive appointment and to understand the documentation that is required, click on the links above or contact the Servicing Human Resources Office listed at the bottom of this announcement.

How You Will Be Evaluated

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

You will be evaluated based on a comparison of the position requirements against the quality and extent of the experience and/or related education as reflected in your resume and supporting documentation. You are encouraged to ensure work experiences clearly show possession of the competencies required for this position. We will compare your resume and supporting documentation to your responses on the assessment questionnaire. If, after reviewing your resume and any supporting documentation, a determination is made that you have rated yourself higher than is supported by your application materials, your category placement may be adjusted and/or you may be excluded from consideration for this job.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Grouping procedures. Under Category Grouping, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

Best-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate high proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all Selective Placement Factors (SPF) as determined by the job analysis.

Well-Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrates acceptable proficiency in all of the critical competencies, including all SPFs as determined by the job analysis.

Qualified: Applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position and demonstrate basic proficiency in most of the critical competencies, including all SPFs as determined by the job analysis.

Veterans: Qualified veterans who have a compensable service-connected disability of at least 10% are listed in the best-qualified category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level, or higher. (This position is not considered scientific/professional.) Other 10-point preference eligibles and veterans with 5-point preference who meet the eligibility and qualification requirements are placed above non-preference eligibles within the category in which they qualify. View information on veterans' preference .

To preview questions please click here .

Background checks and security clearance

Security clearance
Secret

Drug test required
No

Required Documents

In addition to a resume and the assessment questions, you must submit copies of any of the following documents if you are applying based on Veterans' Preference or eligible Veterans' Service (a veteran who was honorably discharged from the armed forces after completing at least three (3) years of continuous active duty service), or education or a combination of education and experience:

DD-214 - If you are claiming Veterans' Preference or eligible Veterans' Service, provide a copy of your DD-214 (Member Copy 4), Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, or other appropriate documentation to prove your entitlement and to provide verification of an Honorable Discharge.

SF-15 and VA Letter - If you are claiming Veterans' Preference based upon a Compensable Disability, Widow or Spouse Entitlement, or as a Purple Heart recipient, you must submit your DD-214 or other proof of entitlement; an SF-15, and the required proof of disability, i.e., Department of Veterans Affairs letter dated 1991 or later.

Transcripts - If you are qualifying based on education OR if there are mandatory education requirements listed under the Qualifications and Evaluations section, you MUST submit a copy of your college transcript(s) with your application. If selected, an official/sealed college transcript(s) will be required to verify education prior to employment.

If you do not submit required documentation described in this job opportunity announcement, your application will be deemed incomplete and you will be ineligible for further consideration for this vacancy.

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.