Legal Administrative Specialist (Claims Examiner)

Summary

This position is in the Claims Branch of the Forest Service, and has responsibility for all Forest Service trespass and property damage claims both for and against the government, within multiple regions of the Forest Service. For additional information about the duties of this position, please contact Kandice Cotner at [email protected].

Duties

• Duties listed are at the full performance level GS-12
• Conducts investigation, requests documentation, performs legal research as it applies to the claim and state law, researches directives, and prepares reports in accordance with governing directives and statutes.
• Reviews and determines if the law is relevant to the associated claim and applies the appropriate law.
• Prepares recommendation and transmittal correspondence for signature, detailing facts and opinions as to liability, recommending approval or disapproval of claim based on the merits of the case for the counsel from Office of Genearl Counsel (OGC).
• Researches legal issues and prepares memoranda recommending approval or denial of claims under federal acts, ensuring decisions are based on case merits.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, you must meet the eligibility and qualifications requirements as defined below by the closing date of the announcement. For more information on the qualifications for this position, visit the Office of Personnel Management's General Schedule Qualification Standards. Your application and resume must clearly show that you possess the experience requirements. Transcripts must be provided for qualifications based on education. Provide course descriptions as necessary. Specialized Experience Requirement: For the GS-09: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07. Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: interpreting rules, regulations and procedures related to administrative claims examination to provide advice and guidance; and/or performing legal research into decisions and opinions regarding administrative claims; and/or collecting and analyzing pertinent claims information and data to support cases and adjudication. Or A master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to such a degree or LL.B. or J.D., if related; The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to the work; OR An appropriate combination of specialized experience and education (only graduate education in excess of 18 semester hours may be used to qualify applicants for this grade level). The education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work. For the GS-11: You must have at least one year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-09: Specialized experience is defined as two or more of the following: performing administrative and legal research and examination of historical records for administrative claims examining; and/or screening claims case files for quality of content and to ensure all information/documents were accurate and sufficient to form sound legal recommendation for claims adjudication; and/or preparing files, correspondence, and documents for claims cases using litigation support best practices, concepts methods and procedures. OR A Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree; or 3 full years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to such a degree; or LL.M., if related. OR An appropriate combination of specialized experience and graduate level education (beyond what is required for a master's degree, i.e., more than 36 semester hours leading to a Ph.D.). 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.

Requirements

Must be a U.S. Citizen or National. Males born after 12-31-59 must be registered for Selective Service or exempt. Subject to satisfactory adjudication of background investigation and/or fingerprint check. Per Public Law 104-134 all Federal employees are required to have federal payments made by direct deposit to their financial institution. Successfully pass the E-Verify employment verification check. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, visit E-Verify. As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1-year probationary 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 your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Education

There are no additional educational requirements.

How to apply

Please view Tips for Applicants - a guide to the Forest Service application process. Please read the entire announcement and all instructions before you begin. You must complete this application process and submit all required documents electronically by 11:59p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the closing date of this announcement. Applying online is highly encouraged. We are available to assist you during business hours (7:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m., Mountain Time Zone, Monday - Friday). If applying online poses a hardship, contact the Agency Contact listed below well before the closing date for an alternate method. All hardship application packages must be complete and submitted no later than noon ET on the closing date of the announcement to be entered into the system prior to its closing. Resumes must not exceed two pages. This agency provides reasonable accommodation to applicants with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. Contact the Agency Contact to request this. To begin, click "Apply" and follow the instructions to complete the Assessment Questionnaire and attach your resume and all required documents. Please verify that documents you are uploading from USAJOBs transfer into the Agency's staffing system as there is a limitation to the number of documents that can be transferred. However, once in the Agency's staffing system, you will have the opportunity to upload additional documents. Uploaded documents must be less than 5MB and in one of the following document formats: GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, PDF, TXT or Word (DOC or DOCX). Do not upload Adobe Portfolio documents because they are not viewable. Encrypted documents will not be accepted. Failure to submit required, legible documents may result in loss of consideration. Please ensure your resume does not exceed two pages. Applicants who submit a resume that exceeds two pages will be removed from consideration. Our office cannot be responsible for incompatible software, your system failure, etc.