Recent Graduate - Employee Benefits Investigator

Summary

EBSA plays a vital role in protecting the retirement, health, and other job-based benefits of America's workers, retirees, and their families. We issue effective regulations, offer comprehensive education and assistance to workers, plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and service providers, and rigorously enforce the law. We serve workers, families, and the broader employee benefits community by protecting the security and integrity of the nation's benefit systems.

Duties

For more information, click Pathways Programs, State Apprenticeship Programs, Other Apprenticeship Programs or Career One Stop. This is an appointment under the DOL Recent Graduates program. The program duration is one year. Upon successful completion of the program and at the agency's discretion, the appointee may be converted to a term or permanent position in the competitive service. Major duties include but are not limited to the following: Plan and conduct technical civil and criminal investigations involving employee benefit plans, service providers, fiduciaries, financial institutions, and related entities to assess compliance with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and related laws. Review and analyze employee benefit plan financial records, accounting systems, transactions, investments, plan operations, and fiduciary conduct to identify violations, determine the impact on plan participants, and recommend appropriate enforcement actions. Initiate and arrange meetings and discussions with plan officials, service providers, and their legal and financial representatives, including at company locations. Develop and prepare comprehensive investigative reports, work papers, findings, legal/regulatory analyses, and recommendations for voluntary compliance, civil litigation, criminal prosecution, penalties, settlement, or case closure. Location Selection Limitation: Applicants may select up to two (2) duty locations when applying to this announcement. Please carefully consider and choose only the locations you can reliably and easily commute to or otherwise access, if selected. Locality Salary Ranges: The advertised salary reflects the minimum and maximum pay for the listed locations. Upon selection, the salary will be set in accordance with the selectee's assigned duty location. Applicants may select up to two (2) duty locations. Please carefully consider and choose only the location(s) you can reliably and easily commute to on a regular recurring basis, if selected. To view the address of a specific location click here. Qualifications

This appointment is under the DOL Recent Graduates program. The program duration is one year. *For more information, click Pathways Programs. The appointee must be a U.S. citizen to be eligible for conversion to a permanent position in the competitive service upon completion of the program. Applicants must have graduated, within the past two years, (with an associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, diploma, vocational, technical degree, or certificate, etc.) from a qualifying educational institution or career or technical educational program including registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps). Students who will meet the education requirements by January 15th, 2027 may apply. You must meet the Basic Requirements listed in the Education Requirements section and the Specialized Experience to qualify for Recent Graduate - Employee Benefits Investigator, as described below. Applicants must have 52 weeks of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade level in the Federal Service. Specialized Experience is the experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform the duties of the position successfully, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the next lower grade level. Qualifying specialized experience for GS-09 includes the below. Applicants must meet at least two (2) of the four (4): Participating in investigative projects and/or audits to gather and review information to help determine whether organizations are following applicable laws and requirements. Conveying information to individuals and groups to formulate and present findings, recommendations and conclusions. Researching, reviewing and analyzing financial and accounting records, laws, regulations, court decisions, and other materials to identify important information and support the development of investigative findings. Writing reports, memorandum, analysis and other work products citing applicable laws and regulations. OR - Master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of graduate level education, or LLB. or J.D.; if related. OR - A combination of specialized experience and graduate level education that provided the specific knowledge, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of this position.

Education

To be eligible for an appointment, you must meet requirement A or B. A. Completed all requirements for a diploma, associate, bachelor, master, professional, doctorate, vocational, or technical degree or certificate from a qualifying educational institution or career or technical education program (including registered Apprenticeship Programs, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Job Corps, Climate Corps) within the previous two years; OR B. Was released or discharged from active duty within the previous two years, where the applicant is a veteran who, due to a military service obligation, was precluded from applying for a recent graduate position during any portion of the two-year eligibility period following completion of his/her degree or certificate requirements, provided that not more than six years have transpired since the applicant completed the requirements for a degree or certification. ****NOTE: You must submit an academic transcript from your academic institution showing the date that you most recently completed the academic requirements described above. If you will graduate by 1/15/2027, please submit documentation of enrollment of courses for verification. *For Accredited Post-Secondary Institutions, click Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs *For Registered State Apprenticeship Programs Information, click State Apprenticeship Programs *For Other Apprenticeship Programs, click Apprenticeship Programs *For Industry-Endorsed Certificate Programs, click Career One Stop Certificate Finder 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 coursework requirements for this position. Click Evaluation of Foreign Education for more information. How You Will Be Evaluated

Your evaluation will be based on how well you meet the qualifications outlined in this vacancy announcement, as demonstrated through your resume and supporting documentation. Click Application of Veterans Preference for more information. You may preview application questions for this vacancy here: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13088157 If you meet the minimum qualifications, you will be evaluated against the evaluation factors below and will be placed into a category based on your vacancy question responses. Category A - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and has successful experience in the same or similar job that has demonstrated superior proficiency in applying critical competencies required by this position to work of increased levels of difficulty and complexity. Category B - Meets the basic qualification requirements for the vacancy and demonstrates satisfactory proficiency in the critical competencies required by this position. Category C - Meets the specialized experience described in the minimum qualification requirements section of this announcement and demonstrates proficiency in the basic competencies. USA Hire You will be assessed on the following competencies (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics): The information you provide may be verified by a review of your paid, unpaid, and volunteer, 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.). For more detailed information on applying for positions with DOL click here to view the U.S. Department of Labor, How to Apply website. Other Information

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. Refer to these links for more information: GENERAL INFORMATION, REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION, ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTATION, FORMER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES As a condition of employment, all personnel must undergo a background investigation for access to DOL facilities, systems, information and/or classified materials before they can enter on duty: BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION This position is inside the bargaining unit. If the duty location is within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the position will be included in the Local 12, AFGE bargaining unit. If the duty location is outside the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, the position will be included in the NCFLL bargaining unit. For more information, click Career Ladder Promotion Information Applicants must meet all legal and regulatory requirements. Reference the Required Documents section for additional requirements. For more information, click Telework Position Information. This is not a remote work position. The selectee will report to an assigned DOL office location on a regular basis and is eligible for participation in telework as determined by management in accordance with DOL policy. Based on agency needs, additional positions may be filled using this vacancy. The Department of Labor may use certain incentives and hiring flexibilities, currently offered by the Federal government to attract highly qualified candidates. Click here for Additional Information. The Fair Chance Act (FCA) prohibits Federal agencies from requesting an applicant's criminal history information before the agency makes a conditional offer of employment. If you believe a DOL employee has violated your rights under the FCA, you may file a complaint of the alleged violation following our agency's complaint process Guidelines for Reporting Violations of the Fair Chance Act. Note: The FCA does not apply to some positions specified under the Act, such as law enforcement or national security positions. All Department of Labor employees are subject to the provisions of the Drug-Free Workplace Program under Executive Order 12564 and Public Law 100-71. Reasonable Accommodation (RA) Requests: If you believe you have a disability (i.e., physical or mental), covered by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended that would interfere with completing the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, you will be granted the opportunity to request a RA in your online application. Requests for RA for the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments and appropriate supporting documentation for RA must be received prior to starting the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments. Decisions on requests for RA are made on a case-by-case basis. If you meet the minimum qualifications of the position, after notification of the adjudication of your request, you will receive an email invitation to complete the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments, based on your adjudication decision. You must complete all assessments within 48 hours of receiving the URL to access the USA Hire Competency Based Assessments if you received the link after the close of the announcement. To determine if you need a RA, please review the : Procedures for Requesting a Reasonable Accommodation for Online Assessments.