DOL ALJs

[3orangewhips]

good luck!

[counselor95]

Thanks for letting us know! Good luck to you!

[doctorwho]

Good luck!

[aaa]

Cool! Blow them away with your knowledge and abilities!

[judicature]

peejay -

with your vet pref you should be golden! That is wonderful ;D

[privateatty]

pj:

Congrats! Get it done....

[tricia]

Peejay, congratulations and thanks for sharing the information.

[okeydokey]

FYI, from DOL's website, www.oalj.dol.gov/ORGANIZATIONAL_CHART.TXT:

"OALJ, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., is headed by the Chief Judge,
who is also the Chair of the Board of Contract Appeals and the Board of Alien
Labor Certification Appeals

Directly under the Chief Judge are two Associate Chief Judges. One Associate
Chief Judge manages longshore workers' compensation cases. The other
Associate Chief Judge manages black lung benefits cases and traditional cases.


OALJ has District Offices in Boston, Massachusetts, Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
Cincinnati, Ohio, Metairie, Louisiana, Newport News, Virginia, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and San Francisco, California. Each District Office is headed
by a District Chief Judge.

National office and District office judges are assigned to each office.

Also under the Chief Judge is the Director of Program Operations. Under the
Director of Program Operations are the divisions of Docket, Administrative
Services, and Information Resources Management."

[jagghagg]

justfoundthisboard said:

Did anyone else hear from DOL today?

JTFB - did you, too ?
(I did not - no desire to go to/stay in those locations.)

Heeeeey, PJ - it's about time, huh ?

[watchfulwaiting]

Wonderful news, Peejay! Congratulations and good luck.

[jagghagg]

justfoundthisboard said:

I'm afraid not. I only had an 80.23 and per peejay it took an 82 or above to get on the DOL certificate. It doesn't seem like anyone else here has heard from DOL. This means there may be at least 17 people that are 82 or above who do not participate on this board.

Or who are above that number (like me) but don't want to go to those locations......

[yankee]

I don't know if an agency can limit the certificate in this fashion, but perhaps DOL is looking for people with labor experience, too?? Just a thought.

[morgullord]

If memory serves, DOL can indeed limit its certificate to individuals who have labor law experience.

[morgullord]

My information is old; I was told that by a labor attorney back in the late 1980's. Social Security has always been unique in that it seemingly valued lack of experience in Social Security law while other agencies (apparently) looked for individuals with prior experience in its particular field of law.

I suppose the only way to find out how the process works would be to call DOL and speak to one of the staff attorneys there. Are there any DOL staff attorneys participating in this site who care to weigh in on this?

[jagghagg]

I just wish someone would provide "patriotsfan" with a number to call because it does seem like he is being passed over now - if he has the score and he specified the cities and is not getting a call...... could make one paranoid.

[ruonthelist]

It seems to me, at least on the basis of what has been posted on this thread, that it is very hasty to assume that there has been subject matter screening or any other sort of passing over of candidates.

1. Peejay, with a score around 90, listed DC and is on the certificate

2. Peejay heard that DOL was hiring in 4 cities (Boston, DC, Cherry Hill, and Covington)

3. Peejay also heard that the range of scores on the certificate was around 82-90.

4. Patriotsfan, with a score around 85, has not gotten called.

If patriotsfan had listed all four cities the data above would strongly suggest that he had been passed over, but (as I understand it, and please correct me if I am wrong) he only listed 1 of the four, Boston.

Here is one scenario that could account for the reported facts:
DOL asks for a certificate for those four cities. The top scorers for Boston are in the range of (say) 87 and up. More or less the same for the top scorers for DC (which would include peejay). Fewer people, and fewer of the top scorers, list Covington, and picking the top 3 scorers who did list Covington reaches down to someone with an 82.
I don't know whether this is what happened, but it is consistent with what has been posted. It is also consistent with the geographic distribution of the old register (we haven't heard about the distribution of the new register), on which big East and West coast cities, especially DC, were listed by more people than other locations.
I don't want to say a word against Covington. I've never been there. But even pre-Katrina I doubt that as many people listed the New Orleans area as listed DC or Boston, and post-Katrina I would guess that even fewer candidates would list it.
I don't have any idea what did happen in preparing this certificate, but something like the scenario above strikes me as more probable than a subject matter screening.

[jagghagg]

PWT! (Point Well Taken!)

[lurker]

peejay said:

This doesn't make sense to me, because OPM prepares the certificate, not DOL.

Also, I do have employment law experience but I have no classic labor law experience (i.e., union or management representation in, for example, claims of unfair labor practices).

FWIW - The DOL ALJ's do not do "classic labor law." That would be left to the ALJs who work for the NLRB. The DOL ALJ's hear cases involving Black Lung Benefits, child labor violations, violations of Executive Order 11246, whistleblower cases and a whole host of other types of cases involving agencies within the Department of Labor.

[lurker]

peejay said:

DOL is starting the interview process for ALJ positions in Boston, Cherry Hill NJ, DC, and Covington LA.

I got a call today and will be interviewed for a DC position next week.

For intelligence purposes, here's what I managed to learn: OPM certified 5 names for the position I'm interviewing for, and the scores ranged from about 82 to 90.73.

Wish me luck!

Best of luck. For clarification - is the score range that you reported just for the DC position or for the DOL ALJ positions in all 4 locations.

Personally, I'm hoping it's just the range for DC.

[jagghagg]

patriotsfan said:

For those waitng on the DOL ALJ cert, I have learned that DOL has NOT called all those who made the cert for the various locations. They appear to be focusing on DC first. No word on when they may address vacancies at other duty locations listed, but if you have not heard from DOL yet, don't despair. They seem to handle the process very differently than SSA. So as far as the DOL cert goes, its not over yet!

Then there is hope, yet, Patriot-Man!!!