National Hearing Office: Staffing

[jandea]

On September 12, 2007 a vacancy announcement appeared on USAJOBS (SV153043) and stayed open for only two days. The announcement was for GS-13 attorney-advisers in the Office of the Chief Judge in Falls Church. The annoucement referred to "many vacancies."

I have been unable to find out anything about these positions. Current attorney-advisers in the Office of the Chief Judge claim to know nothing about the hiring and are of the opinion that the annoucement came out in error. The contact person on the vacancy annoucement from personnel will not specify just how "many vacancies." Would these jobs possibly be for a planned national hearing office gearing up for new ALJ hires?

[retfed]

This may be an answer you will not want to read. An unconfirmed rumor has it that the posting was placed and pulled so quickly because the GS-13 promotions were allocated for 6 or so FedROs who had done outstanding work in denying claims under the new system. There was a celebration down there at falls church when the records indicated an 80% denial rate and those with the best turn down rates.
In a different life in this same time zone I ahve had some communication with a FedRO or two.

[jandea]

You may be correct but I was under the impression that FedRo positions were already at either GS-13 or GS-14.

I was also under the impression that the FedRo office has around an 18 month workload left to complete and that no FedRo attorney is at risk for being out of a job.

[happy]

No FedROs were slotted for the OCALJ/NHC. The more likely scenario is that the target was external hires and, not wanting 500 applications to sift through, the open period was limited.

Although OFedRO may or may not have 18 months worth of work remaining, it is already less than half staffed for its current pending. Existing FedROs are needed where they are, though some are leaving for promotions and others are going back to the Agencies whence they came.

[happy]

And yes, FedROs are 13s and 14s already.