Equal Employment Specialist

Equal Employment Specialist

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Spokane, Washington

Salary Range: $75068 - $97593 Per Year

Job Summary: The primary purpose of the position is to serve as the principal advisor in the area of Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), Affirmative Employment, Civil Rights External Programs, Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), and Diversity Management for the Mann-Grandstaff VA Medical Center located in Spokane, Washington. The incumbent is responsible to the Medical Center Director for program development, administration, evaluation and advisory functions.

Major Duties:

• This position requires knowledge of Federal EEO regulations and principles, as well as personnel administration compliance and enforcement skills, administrative, management and consulting skills. Duties include, but are not limited to: Function as the EEO Program Specialist at the Mann-Grandstaff VAMC in Spokane, WA. This position is located in Spokane, WA. Coordinates, tracks, schedules, and consults with VA mediator/facilitator, Office of General Counsel, Human Resources, and management for Alternate Dispute Resolution cases and settlement discussions. Advises management on specific actions in support of affirmative action, and strategies for processing discrimination complaints. Assists the Office of Resolution Management (ORM) and Administrative Judges with investigations and hearings. Serves as the local liaison for all aspects of the facility's complaint processing program. Provides advice and assistance during the post-investigative stages i.e., hearings, appeals, and compliance phases) for each formal complaint. Serves as the technical expert for processing the following Federally conducted external complaints in accordance with agency policy. Develops an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Program, which is any procedure or combination of procedures voluntarily used to resolve issues in controversy without the need to resort to litigation. Conducts studies and analyses on the utilization of minorities and women in the workplace, identifying obstacles and outlining alternative solutions to identified problems. Compiles and analyzes statistical data in order to evaluate progress of the EEO Program. Conducts analyses of the workforce by race, sex, grade, occupational series, and policies and practices affecting employment. Identifies program goals that may conflict with existing policies or practices, actions, reassignments, job training, sexual harassment, and reprisal, based on factors of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, age, and handicap. Responsible for developing, implementing, coordinating, reviewing, monitoring, evaluating, and updating all plans associated with the EEO Program. Conducts briefings to the facility Director and management officials making them aware of their responsibilities in relations to these plans, and to solicit their support for successful implementation. Ensure that the plans are distributed to all levels of management and is understood by managers, as well as employees. Ensures the activities of the SEP Managers and their respective committees are carried out in accordance with departmental and local policy. Serves as representative for the facility in establishing and maintaining contact with local community groups, which are interested in civil rights or equal opportunity. Establish and maintain effective relationships with, and gain the confidence and cooperation of employees, supervisors and managers on complex EEO and Affirmative Employment issues. Increase the visibility of the Minority Veteran Program within the Spokane VA Medical Center and the diverse communities we serve. Advise the Director and Executive Management when policies discourage minority Veterans from using services, benefits and programs. Develop/coordinate seminars designed to educate the medical center staff on the specific cultural issues or needs identified as problem areas by the different minority Veteran groups. Develops, maintains, and implements the requirements of all relevant facility policies, committee charters, and standard operating procedures as required for both the EEO and MVPC programs. Ensures EEO, MVPC, and Special Emphasis programs have well-developed and implemented communication plans, events, and activities. Assists minority Veterans in resolving, accessing or acquiring entitled benefits and ensure minority Veterans are afforded equal access to all services. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday Telework: Ad-hoc. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Equal Employment Specialist/PD704520 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement, 05/08/2026. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-9.The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-9 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Providing technical assistance to managers, supervisors, and employees regarding job performance, conduct, and behavior. Experience should be relevant to the roles of EEO Specialist and Minority Veteran Program Coordinator (MVPC); prior direct EEO Specialist experience is preferred. Experience with complex program intake, tracking, and processing, including logging cases, monitoring deadlines, preparing routine correspondence, maintaining case files, and entering data into a formal case management system. Experience handling complex issues between staff, supervisors, and leadership with skill and diplomacy. Performing data entry into government data systems and proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, in a previous role. Experience gathering facts, preparing case documentation, and drafting reports and correspondence. Effectively communicating both verbally and in writing, preparing various reports, and briefing supervisors, service chiefs, and management personnel on all aspects of a program previously supported. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have a have 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 (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED); OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must possess equivalent combinations of successfully completed graduate education and Specialized Experience directly related to the work of the position, as outlined above. (TRANSCRIPTS REQUIRED) Preferred Qualification: Experience applying EEO principles within the Department of Veterans Affairs or another federal healthcare system, including familiarity with VHA organizational structures and labor management relations. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

How to Apply: Please read the entire announcement and all the instructions before you begin an application. To apply for this position, you must complete the initial online application, to include the initial online questionnaire and submission of the required documentation specified in the How to Apply and Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on the closing date of the announcement to receive consideration. To preview the application questionnaire, click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12944726. The application process is as follows: To begin, click Apply Online to create a USA JOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents. Answer the questions presented in the application and attach all necessary supporting documentation. Click the Submit Application button prior to 11:59 PM (ET) on the announcement closing date, 05/08/2026. If you are required to complete any USA Hire Assessments, you will be notified after submitting your application. The notification will be provided in your application submission screen and via email. The notification will include your unique assessment access link to the USA Hire system and the completion deadline. Additionally, in USAJOBS you can click "Track this application" to return to your assessment completion notice. Access USA Hire using your unique assessment link. Access is granted through your USAJOBS login credentials. Review all instructions prior to beginning your assessments. You will have the opportunity to request a testing accommodation before beginning the assessments should you have a disability covered under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended. Set aside at least 3 hours to take the USA Hire Assessments; however, most applicants complete the assessments in less time. If you need to stop the assessments and continue later, you can re-use your unique assessment link. NOTE: Your responses to the USA Hire Assessments will be reused for one year (in most cases) from the date you complete an assessment. If future applications you submit require completion of the same assessments, your responses will be automatically reused. Visit the USA Hire Applicant Resource Center for practice assessments and assessment preparation resources at https://support-usahire.opm.gov/hc/en-us. To update your application, including supporting documentation: During the announcement open period, return to your USAJOBS account, find your application record, and click Edit my application. This option will no longer be available once the announcement has closed. To view the announcement status or your application status: https://help.usajobs.gov/how-to. Your application status page is where you can view your application status, USA Hire assessment completion status, and review your notifications sent by the hiring agency regarding your application. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started. Helpful Hints for Creating a Two-Page Resume: Prioritize most relevant and recent experience Use concise, results focused language Align language from the job announcement Focus on demonstrating skills and competencies Remove outdated or unrelated experience Use the USAJOBS resume builder Additional guidance on this new requirement and resume building tools can be found at https://help.usajobs.gov/faq/application/documents/resume/page-limit

Application Deadline: 2026-05-08