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

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Duties include but are not limited to the following:

• Provides technical expertise in developing and reviewing class and individual exemptions under ERISA and FERSA.
• Independently researches legislation, regulations, court decisions, precedent cases, and public comments to support exemption analysis.
• Reviews exemption applications and prepares written analyses outlining statutory, regulatory, and policy issues, along with recommended actions.
• Identifies industry transactions suitable for deregulation and drafts proposed and final class exemptions.
• Collaborates with the Office of the Solicitor to resolve exemption issues and participates in meetings, conferences, and public hearings.
• Prepares briefing materials, evaluates public comments, summarizes hearing proceedings, and recommends modifications to proposed exemptions.
• Ensures proposed and final exemptions align with precedent and policy guidance; assesses exemption applicability to FERSA fiduciary transactions.
• Serves as a liaison with other Federal agencies (IRS, SEC, Federal Reserve, etc.) and provides technical guidance to EBSA and OED staff.
• Responds to inquiries from Congress, plan participants, administrators, fiduciaries, and stakeholder groups; contributes to staff training.
• Participates in special studies, policy development, and technical reviews related to fiduciary exemptions and performs other assigned duties.

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Must be at least 16 years old.
• Requires a probationary period if the requirement has not been met.
• Candidate required to obtain the necessary security/investigation level.

Qualifications

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE WILL NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Position titles alone cannot be used to determine if you are qualified. Please list dates in MM/DD/YY format. This is imperative in determining if whether you have at least one year of creditable specialized experience. Dates will not be assumed.

You must meet the Basic Requirements and the Specialized Experience to qualify for Employee Benefits Law Specialist, as described below.

Basic Requirements:

Education: Undergraduate and graduate education: Major study in one or a combination of the following fields- finance, banking, business administration, economics, mathematics, accounting or auditing, pension plan administration, law, industrial relations, public administration, or other related fields.

OR

Specialized Experience: Progressively responsible experience that demonstrated the ability to perform work in the field of pension and welfare plans. Such experience may have been gained in (1) management, administration, development, analysis, audit, financial management, or termination of such plans or their funds; or (2) in closely related work such as taxation, securities, and investments. Specialized experience may have been gained in government, a welfare and pension plan administration or consulting firm, law firm, actuarial or accounting firm, labor union, welfare and pension association or research service, banking trust department, or investment firm. Examples of qualifying specialized experience include:

• Analysis and application of fiduciary, reporting and disclosure, bonding, funding, vesting, administration, and termination provisions of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and related laws, regulations, court decisions, and precedent rulings.
• Development of proposals for new or revised pension or welfare plans, petitions for exemptions, or requests for rulings under governing law.
• Legal work, a substantial portion of which required interpretation of Federal laws and legal requirements concerning welfare and pension plans, or in such related fields as taxation, securities, real estate, corporations, trusts, bankruptcy, and investments.
• Auditing or accounting work that involved determining compliance with Federal and State laws governing welfare and pension plans, securities, banking, insurance, or corporations.
• Analysis of Federal laws or regulations, development of policy, and drafting of proposed changes in an employee welfare and benefit plan or a related function.

In addition to meeting the basic requirements above, candidates must demonstrate specialized experience at a level of difficulty and responsibility equivalent to at least the GS-12 grade level in the Federal service. Specialized experience is defined as experience performing at least 2 of the following 3 duties:

• Experience providing authoritative technical advice and guidance on complex exemption, fiduciary, and prohibited transaction issues arising under ERISA, FERSA, and related laws and regulations to senior officials, agency staff, other Federal agencies, regulated entities, and other stakeholders, including explaining legal and policy positions, addressing sensitive or controversial matters, and participating in meetings, consultations, hearings, or interagency discussions..
• Experience conducting extensive legal, regulatory, and policy research and analysis involving ERISA, FERSA, the Internal Revenue Code, judicial decisions, published exemptions, rulings, and related precedents to evaluate complex employee benefit plan transactions or exemption requests, resolve difficult legal and policy issues, and develop recommendations supporting exemption, interpretive, policy, or legislative responsibilities.
• Experience drafting, reviewing, or developing complex exemption, regulatory, and interpretive documents-such as proposed or final class or individual exemptions, advisory opinions, information letters, technical memoranda, briefing materials, or other policy guidance-that apply statutory and regulatory requirements governing employee benefit plans and must be technically sound, legally sufficient, and consistent with agency precedent and policy.

Note: Specialized experience must be clearly documented in your resume; merely copying this statement into your application does not demonstrate that you possess the required experience.

Education

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.

Benefits

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.