at Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration in Hines, Illinois, United States
Job Description
Summary This position is located in the VISN 12 Great Lakes Finance Service (GLFS) at the Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, 5000 S 5th Ave, Hines, IL. The position serves as the Lead Civilian Payroll Technician for the Hospital, leading Civilian Payroll Technicians. This position is telework eligible. You will be required to work some days onsite. This position is not remote. Responsibilities This position performs the full range of payroll duties under a centrally processed automated payroll system (PAID), e-payroll services through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and is responsible for the accuracy of the pay and leave accounts for the VA Hospital employees. Major Duties include, but not limited to: Distributing and balances the workload among CPTs in accordance with established workflow or job specialization, assure timely accomplishment of the assigned workload, and assure that each employee has enough work to keep busy. Staying abreast of the status and progress of work and make day-to-day adjustments in accordance with established priorities, obtaining assistance from the Supervisory CPT on problems that may arise, such as backlogs which cannot be completed promptly. Instructing CPTs in specific tasks and job techniques for the more complex or non-routine assignments as necessary and assist in development of available written instructions, reference materials and receipt of supplies. Developing customer service surveys, in-take systems and example responses to common questions/inquiries as needed. Developing written procedures when there are no well-established procedures. Working with the supervisor to regularly pull payroll reports to review/monitor, interpret/isolate errors and identify systemic issues/trends or areas where CPTs, HR staff or overall systems and/or guidelines need to improve. Communicating errors to the Supervisory CPT or as delegated, HR leadership to ensure training and future errors are reduced, further guidance developed/updated and improvement of the integrity of the overall Payroll program. Working with CPTs on, and independently conduct, various audits on all employees’ type of pay and leave accounts to identify areas to improve. Independently researching, resolving and responding to complex and/or non-routine verbal and written pay and leave inquiries from employees, supervisors, FSC, HR, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) and VA Central Office (VACO) staff. Working with the Supervisory CPT in development of resolutions and/or solutions to unique or regular and recurring payroll errors based on recommendations from CPTs and/or review of reports or other pay related documents and/or issues that commonly arise. Resolving the most complex and sensitive payroll issues to include: court cases; Congressional inquiries/complaints; direct Department of Treasury, Internal Revenue (IRS), Department of Labor (DOL) or other federal agency (outside of VA) related requests/actions. Along with the Supervisory CPT, tracing errors involving correction of pay covering long periods of time, requiring extensive research to identify and resolve pay issues. Determining proper application of pay and leave regulations, laws, rules and agency policies, guidelines, coding, etc. for each separate pay plan involved and appropriate leave system impacted. Interpreting and applying regulations and policies regarding appointment entitlements, leave earnings, charges of leave, leave without pay, advance sick leave and compensatory time. Using knowledge of varying premium pay and benefit entitlements for employee specific pay plans when implementing tours of duty regulations/policies to include 24-hour coverage, irregular tours, compressed tours, flex tours, etc. Completing retroactive actions, to include timecard corrections that routinely occur every pay period and actions which are known to impact areas of an employee record in a predictable way. Pulling daily reports and regularly monitor reports generated in multiple systems; review reports to ensure consistency and ensure any errors found are resolved based on well established procedures. Auditing all employee type of pay and leave accounts to identify and correct delinquent and/or erroneous personnel actions or time-keeping errors. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full-time; Monday through Friday; 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Remote/Virtual: This position is not a remote/virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Lead Civilian Payroll Technician/PD14302A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959 You may be required to serve a probationary period Subject to background/security investigation Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP) Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) – See “Additional Information” below for details. Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/05/2024. 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 by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-06. 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. To qualify for this position at the GS-7 level, you must meet the following: Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-6 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Knowledge of extensive and diverse financial regulations, operations, and procedures relating to civilian pay and/or time and leave matters. Ability to serve as the customer service liaison with the data processing center on payroll situations involving a broad range of payroll transactions. Explain and provide training on payroll requirements, request or verify information, and resolve complicated pay problems and discrepancies in master records. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Attention to Detail Technical Competence Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, kn