s/o NLRB attorney salary

[Anonymous]

Labor lawyer (management side) in the private sector here. I am 8 years in, being put up for partner next year (I work for one of the national L&E firms) but considering just jumping to work for the NLRB (I have a good relationship with the attorneys in the DC and Baltimore offices and think I could have a shot at getting hired there). Anyone have any clue at all at what salary I could expect? Any chance they'd hire me in as a GS-14 (probably not, but who knows...)

[Anonymous]

Most positions are journeyman at gs-14. They won't hire you at that level in most regions or hq in all likelihood. There are some independent gs-15s board side but they are rare and have been there 20+ years.

[Anonymous]

OP here. So what does journeyman at gs-14 mean? (sorry, clueless about the fed salary system). i gather i'd have about no chance of getting hired in at a gs-14.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious why a management side lawyer wants to work at the Board. Are you interested in promoting collective bargaining and protecting workers' rights when they are violated during organizing campaigns? Or are you interested in getting some government experience before going back to the private sector?

[Anonymous]

OP again. I've always wanted to work for the government, and this is reinforced by the ugly "business" side of private practice. If I make partner, I then have to worry about building a book of business, getting/keeping clients. I also find myself in plenty of situations where a client stepped in it (usually unknowingly, because employers these days often are ignorant of the NLRA) and try to do my best as an advocate to get them out of it. There is some attraction to being a "neutral" (although I know after a complaint issues, Board attorneys have to advocate for their position even when it is bad).

Also, job security and fewer hours and less stress.

This most certainly wouldn't be to get experience so that I could go back to the private sector. If anything, I would be definitively walking away from the private sector. In addition to representing clients in ULP and representation cases, I first chair collective bargaining negotiations, handle arbitrations, give general advice on the NLRA to clients, not to mention the share of my caseload that is employment litigation. I'd be walking away from all that and making myself far less marketable in the future to a firm (in my opinion, anyway).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. So what does journeyman at gs-14 mean? (sorry, clueless about the fed salary system). i gather i'd have about no chance of getting hired in at a gs-14.

It means that's the highest career level. For most they hire at lower levels 9-11-12-13-14. That means it takes 3 years to get to a 13 then 3 years to get to the 14 when you get steps as a 13 rather than a grade promotion. They can hire at 14 it's just very unusual.

[Anonymous]

Most attorney positions at NLRB hire at a 14 if you have experience. But it's also a function of whether the divisions or regional office has any hiring authority. That's scarce right now. Massive hiring freezes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why a management side lawyer wants to work at the Board. Are you interested in promoting collective bargaining and protecting workers' rights when they are violated during organizing campaigns? Or are you interested in getting some government experience before going back to the private sector?

There is no requirement at the Board that attorneys be Union-side. The NLRB is meant to be neutral. Many successful Board attorneys come from the private sector.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most attorney positions at NLRB hire at a 14 if you have experience. But it's also a function of whether the divisions or regional office has any hiring authority. That's scarce right now. Massive hiring freezes.

Interestingly, this region has been losing people to other agencies and the private sector. I was talking to the head of the DC resident office about a case, and he just went on an unsolicited tear about it. So I think they do need attorneys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most attorney positions at NLRB hire at a 14 if you have experience. But it's also a function of whether the divisions or regional office has any hiring authority. That's scarce right now. Massive hiring freezes.

Interestingly, this region has been losing people to other agencies and the private sector. I was talking to the head of the DC resident office about a case, and he just went on an unsolicited tear about it. So I think they do need attorneys.

Whether or not they need attorneys is not the point. It's whether or not they have authority to hire, which comes from Headquarters, OPM, and Congress.

[Anonymous]

I got the impression from the head of the office that they are replacing people who leave - he made a comment about how he is all for giving veterans preference but was discouraged that he has to consider applications of vets with zero labor experience who took an HR course at some point, who were deemed qualified to work as a Field Examiner/Attorney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm curious why a management side lawyer wants to work at the Board. Are you interested in promoting collective bargaining and protecting workers' rights when they are violated during organizing campaigns? Or are you interested in getting some government experience before going back to the private sector?

There is no requirement at the Board that attorneys be Union-side. The NLRB is meant to be neutral. Many successful Board attorneys come from the private sector.

PP's comment is precisely why so many people think the Board is a biased agency. I tend not to believe that, but comments like the above are discouraging, because I do think they are reflective of how some people at the Board think (not assuming that PP actually works at the Board).