Hearing Officer

Job Description

Hearing Officer 1, Assistant Hearing Officer, Assistant Attorney 2 – Albany (NY HELPS) | New York State Department of Labor

The Tone:
This is a full-time, hybrid role at the New York State Department of Labor, located in Albany, NY, with telecommuting options available. The New York State Department of Labor is dedicated to providing outstanding services to New York’s workers and businesses, helping New Yorkers find careers, building businesses, and empowering and protecting workers. This role is crucial for ensuring fair and impartial administrative hearings, upholding due process, and applying labor law effectively to resolve disputes and enforce regulations.

The TL;DR
• Role: Early Career
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid, Albany, NY

• Team: Reports to an Associate Attorney and Supervising attorney.
• Mission: To provide expert legal adjudicative services, conduct administrative hearings, and resolve disputes on behalf of the Commissioner of Labor.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Adjudicate Hearings: Preside over fair and impartial administrative hearings, mediations, and compliance conferences involving various Labor Law issues.
• Legal Analysis & Research: Analyze legal issues, research statutes, decisions, opinions, and case law to prepare for hearings and inform legal conclusions.
• Draft Decisions: Draft written reports, recommendations, orders, and determinations based on findings of fact and conclusions of law.
• Manage Cases: Review hearing requests, manage hearing calendars, and ensure timely resolution of cases as prescribed by applicable statutes.
• Protect Due Process: Administer oaths, rule on objections, evaluate evidence, and instruct parties on their rights to maintain fairness and impartiality during proceedings.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Admission to the New York State Bar and current registration to practice law in New York State.
• Experience: Admission to the NYS Bar, with subsequent satisfactory legal experience ranging from 0 to 24 months in the trial of issues or adversary quasi-judicial proceedings, depending on the specific role level (Assistant Attorney 2, Assistant Hearing Officer, or Hearing Officer 1).
• Skills: Legal research, analytical thinking, fact-finding, evidence evaluation, written communication for legal drafting, impartiality, and dispute resolution.
• Bonus: Ability to initiate and maintain relationships across a diverse set of stakeholders.