Employee Relations Consultant

About the Role

The Employee Relations Consultant, under limited supervision and guided by the Director of Employee Relations & Benefits Programs, performs employee relations activities including coordination of the Agency's internal grievance process, initiating back pay requests, and administrative functions within the Employee Relations Department.

Mission

It is the mission of the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to impact and transform young lives, strengthen families, and support safer communities through targeted prevention and rehabilitation.

Responsibilities

• Consults and advises program area managers in the proactive administration of the agency's progressive discipline, grievance, employee performance, and anti-harassment policies and procedures.
• Disseminates information and educates employees and managers on related processes and associated timeframes.
• Conducts thorough research on issues, formulates policy alternatives, and proposes strategies to improve the effectiveness of human resources management at the agency.
• Reviews EPMS reports to notify managers of planning stages and appraisal due dates.
• Constructs disciplinary actions such as reprimands, suspension, demotions, disciplinary reassignment, and terminations.
• Drafts policy language, memoranda, position statements, timelines, and other relevant correspondence as it relates to the agency's employee relations program.
• Creates responses to clearly communicate employee-related matters as needed to multiple levels of the organization.
• Recommends an appropriate course of action and ensures implementation.
• Processes unemployment documents and attends hearings as required.
• Reviews ER complaint log and tracks the progress of the ER complaints.
• Provides weekly updates to the ER and Benefits Director.
• Counsels employees and managers to resolve workplace issues.
• Acts as an informal mediator between employees and supervisors as needed.
• Conducts internal investigations into complaints of sexual harassment, hostile work environment and harassment, workplace violence, and discrimination.
• Retrieves unemployment documents from the SCDEW portal and processes actions based on the established deadlines, attending hearings as needed.
• Protects confidential information to ensure it is shared on an as-needed basis with authorized individuals only.
• Provides status reports, complaint logs, and other related data and statistics to management.
• Performs other related job duties as assigned.

Requirements

State Minimum Requirements: A bachelor's degree and relevant human resources experience. A master's degree in human resources management may substitute for the required experience.

• Knowledge of principles and practices of human resource management.
• Knowledge of federal laws and state regulations affecting human resources.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships.
• Ability to analyze needs and to recommend and communicate solutions effectively.
• Requires excellent analytical skills with the ability to make decisions and exercise good judgment when interacting with all levels of employees and outside entities.

This position's job duties relate to the custody, control, transportation, or recapture of youth within the jurisdiction of the Department of Juvenile Justice, and the employee may have direct and indirect contact with juveniles within the jurisdiction of the Department of Juvenile Justice. Training applicable to these duties will be provided. Must be able to lift 25 lbs or more.

Candidates must present documentation of their attainment of a college degree(s) during the interview. Documentation must be either an official or unofficial copy of the college transcript or a Letter of Verification of Degree from the institution's Registrar's Office. If the candidate selected for the position provided an unofficial copy, it must be replaced with an official copy on or before the HR processing date.

Preferred Qualifications

• A bachelor's degree and experience in employee relations, i.e., ADA, disciplinary actions, unemployment insurance, and other HR-related matters.

Benefits

• Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Health, dental, and life insurance
• 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year
• 15 days of sick leave per year
• 13 paid holidays
• State retirement plans and deferred compensation programs
• Discount Programs such as TicketatWork and WeSave