Residence Requirements:

CANDIDATES MUST HAVE BEEN LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY FOR AT LEAST ONE MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE DATE OF THE WRITTEN TEST AND MUST BE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF ERIE COUNTY AT THE TIME OF APPOINTMENT. There is one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Department of Social Services.

Examples of Duties:

A Fair Hearing Liaison  manages the activities of a functional section or unit; 

Directs the day-to-day operation of the Fair Hearing Office and associated hearing rooms; Assists in the more difficult aspects of cases, including determining legal strategy and interpreting regulations;

Acts as a liaison to local agencies and County and Administrative Law Judges;

Communicates with the Office of Temporary Disability;

Coordinates and communicates the scheduling of personnel related to the fair hearing process;

Communicates with various agencies responsible for reciprocal support functions, including, but not limited to, Neighborhood Legal Services, Legal Aid for the Elderly/Disabled, managed care companies, and other health care agencies and nursing home advocates;

Exchanges needed information with aforementioned and other agencies including reviews of evidentiary packets, administrative paperwork, records of client disabilities, and reports on translator timeliness;

Attends hearings on behalf of managed care companies, if requested or required to do so;

Represents the Fair Hearing Office at various meetings, both inside and outside the Department of Social Services;

Recommends, develops and/or implements policies and procedures for the Fair Hearing Office, including hearing scheduling and processing, and hearing protocols and practices;

Coordinates with the client and hearing authority of any postponements, reschedules and continuances;

Represents Erie County at administrative hearings;

Reviews the actions of other Social Services functional areas (e.g., Temporary Assistance, Home Energy Assistance Program) and communicates the outcomes of resulting hearings to the management and/or staff of those areas, as appropriate;

Prepares statistical and other reports to be used in-house, by New York State, and by other entities, as needed;

Researches new laws, prior and new decisions;

As assigned, trains new staff in the procedures and protocols of fair hearings

Qualifications:

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Candidates must meet one of the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered four (4) year college or university with a Bachelor’s degree and two (2) years of experience in the preparation and/or review of legal documents, conduct of legal proceedings, and/or legal research; OR

B) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered two (2) year college or university with an Associate’s degree and four (4) years of experience in the preparation and/or review of legal documents, conduct of legal proceedings, and/or legal research; OR

C) Six (6) years of experience in the preparation and/or review of legal documents, conduct of legal proceedings, and/or legal research; OR

D) Any equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A), (B), and (C), above

Notes:

1. Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting the experience requirements.

2. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices. A grade of "D" or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed. If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency. You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates: Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application.
All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

A Guide for the Written Test for Legal Services is available at the New York State website:https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm. Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement.

Subjects of Examination:

Scopes / Subjects of examination: A test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas.

Advising and interacting with others

These questions test for the ability to interact with other people in order to gather and present information and to provide assistance and advice in a courteous and professional manner.

Preparing written material

These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

Understanding and interpreting written material

These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.

Legal terminology, documents and forms

These questions test for the ability to recognize definitions of specific common legal terms or the term which fits a certain description. The questions are presented in various forms such as simple definitions, examples of terminology, and the use of this terminology within documents and forms related to the legal field. 

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES: Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators. Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", "Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited. You may not bring books or other reference materials.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.