Perkins Coie is seeking a senior-level human resource compliance and policy specialist to oversee policies and employment and ensure compliance with all applicable laws, policies and best practices. The position will serve as an advisor and leader with a close eye on state and Federal employment laws, trends in policy changes, caselaw related to employment and quality control for our employees' work experiences. The ideal candidate will foster an environment of teamwork, collaboration and transparency and will serve as a resource across the firm for employee relations, wage and hour compliance, policy revisions and interpretation and related areas. In addition, the candidate will be deeply engaged with changes in the industry and all employment initiatives in the United States to ensure Perkins Coie remains an employer of choice. This position will closely collaborate with the Talent team and with all operational departments to ensure departments and offices are aware of and follow policies, while minimizing unnecessary policies.

Compliance & Attorney Relations:

• Keeping appraised of federal, state, and local laws and regulations to ensure compliance in any jurisdiction in which Perkins Coie has an employee or office
• Conduct workplace investigations and provide disciplinary actions and involuntary termination risk reviews as seen fit
• Responsible for developing a comprehensive knowledge of all firm policies and practices
• Ensure equitable application of organization policies and procedures while applying sound knowledge of relevant employee relations and applicable laws
• Act as a liaison with and recommend any changes to firm policies or procedures related to HR or compliance while benchmarking policies and procedures with other AmLaw 100 firms
• Adjudicate escalated background screening results in accordance with federal/local laws, regulatory requirements, to determine eligibility for hire for pre-employment candidates
• Coordinate all aspects of the attorney departure and transitions process and takes the lead on communication with attorneys regarding financial impact and annualization of leaves
• Communicate with attorneys regarding their vacation time including prorations to their billable hours as appropriate

Attributes & Competencies:

• Customer Focus: Dedicated in meeting expectations and requirements of internal customers; obtains information and uses it for improvements; acts with customer in mind; establishes and maintains relationship with customers
• Decision-Making: Makes good decisions based upon a mixture of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgement
• Problem Solving: Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and does not stop at the first answers
• Conflict Management: Steps up to conflicts, seeing them as opportunities; reads situations quickly; good at focused listening
• Action Oriented: Enjoys working hard; is action oriented and full of energy for the things seen as a challenging; not fearful of acting with a minimum of planning
• Managerial Courage: Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others
• Interpersonal Savvy: Relates well to all kinds of people inside and outside the organization; builds appropriate rapport; builds constructive and effective relationships
• Communicating Effectively: Writes and presents effectively; adjusts to fit the audience and the message; strongly gets a message across.

Required Skills:

• In-depth knowledge of knowledge of applicable federal and state laws pertinent to benefits administration including FMLA, ADA, ERISA, HIPAA, Worker's Comp, etc.
• Experience in diagnosing, isolating, and resolving complex issues, recommending and implementing strategies to resolve problems
• Ability to ensure exceptional customer service and exercise discretion and professionalism when handling highly confidential and sensitive information.

Education & Experience:
A bachelor's degree and a minimum of 15 years of related professional experience is required; HR certification (PHR, SPHR, SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP) certification preferred. Experience in a law firm strongly preferred. Proficient in Microsoft Office suite of products; Word, Excel, PowerPoint and HRIS (preferably Workday).