What is considered "bigfed?" Forum

[jess]

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[Anonymous User]

i agree that this line drawing is probably dumb but i would guess bigfed is doj, sec, dod, ftc, fcc and the like; midfed is usda, epa, interior, etc.; shitfed is dhs, the va and similar.

this is a pretty good breakdown except i would put dhs as midfed solely because you can hit gs 14/15 as an attorney, whereas the VA and soc sec seem to max out at gs 11 or something absurd like that.

VA attorney here. VA maxes out at GS-14, with GS-15 being a competitive promotion. The exception is VA field attorneys, which recently were eligible for GS-15 promotions (not sure how widespread this is though).

What exactly do you do? My friend at the Board is maxed out at GS 11 or 12.

I work at the Board. The attorneys who handle appeals max out at GS-14, but I've heard of some attorneys who only handle FOIA requests and make less. They are the minority, though. Then, to get to GS-15, you have to compete to become a Veterans Law Judge or Senior Counsel.

[Anonymous User]

SSA attorneys max out at gs 12, with a competitive promotion opportunity to gs 13 senior atty. At least for the disability adjudication program - it may be different for OGC and other divisions.