Executive Service

Who we are and what we do:

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development is a state agency established to promote workforce development and improve workplace safety and health throughout the state.

How you make a difference in this role:

The best candidate communicates belief in agency vision, sense of core purpose; understands how change happens. Makes good decisions combining analysis and judgement; engages input to establish shared ownership for best solutions. Establishes and maintains effective relationships with colleagues and agency customers and can be counted on to hold things together under stress; stays balanced, does not become defensive.

Job Overview:

State Monitor Advocate oversees the State Monitor Advocate System. The system aims to provide support to U.S. agricultural workers and employers by ensuring fair access to essential employment benefits and services.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Monitor the SWA's services to Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers (MSFWs) and the SWA's outreach efforts on an ongoing basis to help ensure MSFWs receive access to employment services compared to non-MSFWs; have equitable access to career services, skill development, and workforce protections offered by the American Job Centers (AJCs) throughout the state.

2. Advocate for improved services in the structure of and delivery of services to MSFWs through the state's workforce development system to better address the employment and skill needs of workers, jobseekers, and employers so farmworkers may improve their living and working conditions.

3. Establish an ongoing liaison with WIOA sec. 167 National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees and other organizations serving farmworkers, employers, and employer organizations in the state.

4. Conduct frequent field visits to the working, living, and gathering areas of MSFWs, to discuss employment services and other employment-related programs with MSFWs, crew leaders, and employers.

5. Participate in on-site reviews on a regular basis using the format developed by ETA guidelines and submit reports and in-depth analysis, to be discussed in detail.

6. Provide any relevant documentation requested from the SWA by the Regional Monitor Advocate or the National Monitor Advocate.7. Conduct an ongoing review of the delivery of services and protections afforded by the ES regulations to MSFWs by the SWA and ES offices.

8. Utilize best practices to ensure that farmworkers in our state with barriers to employment, have access to and opportunities for the employment, education, training, and support services they need to succeed in the labor market.

9. Monitor the Employment Service and Employment-Related Law Complaint System to resolve labor-related complaints.

10. Review and approve the SWA's Agricultural Outreach Plan (AOP).

11. Review and comment on proposed State ES directives, manuals, and operating instructions relating to MSFWs.

12. Prepare for the State Administrator, the Regional Monitor Advocate, and the National Monitor Advocate an Annual Summary describing how the State provided employment services to MSFWs within the State based on statistical data, reviews, and other activities.

Required Experience:

1. Preferred Bilingual but not required, to communicate with the significant proportion of the state MSFW population, which is Latino; or

2. From a MSFW Background; or

3. Have substantial work experience in farmworker activities.

4. Considerable oral and written communication skills.

Minimum Qualifications:

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor's degree and experience equivalent to four years of full-time increasingly responsible professional grants analytic work.

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State's policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person's race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status, or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.