HR Partner

Position Title: HR Partner: Benefits Administration & Compliance

Reports To: Director Talent Acquisition & Strategic Partnerships 

Salary Schedule / Grade: Refer to Administrative Salary Schedule

F.L.S.A Status: Exempt

SUMMARY

The Office of Human Resources at Dayton Public Schools is seeking a strategic, analytical, and forward-thinking HR Partner to lead Benefits Administration and Compliance. This critical role ensures district-wide adherence to complex state and federal regulations while designing, managing, and optimizing comprehensive leave frameworks, unemployment protocols, compensation tracks, and benefits programs that support staff well-being and operational excellence.

The successful candidate will combine deep technical knowledge of compliance frameworks (FLSA, ADA, FMLA, ORC) with a strong commitment to providing high-level support, proactive problem-solving, and clear guidance to building administrators and district staff. Serving as a key liaison between the central office and school-based environments, this position balances strict regulatory oversight with an empathetic, solution-oriented approach to employee support.

PROFESSIONAL EXPECTATIONS & ROLE DYNAMICS

The Office of Human Resources operates in a highly dynamic public-sector environment where regulatory demands, strict reporting timelines, and employee needs frequently evolve. This position requires a sophisticated level of professional agility and emotional intelligence. The HR Partner must seamlessly pivot from high-level statutory compliance audits to direct, compassionate consultations with employees navigating complex medical or personal leave situations.

Success in this role requires a professional who maintains composure under pressure, exhibits absolute discretion regarding sensitive medical and financial data, and establishes a highly responsive, customer-service-driven posture within a multi-union public school ecosystem.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Compliance & Regulatory Oversight

• Wage and Hour Auditing: Audit job descriptions, position classifications, and pay practices to ensure continuous district-wide adherence to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), paying specific attention to exempt/non-exempt status and overtime eligibility parameters.
• Statutory Resource Expert: Serve as the primary administrative resource for interpreting the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) as it pertains to school district employment, certification, licensure, and personnel records.
• Policy Alignment & Governance: Regularly review, evaluate, and update district HR policies and employee handbooks to ensure absolute alignment with evolving legislative changes, board policies, and public-sector best practices.
• Mandatory Regulatory Reporting: Ensure the timely, accurate completion and submission of all mandatory state and federal reports, including EEO-4 reporting, ACA information filing, and other critical regulatory disclosures.

Total Rewards: Compensation & Benefits Administration

• Open Enrollment Orchestration: Plan, coordinate, and oversee all aspects of the annual health insurance open enrollment process, including constructing digital workflows, updating plan materials, and leading educational sessions to communicate plan alterations and employee costs.
• Broker & TPA Vendor Liaison: Act as the primary technical liaison for insurance brokers, third-party administrators (TPAs), and benefits providers to resolve complex claims discrepancies, audit billing invoices, and evaluate annual service performance metrics.
• Plan Design Compliance: Review and ensure all district benefits designs, updates, and administrative processes strictly comply with federal and state regulations, including ACA, HIPAA, COBRA, and ERISA parameters.
• Salary Schedule Alignment: Partner with payroll and talent acquisition to audit salary placement, step increments, and compensation metrics across diverse union salary schedules, ensuring accurate classification mapping.
• Tax & IRS Filing Governance: Direct the preparation and compliant submission of federal Form 5500 filings, annual ACA 1095c IRS filings, and associated statutory tax reporting documents.
• Strategic Wellness Engineering: Identify, design, and deploy data-driven health and wellness initiatives optimized to increase employee well-being, maximize retention, and structurally mitigate long-term district benefits costs.

End-to-End Leave Administration & Pension Audit Safeguards

• FMLA Processing & Governance: Manage the end-to-end administration of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA); review medical certifications, determine eligibility, issue formal designation notices, and track leave usage blocks accurately.
• ADA Interactive Process Management: Lead and document the formal interactive process for Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation requests. Collaborate with employees, medical providers, and legal counsel to secure equitable, functional, and legally sound outcomes for staff and administration.
• STRS & SERS Leave Credit Auditing: Implement strict, proactive tracking safeguards for employees utilizing partial or unpaid leaves of absence. Coordinate closely with payroll to audit and report leave durations against State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and School Employees Retirement System (SERS) parameters, preventing service credit miscalculations and eliminating costly institutional penalty assessments.
• Short/Long-Term Disability & Workers' Comp: Coordinate the integration of medical leaves with short-term disability, long-term disability, and Ohio Workers' Compensation claims, ensuring seamless tracking of paid/unpaid statuses.
• Contractual Leave Alignment: Review and execute specialized leave parameters established within collective bargaining agreements, including maternity/paternity extensions, sick leave bank utilization, and personal leave limits.

Unemployment Compensation Dashboard Ownership

• Unemployment Claims Management: Own and govern the district's centralized unemployment insurance dashboard. Meticulously route, review, and answer unemployment claims within statutory state timelines.
• Hearing Representation & TPA Strategy: Partner directly with the district's Third-Party Administrator (TPA) to compile compelling evidence files and witness testimony; serve as the primary district representative during formal unemployment compensation appeal hearings to proactively safeguard district resources against non-meritorious claims.

Administrator Training & Strategic HR Coaching

• Leave & Benefit Procedure Coaching: Design, develop, and deliver targeted training modules for principals, supervisors, and department leads regarding mandatory employee leave procedures, FMLA regulations, and benefits policies.
• Risk Mitigation Coaching: Educate building administrators on their direct legal obligations under FMLA, FLSA, and the ORC to proactively minimize institutional liability and eliminate non-compliant building-level leave practices.

HR Partnership & Strategic Field Support

• Executive Benefits Consulting: Provide high-level guidance to district executive leadership regarding complex, benefits-related personnel issues, tracking emerging regulatory trends and recommending proactive institutional solutions.
• Visible Field Mobility: Serve as an active, highly visible HR presence by establishing a routine schedule of visits to school buildings and district departments. Directly support staff, troubleshoot benefits inquiries, and partner with building principals to resolve personnel issues in real-time.
• School-Based Liaison Service: Partner closely with department heads and school administrators to address personnel-related questions, serving as the definitive administrative link between central office compliance operations and school-based teams.
• Cross-Functional Case Collaboration: Collaborate regularly with the Labor Relations/Discipline partner to maintain a holistic, 360-degree view of the employee experience, specifically where medical leave management (FMLA/ADA) intersects with active performance, evaluations, or conduct investigations.

CORE BEHAVIORS & COMPETENCIES

• Absolute Discretion & Integrity: Demonstrates an unshakeable capacity to handle highly sensitive medical records, protected health information (PHI), financial data, and personal employee files with absolute confidentiality and strict compliance with HIPAA laws.
• Analytical Precision: Possesses the advanced data-literacy skills required to audit payroll practices, evaluate premium invoices, review actuarial reporting, and maintain flawless data compliance fields.
• Empathetic Customer-Service Posture: Approaches complex, stressful employee leave scenarios with a supportive, professional, and solution-oriented mindset, ensuring stakeholders feel valued and informed.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required Education & Experience

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, or a related field.
• Certifications: Professional HR certification (e.g., SHRM-SCP, SHRM-CP, CEBS, or PHR) is strongly preferred.
• Experience: 5 years of progressive, professional experience in Human Resources management, with a dedicated, verifiable focus on benefits administration, unemployment hearing representation, medical leave governance, and regulatory compliance.
• Industry Focus: Demonstrated experience working within a K-12 educational framework, government entity, or public-sector multi-union environment is strongly preferred.
• Clearances: Must pass Federal (FBI) and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) background checks per Ohio Administrative Code Section 3301-83-06.

Core Competencies & Knowledge

• Statutory Compliance & Pension Literacy: In-depth technical knowledge of federal and state employment laws, including FLSA, ADA, FMLA, ACA, ERISA, COBRA, and the Ohio Revised Code (ORC), combined with a working knowledge of STRS/SERS retirement reporting frameworks.
• Digital & HRIS Fluency: High degree of digital fluency, including intermediate-to-advanced proficiency with Google Workspace, Microsoft Office 365, cloud-based workflow applications, and enterprise-level HRIS/benefits enrollment systems.
• Advanced Communications & Liaison Capability: Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; a proven track record of translating complex health insurance jargon or legislative concepts into clear, accessible guidance for diverse stakeholder groups.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN YEAR 1

• Within 90 Days: You have audited all active ADA accommodation logs and FMLA queues, established a visible building-visit rotation schedule, taken ownership of the unemployment claims dashboard, and reviewed leave credit reporting processes with payroll.
• Within 6 Months: You have built a streamlined digital leave tracking workflow, integrated an automated verification touchpoint for STRS/SERS leave credit alerts, and delivered a frontline compliance training module for building principals.
• Within 1 Year: You have successfully engineered and executed an airtight, digital Open Enrollment cycle with 100% data transmission accuracy, launched a target wellness initiative that tracks a positive trend in employee well-being, and successfully defended the district in contested unemployment hearings.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES / DEMANDS

• Lifting & Moving: Document and wellness materials logistics dictate occasionally lifting, carrying, pushing, and pulling various training folders, benefit packages, or site materials up to a maximum of 20 pounds.
• Mobility: Regularly required to sit, stand, walk, talk, hear, see, read, speak, reach, stretch with hands and arms, crouch, kneel, climb, and stoop to support diverse district building profiles.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Hybrid Office & Field Settings: Work is performed in a hybrid office and field setting, requiring a high degree of mobility with a significant amount of the work week intentionally spent offsite at various district school buildings and departments supporting administrators and field personnel.
• Pace & Pressures: The environment is fast-paced and subject to frequent operational interruptions, high-volume inquiries, and sensitive, emotionally charged interactions with employees facing healthcare or personal emergencies.
• Rigid Timelines: High-stakes statutory deadlines, open enrollment testing blocks, tax submissions, state unemployment windows, and legal response timelines require absolute, strict compliance and precision execution.