State of Maryland

A Consumer Affairs Specialist I is the entry level of technical work in the consumer affairs and consumer protection activities of the Office of the Attorney General.  Employees in this classification receive consumer complaints and inquiries determining from the consumer pertinent information needed to determine appropriate avenues of recourse.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive close supervision from a Consumer Affairs Supervisor or other administrative official.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Consumer Affairs Specialist I, Consumer Affairs Specialist II and Consumer Affair Specialist III are differentiated on the basis of degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Consumer Affairs Specialist I learns to perform duties under close supervision.  The Consumer Affairs Specialist II performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed.  The Consumer Affairs Specialist III performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.

Listens to consumer complaints, problems and questions both in face-to-face interviews or over the telephone;

Elicits pertinent information from consumer relative to their complaints or problems in order to determine potential avenues of recourse in the particular situation;

Acts as a middleman between consumers and merchants, purveyors and repairmen in an effort to help them resolve their differences;

Performs field investigations of allegations of fraud and misrepresentation on the part of merchants, purveyors and repairmen;

Performs other related duties.

Class Descriptions are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies.  Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

Class Descriptions provide information about the Nature of Work, Examples of Work, General Requirements and Acknowledgements.  The Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities; Minimum Education and Experience Requirements; Special Requirements; and recruitment and testing procedures are set by the using agency.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is not assigned to a bargaining unit, as indicated by the designation of S (Supervisor), M (Manager), T (Agency Head), U (Board or Commission Member), W (Student), X (Used by Agency or Excluded by Executive Order), or Z (Confidential).  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from        collective bargaining.

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation.  An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime, as provided by the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance level in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series, an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class, as defined by the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in class specification and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.