Social Security's Disability Service Improvement (DSI) plan may be in serious trouble. The statement below is an anonymous report from the ALJ Improvement Board, supposedly quoting from some communication received from the National Treasury Employees Union.
If true, DSI is in very, very serious trouble and may fail before it even has a chance to get off the ground. The Federal Reviewing (FedRO) job is the centerpiece of DSI. If Social Security is unable to hire enough FedROs the plan cannot possibly be implemented even in Social Security's small Boston Region.
Why might Social Security have trouble hiring Federal Reviewing Officers? The answer is fairly simple -- fear that the program will not last after Jo Anne Barnhart's term as Social Security Commissioner ends in January 2007. If DSI ends after Barnhart leaves SSA, the career of anyone hired as a FedRO may be in jeopardy. Many federal employees are attracted to government employment by the promise of extremely stable employment. Federal employees are on average vastly more frightened of any danger of becoming unemployed than their counterparts in private employment. Few Social Security employees are going to be willing to move to the Washington-Baltimore area to take a job if there is any threat that the job will not last.
Can any Social Security employee in a position to know confirm this report on the ALJ Improvement Board? You may e-mail me at charles[@]charleshallfirm.com.
DSI is underway. Last month training began in Falls Church for the new FedROs. Management has not released much information about the new FedROs but it appears that the Agency was only able to find about 30 (it wanted 70) individuals willing to accept their offer of appointment to the FedRO position in Falls Church. In response to our request for information, the Agency reported that 11 ODAR hearing office GS-12 attorneys accepted the FedRO appointment, but not one single GS-13. I do not know whether that is because no GS-13 accepted an offer or if no offers were made. About 20 agency attorneys have opted to become FedROs and five management personnel have accepted the GS-15 supervisor position. Additionally, about 10 attorneys were hired from the outside.
Why might Social Security have trouble hiring Federal Reviewing Officers? The answer is fairly simple -- fear that the program will not last after Jo Anne Barnhart's term as Social Security Commissioner ends in January 2007. If DSI ends after Barnhart leaves SSA, the career of anyone hired as a FedRO may be in jeopardy. Many federal employees are attracted to government employment by the promise of extremely stable employment. Federal employees are on average vastly more frightened of any danger of becoming unemployed than their counterparts in private employment. Few Social Security employees are going to be willing to move to the Washington-Baltimore area to take a job if there is any threat that the job will not last.
Can any Social Security employee in a position to know confirm this report on the ALJ Improvement Board? You may e-mail me at charles[@]charleshallfirm.com.
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