I did not have a chance to watch the Social Security Subcommittee hearing today. I have started reading the prepared statements.
Commissioner Astrue's statement surprises me.
There is widespread agreement that the Social Security Administration is not going to improve upon the dismal service it is giving the public without increasing its workforce significantly. Social Security has been given far greater appropriations for the current fiscal year than in the prior years. Large appropriations are also likely for the foreseeable future. Congress expects better service and soon. Questions have been raised about how much hiring Social Security will do. In reviewing Commissioner Astrue's lengthy written statement to the Committee, I looked hard for all the references to hiring plans. Here they are (emphasis in original):
Commissioner Astrue's statement surprises me.
There is widespread agreement that the Social Security Administration is not going to improve upon the dismal service it is giving the public without increasing its workforce significantly. Social Security has been given far greater appropriations for the current fiscal year than in the prior years. Large appropriations are also likely for the foreseeable future. Congress expects better service and soon. Questions have been raised about how much hiring Social Security will do. In reviewing Commissioner Astrue's lengthy written statement to the Committee, I looked hard for all the references to hiring plans. Here they are (emphasis in original):
We have already hired 140 new support staff in our hearing offices so far this year, and expect to hire over 700 additional support staff. ...
Our current estimate is that we will need 1,400 to 1,450 ALJs to achieve our goals, and we are expanding our physical infrastructure, to the extent we can, so that we can reach that level. ...
In FY 2009, we expect to add a total of 135 new staff at the Appeals Council, while replacing losses due to attrition. ...
Our full year appropriation, which supplies $126.5 million more than was included in President’s FY 2009 budget, as well as the additional funding in the ARRA, will allow us to invest in information technology, to hire 5,000 to 6,000 new employees before the end of the year, and to allot additional overtime to process critical workloads. In addition to replacing all of our losses in FY 2009, we will assign new employees to our front-line operations where they will have the greatest impact – approximately 1,200 employees to our field offices, 900 employees to our hearings offices, and 600 employees to State DDSs.
I am struck by how little of Astrue's statement dealt with hiring. I get the impression that hiring is not all that important to Michael Astrue. Management plans seem a lot more important to him. I also get the impression that when Commissioner Astrue talks of hiring 5,000 to 6,000 new employees he is talking about hires to replace employees who are leaving as well as hires to add to Social Security's workforce and that he is talking about state Disability Determination Services as well as the Social Security Administration itself. Social Security needs to hire several thousand people each year just to replace employees who are departing. I think it would be best that Commissioner Astrue not use that figure of 5,000 to 6,000 new employees again without making it clear what he means. As a Republican holdover in a Democratic Administration he needs to be careful not to say anything that could be interpreted as misleading.
Astrue's hiring plans seem puny to me. I have to wonder where all the additional money is going if Social Security will not be adding that many new employees. I also wonder what kind of appropriations it would take to induce Social Security to go on a real hiring binge, which is what I think is clearly indicated.
Astrue's hiring plans seem puny to me. I have to wonder where all the additional money is going if Social Security will not be adding that many new employees. I also wonder what kind of appropriations it would take to induce Social Security to go on a real hiring binge, which is what I think is clearly indicated.
2 comments:
I expect that the STIM money is going not to new hires but to whatever this COSS thinks is a good contract deal for him. This is just another opportunity for me to form a poor opinion of Astrue. Not that I'm slow to form poor opinions of COSS's generally. But, this guy (police dogs when employees are protesting???)has a real talent for getting me going.
As a former employee of SSA, due to libelous and slanderous acts by management, working in Deputy Commissioner for Finance, Assessment and Management(DCFAM)that is now the office of Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance and Management (DCBFM)am aware of the creative bookkeepping that goes on at SSA. I was also a union official at the agency. I am also aware that the problem does not lay with the hiring of any additional ALJs, it lays with the "low man on the totum pole". Meaning the primary focus should be on the employee/position responsible for processing the claims. Not the overpaid and "connected" ALJs.
The processes in placce at SSA for processing claims - allows for cases to be placed on hold. In other words, claims are processed using the "porverbial tirangle", which is a direct result of the lack of woman/manpower and because of the time constraints, claims are recirculated - over and over again. SSA overworks its current employees, threatens, and harassess them, and uses overtime as a mechanism to control the employees. This is very similar to INDENTURED SERVATUDE. If Astrue is sincere in his quest to eliminate the backlogs, he should focus on increasing woman/manpower. Before working in DCBFM, I worked in the Office of Central Operations and had access to claims folders. While reviewing these folders,which contianed photos and documents from doctors, I could not understand why these claims were denied. After speaking with cliams reps, they told me SSA is an INSURANCE COMPANY. And,like anyother insurance company, they initially deny most, if not all claims. This buys additional time for SSA to processess a claim. Again, if Astrue is sincere, he would increase the claims processer positions, not the ALJ position. Finally, here's a little known fact: thousands of employees at SSA are on anti-depression medication, resulting from the stress and treatment they've received by agency managers.
Post a Comment