North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue has just announced a furlough of state employees, but has limited it to those "whose salaries are paid in whole or in part from moneys appropriated" by the state, thus exempting employees of the North Carolina Disability Determination Service, (DDS) who make initial and reconsideration determinations on Social Security disability claims, since their salaries are paid for by the federal government.
Update: Perdue's order seems clear to me, but employees at NC DDS remain uncertain about whether the furlough will affect them.
Update: Perdue's order seems clear to me, but employees at NC DDS remain uncertain about whether the furlough will affect them.
A particularly good feature of this blog is the number of articles concerning current events affecting the DIB program. The impact of the budget crisis on State DDS's is important and points to a much needed reform in the DIB determination process. We need to federalize the entire process from beginning to end.
ReplyDeleteIt is truly unfortunate that individual states have so much authority over SSA in this respect. The increasing workloads and backlogs that are being chipped away at, are only going to return to unaccptable levels if the DDSs have no choice but to stay home furloughed.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping for the best, but I'm expecting the worst. It looks like workdays are already being lost- this equals delays, delays, and then more delays.
Can SSA sue the states for not fulfilling the agreements in the CFR?
Don't know, but probably not unless there is some specific statutory authority to do so. Usually, it's states who sue SSA.
ReplyDelete