Click on the attached page to see it full size. It is a fax that I received from an experienced, helpful employee at a Field Office. I have cropped out anything showing the name or Social Security number of the claimant or the name of the Social Security employee or the office at which this employee works.
The problem is that I submitted a fee agreement on my client's case, but Social Security fouled up and did not enter this fact in their computer system. It was almost certainly not the employee who wrote this note who made the mistake. The employee is telling me that she will do what she can to correct the problem but that the personnel at the payment center probably will refuse to correct the mistake. Even though I did what I was supposed to do, I will be forced to do the extra work of filing a fee petition because of a mistake that Social Security made. There is also a good chance that my fee will be lowered, possibly dramatically because of a mistake made at Social Security. At best, there will be months of delay, again because of a mistake made not by me, but by someone at Social Security.
It is clear from the note that this is a problem that this Social Security employee has seen many times before. It is certainly a problem that I have seen many times before.
This is a continuing irritant. I wish that Social Security would give better service than this. One would think that someone paying a user fee would get better service than this, but, then, one would think that a citizen would get better service than this from their government even without a user fee.
The problem is that I submitted a fee agreement on my client's case, but Social Security fouled up and did not enter this fact in their computer system. It was almost certainly not the employee who wrote this note who made the mistake. The employee is telling me that she will do what she can to correct the problem but that the personnel at the payment center probably will refuse to correct the mistake. Even though I did what I was supposed to do, I will be forced to do the extra work of filing a fee petition because of a mistake that Social Security made. There is also a good chance that my fee will be lowered, possibly dramatically because of a mistake made at Social Security. At best, there will be months of delay, again because of a mistake made not by me, but by someone at Social Security.
It is clear from the note that this is a problem that this Social Security employee has seen many times before. It is certainly a problem that I have seen many times before.
This is a continuing irritant. I wish that Social Security would give better service than this. One would think that someone paying a user fee would get better service than this, but, then, one would think that a citizen would get better service than this from their government even without a user fee.
14 comments:
I am afraid this is just the tip of a rapidly growing iceberg. We have reached the point in the electronic process where paper is toxic- anyone submitting paper exhibits or information needs to know there is a very good chance it will never be incorporated into an e-file. The only way to protect yourself is to barcode it in and get your recieipt and even that won't guarantee the electronic document will be dropped from ther case document to the exhibit file. I am an ALJ- if its not an exhibit it doesn't exist.
Mr hall,i have recently wondered. When will online access to claim file be available. This,more than likely,would have helped you.
Boo Hoo. What about all the people waiting for their S9 money to be released long after the attorney has been paid.
Plus everything should be a Fee Petition. You should have to justify your fee, not just skim 25 percent or $6000 off the top for doing next to nothing.
I know receiving payment is an important issue for attorney's, but this is about the least important public service issue field offices are working on as they reduce their backlogs and try to speed up decisions. The process should be automated with attorney's entering information online.
I hope your local field office is more careful about what they tell you in the future since their informal notes can be released on your web page. When one employee blames another employee and tells you it can't be fixed, it is time for management to review all communication with your office.
when my husband received his lump sum payment they did not deduct the attorney fee even though the paperwork was completed. my husband called his lawyer and we mailed him a check for his fee.
"when my husband received his lump sum payment they did not deduct the attorney fee even though the paperwork was completed. my husband called his lawyer and we mailed him a check for his fee."
That's the way it should be. SSA shouldn't be the attorney fee collection agency.
"That's the way it should be. SSA shouldn't be the attorney fee collection agency."
Right. Another wonderful "should be." But it ain't that way now and it won't be that way any time soon, if ever. The agency needs to get over it and do its job. And I am not an attorney, by the way, nor a non-attorney rep.
There is no reason SSA should be involved in this at all-we end up doing work for the attorneys for free
SSA does it this way b/c there are too many unscrupulous lawyers out there who would try and swindle these clients out of as much money as possible. By authorizing and directly paying attorneys' fees, the SSA keeps all the lawyers and reps honest and levels the playing field. It would be a free-for-all otherwise. And if they didn't make as many mistakes with fee payments as they do with everything else, we wouldn't even be having this discussion.
There are 2 issues at play here.
1. Should the rep have to ask the client to recoup the fee?
2. Is the fee worth it?
To the first issue, a big reason why there are Social Security disability attorneys is the fee withholding. Without it, some claimants might not pay their attorneys. Maybe that is right or wrong. It probably depends on who you are. But without the withholding, there would be far less reps if any.
To the second issue, that is up to you for the value of an attorney.
If I were the CR who wrote you the note and then found out you posted it online, I would be less informal and more cautious about how I deliver further information to you.
If I were the CR who wrote you the note and then found out you posted it online, I would be less informal and more cautious about how I deliver further information to you.
NO KIDDING.
I'm a former CR and currently work for a law frim that represents SSD claimants.
We have our sahre of atty fee problems & most of them do result from human error or carelessness @ SSA.
That said, I think you were out of line to post the CR's msg. If I were that CR, I wd never again tell you anything.
I agree with the two previous posts. If that CR has a manager anything like mine, she will be made to pay for admitting that the agency made a mistake, when all she was trying to do was be helpful and do a good job, and absolutely nothing would be done about the CR who made the mistake in the first place. If I were that CR, you would get nothing further other than generic formal notices.
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