ODAR Deputy Commissioner Broadcast

Here is a copy of the December 3, 2009 Office of Disability Adjudication and Review Deputy Commissioner Broadcast. Click on each page to see it full size. A few highlights:

• This past month, we reduced the disability backlog by 3,399 cases, putting us at 8,337 below the FY 2010 opening pending of 722,822. We have now reduced the disability backlog 11 months in a row. We are fortunate, however, that receipts have been well below the projections, 11% below in October and 6% below in November.
• This fiscal year, we expect to replace all of our staff losses and hire approximately 1,300 additional employees ...
• On November 20, our first class of ALJs for FY 2010 was sworn in at the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Congressman Earl Pomeroy delivered the keynote speech. By bringing on board 43 ALJs and 8 AAJs, we are on our way to increasing our ALJ corps to 1,450 by the end of the fiscal year.
• We have updated the ODAR map that shows our new hearing offices, satellite offices, and National Hearing Centers, plus the hearing sites scheduled to open during FY 2010. To view the map, visit http://odar.ba.ssa.gov/odarweb/DCDAR/ODARmap.pdf. [This is either a bad link in the original or only available to those inside the firewall at Social Security. I think that people on the outside would be interested in seeing this.]
  
• We have completed the FY 2009 fourth quarter reports for the Hearing Backlog Reduction Update booklets. We distributed to each member of Congress a booklet describing the progress we have made in their respective districts. To view these booklets, visit http://www.socialsecurity.gov/appeals/congressional-booklets.html.