In the _____ Office, SSA [Social Security Administration] announced that phones to PC 7 [Program Center 7, an office in Baltimore where Social Security disability claims are implemented, half of the Office of Central Operations] (Disability) are being TURNED OFF. BAs [Benefit Authorizers, employees who implement disability allowances] are 90 days behind. CAs [Claims Authorizers, a different category of employees who implement disability allowances] are 115 days behind. No more phone calls except manager-to-manager for status or follow ups to give PC 7 a chance to catch up. The problem is that PC 7 must do its stuff for SSI [Supplemental Security Income] offsets, workers' compensation offsets and figuring attorney fees before retroactive Title 2 or Title 16 payments can be released. Since Field Office phones aren't being turned off, the angry public will just be calling Field Offices.
Shutting off field office access to PC 7 is a dramatic step. I will say that I am seeing fewer problems now in implementing disability allowances than I used to see. Perhaps, we are dealing more with PC 8, the other half of the Office of Central Operations. I am not sure how things are divided up at the Office of Central Operations.
are you kidding me, PC 7 doesn't work that many DIB claims, the other Payment Centers work most of PC 7's cases. The mess up more than they fix!!!
ReplyDeletePC8 only works international cases.
ReplyDeleteCharles, you are seeing the allowances so quickly because that is where the Commissioner's good press is coming from - they are shifting resources to this area to the detriment of people already drawing benefits.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest problem with PC7 is that the employees aren't held accountable to the public for the quality of the work that they produce. Many of them also give no conscious thought to the hardship that their inaction produces for the public. Their managers came up through the MODs, so it is a problem that is institutional in nature and not correctable by anyone short of the commissioner or one of his immediate underlings. Turning off the phones is the SSA version of a 5 year old putting their fingers in their ears and yelling "nah-nah-nah" at the top of their voices.
I know what they do is difficult - they are working with archaic tools on an ancient, user-unfriendly system the likes of which most people couldn't imagine would still be used in the 21st century, one that doesn't do particularly anything well.
However, they don't have to deal with the public. As a result, they are insulated from any notion of responsibility. It doesn't mean anything to them that if they fiddle around and don't do the job correctly that someone might go hungry or homeless. I just spent 3 weeks trying to get them to do a simple nonreceipt on a critical payment check (something the FO couldn't do in this case). They went round-n-round the whole time, doing everything else EXCEPT what we specifically asked them to do. We eventually did another critical payment ourselves once they stopped fiddling around with the record to replace the one they should have replaced 3 weeks ago. Which means we'll now have even more problems to deal with on the record in the immediate future. Morons - the lot of them.
I'm convinced that they round-robin the work by fixing one tiny little thing which shoves it off on somebody else's desk so they don't have to worry about it.
God, there are days I hate this agency.
They didn't shut the PC MOD phones off until the attorney line was fully up and running.
ReplyDeleteThat is who they really care about. To hell with the public as long as attorneys get their fee on time.
Only thing worse than PC7 is PC8. If you are out of the country they REALLY don't care about you.
The PC7 phone process provided little support anyway. Instituting this new process is supposed to streamline communications with them. Manager-to-Manager will be for critical cases (with turn around times about 5 days), meanwhile other issues will be handled via MDW. ALJs, other claims allowances, and offsets are being processed within 14 days. CA and BA issues through MDW are taking much longer (the 90-110 day time frame). Plus the Representative Call Center is now active. The goal is to improve PC7's efficiency...why not give it a shot (it can't get any worse). Incidentally, Division 3's director is a former FO manager...so fresh blood is finding it's way in.
ReplyDeletePSCs are obsolete, and have been so for a long time.
ReplyDeletePrior to the telephone prcocess that was just ended, PC7 had absolutely no credibility or accountability within the agency. Simply stated, it was a joke of a black hole that didn't accomplish much of anything. The people who worked there were pretty much reviled as being the laziest and most unresponsive group of employees within the agency.
ReplyDeleteWhen the telephone process first began (together with the pilot process where MAMPSC began handling some PC7 workloads), PC7 actually began to become a little responsive. We could actually get things done, though it usuallyl still took significant prodding(which was effective because you had the name and phone number of the person responsible for fixing the issue).
However, the gains were pretty much lost several years ago when MDW communications became the standard. Things have simply come full circle and now we have turned back PC7 time to the 1990's.
Way to go, Mike. Like usual for every commissioner, take two steps forward, three sideways, and five backward.
I am am field office te mentoring a new crt. i explained to her that when you take a phone call from a claimant whose case is in PC, you set up an mdw, tickle it for a month and forget about it. the next person to take a phone call on the case will do the same, and so on. eventually someone in pc will take care of it, but she will have no control over the outcome.
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ReplyDeleteTo the T.E. who mentors new CRTs. (Post # 8) Shame on you. You are a disgrace to the agency. There are lots of good T.E.s out there and you are not one of them. The attitude you have is one that gives federal employees a bad reputation. How could you possibly feel good about yourself by teaching new employees to not do the work you're paid to do?! Two wrongs never make a right. Although PC7 is not great, you make the situation worse.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but how do I make it worse? I am facilitating FO work, and cannot resolve the cases that fall under pc's jurisdiction. when every cr loses 20 percent of their week answering phones, productivity is preserved by not wasting time on meaningless followups. if you worked in a critically understaffed fo as we do, you might realize and accept the truth.
ReplyDeleteSee, there are benefits to being a Title 16 CR. We don't have to rely on the PC to get our work done. We are independent. Should request cross-training. :)
ReplyDeleteMe again--I am t16, and so is my trainee--that's why i/we are not wasting time dealing with pc. love my job and consider myself one of the best at it
ReplyDeleteThis is just sick. I will tell you that my SSDI benefits were wrongly "suspended" due to me working part time and SS having the wrong earnings for me. Once I was able to prove this they sent my file of to the payment center for reinstatement I have been waiting 5 months now to my back benefits that are owed to me. Every day I wait and nothing happens, I have no income as I am no longer able to work part time. I have 3 small children that are going hungry, a house I am losing and a vehicle that is close to being repo'd. I cannot believe that the payment center is allowed to sit on someones file as long as they want and nothing is done. I cry everyday. my life is being ruined because some asshole has decided they dont need to reinstate and pay my benefits until they feel like it. Peoples lives are being ruined and they are getting away with it. Something needs to be done about this. Why is no one doing anything to help these people that have no income but are due benefits that the payment center can sit on for months upon months.???? The worst part is that children of the disabled are suffering and going without because their parents file is sitting in a payment center somewhere and no one has processed it Why is this allowed? This is inhumane. and it continues... everyday. Why does the payment center not have to answer to anyone regarding the files they have? Someone needs to be monitoring each file and making sure its processed in a timely manner. Until then... millions more lives are ruined as they are left to deal with the pain and suffering that comes along with not have any money.
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