Judges who hear Social Security disability cases are facing a growing number of violent threats from claimants angry over being denied benefits or frustrated at lengthy delays in processing claims.There were at least 80 threats to kill or harm administrative law judges or staff over the past year — an 18 percent increase over the previous reporting period, according to data collected by the agency.
The data was released to the Association of Administrative Law Judges and made available to The Associated Press. ...
A Senate subcommittee is expected to hear testimony on Monday at a field hearing in Akron, Ohio, about the rising number of threats, as well as the status of the massive backlog in applications for disability benefits, which are available to people who can't work because of medical problems.
Nov 14, 2010
ALJs Complain Of Threats
From the Associated Press:
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9 comments:
Part of the reason for the increased "attacks" is that our security has been increasingly contracted out over the past several years. The result is that we have non-career employees who could care less about actual security if it involves more than wanding and asserting their authority.
The backlog exists because so many people are being laid off in their 50's and early 60's, otherwise they would have kept work. The caveat is that the overwhelming majority of them worked for longtime employers who made "concessions" for their impairments. Now when those same people apply for jobs they are passed over quickly becaue they are old and can't keep up coupled with the fact that there are plenty of younger, healthy workers clamoring for jobs.
It's the economy stupid. This awful economy is the result of no other than the "decision maker" himself GWB. He started off with a very healthy surplus and destroy the country fiscally in a short eight years. He also started the bank bail out in 2008. And yet all those poor, out of work people voted the conservatives back in. If you don't earn 250K or more a year, you should not vote republican. Ever.
I know for a fact that a fair number of these "threats" are completely fictitious. I'm thinking of one ALJ who complains about "threats" and "intimidation" against him by attorneys who get his decisions overruled in federal court.
"This awful economy is the result of no other than the "decision maker" himself GWB. He started off with a very healthy surplus and destroy the country fiscally in a short eight years. He also started the bank bail out in 2008. And yet all those poor, out of work people voted the conservatives back in. If you don't earn 250K or more a year, you should not vote republican. Ever"
I Agree.
At least i know one smart person work at SSA.
"Threats" does not equal "attacks". Threats occur regardless of any level of security.
80 "threats", every one of which should be investigated, in over 700,000 adjudications where about a third are unfavorable does not strike me as a particularly large number.
I am not aware of ANY actual attacks on any ALJ.
It is very stressful dealing with the public these days. With all the anti-government employee rhetoric, even from Congress, I expect these ALJ threats to become worse.
80 threats in a year and a half isn't a lot. You'd get that many in a few months in the field offices in a large Area like San Diego, LA, or Sacramento. Field offices have much higher threat rates because of higher foot traffic and more types of actions which generate disgruntled claimants. It's certainly a sign of the times. Interesting that this became an issue now. However, as A#5 points out, people who want to take out their frustration of SSA employees get plenty of encouragement. Nancy Ortiz
Well, at least it can all be blamed on Bush. Guess that makes everyone feel better, right? Check the unemployment rate and stock market levels in Jan 2007 when Democrats took over Congress, and compare to now. Oh, and now in the longest period of at least 9.5 percent unemployment since the 1930's too. Nothing like rational discourse.
This story is actually now a highlighted item on both Yahoo news and Drudge. Getting plenty of play--maybe it will finally bring piublic attention to the problems at SSA.
A#7, 2007 was the year the house of cards that Bush built came tumbling down. When consumers couldn't continue borrowing against their inflated house valuations, when securities built on these faulty home valuations and loans went sour, et al. It was going to be bad regardless of who would have been in power that year.
I don't blame everything on Bush, such as security at SSA. But comparing coincidental factors to make unsupported conclusions is not what I call "rational discourse" either.
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