From a memorandum sent to all Social Security Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) today by the Chief ALJ:
... Considering the necessity for quality, timely, and policy compliant hearings and decisions, and historical data, scheduling an average of at least fifty (50) cases for hearing per month will generally signify a reasonably attainable number for the purposes of this contractual provision [the contract is between Social Security and the ALJ union]. I want to emphasize that this provision concerns the number of hearings scheduled, not cases heard or dispositions issued. Accordingly, if you schedule at least an average of fifty (50) cases for hearing per month during a twelve-month rolling cycle, then management generally will determine you have scheduled a reasonably attainable number of cases for hearing for the purposes of this contractual provision. Conversely, if you schedule fewer than an average of fifty (50) cases for hearing per month during a twelve-month rolling cycle, then management likely will determine you have not scheduled a reasonably attainable number of cases for hearing, unless there are extenuating circumstances. ...
When, after consideration of all factors, management determines that you have not scheduled a reasonably attainable number of cases for hearing, they will inform you of the determination and of the possibility that your ability to telework may be restricted. If management concludes there is no acceptable reason for not scheduling a reasonably attainable number of hearings, then they may restrict telework by not approving telework or canceling previously approved telework days. Again, management will consider any extenuating circumstances in making this determination....
14 comments:
And how is this supposed to stimulate quality in ODAR? More and more emphasis on numbers and less and less on doing a good job. It looks like the Judges are nothing but employees and will be treated with the same respect and expectations of the janitors in the office. Not saying there is anything wrong with janitors as several claimants have been janitors.
for me, 600 set hearings will equate to 550-565 dispositions. So much for 500 dispos being the magic number. the agency ransom is too high, i'll just give up work at home.
So will I
600 hearings scheduled for me will be about 585 dispositions. Apparently this is how the folks in Baltimore avoid quotas.
How are your dismissal rates so low?
The only people who are complaining about this are the judges who use their work at home day to do anything other than work . 50 cases per month is 2.5 hearings per workday. Give me a break. Looks like you're going to have to go back to sleeping in your offices,
No, give me a break. I get more done at home than any day at work- no interruptions, no phones, no email. There is a lot more to the job than hearing the case. Hours more to the job-- reviewing thousands of pages on average of medical evidence, writing letters, writing instructions, editing drafts, crafting interrogatories, doing the job of representatives who no longer want to develop any evidence on behalf of their clients. . .
That is so very sad - a public comeuppance for those men and women who so judiciously award benefits and treat claimants with the utmost respect. Are they real judges?
Credibility issues with SSA ALJ's?
Sounds like SSA's ALJs are being taken down a peg or two. They used to call it the best job they'd ever had. Generally speaking, they could strut around as top dogs in the office doing a no pressure easy job with no legal writing required, leave the heavy lifting to subordinates, and have no one evaluating their performance. That party seems to be over.
@12:30
It's still a party, but instead of Dom Perignon, we are now being served Prosecco.
ALJ is about the easiest legal job that pays what it does. Anyone who thinks differently is joking or deluded. No accountability for errors and rely on others to do most of the actual work.
Yes, I work for SSA.
As I read comments on this blog, I'm amazed by the total ignorance [is it willful refusal to understand?] of the job duties of other people within SSA and outside of it. In 24 years of practice, I have seen ALJs who come into hearings with no idea of what is in the file, as well as those excellent ALJs who have studied the file conscientiously and ask intelligent questions and try to process cases diligently. I have also disgusted to see reps/attorneys who meet their clients 5 minutes before the hearings and feverishly scribble notes as they hastily study the file in the half hour before the hearing, as well as those of us who've listened to the claimants' complaints for 2-3 years, studied and taken notes on hundreds of pages of treatment notes, and have written briefs to help guide the ALJs to the correct decision. [Much of the bad impression of reps comes from the "mills" who do more advertising then work on the cases.] There are slothful bureaucrats whose forefingers are permanently bent from holding their coffee cup instead of working, and there are those civil servants who have industriously helped a claimant who was disadvantaged because something in his/her case let them erroneously fall through the cracks.
It seems to me that there should be less stereotyping of the complete job descriptions of other people who work with this crazy system and more communication to understand the difficulties each of us face.
The problem is that the SSA ALJs are not doing anything closely resembling the kind of complex administrative law that ALJs do at other federal agencies. It's the big elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. The work of SSA ALJs who are processing 500 cases a year is closer to an insurance claims examiner than it is to an ALJ, but there are so many careers from the top down depending on continuing the charade.
Most ALJs are lazy bums. They loaf at home. They take two-hour lunches. They disappear during the day. they cheat on their timesheets.
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