Here's an message to me from a legal assistant at my firm: "TC [Telephone Call] _____ DO [District Office]. She said they have 60 days to get the clt in pay after it gets to their office and it has not hit the 60 day mark yet. So they have not began to process SSI." The legal assistant had called about a client whose Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claim had been approved on November 5. Generally, these benefits are paid within a month after a favorable decision. They certainly should be.
I'm not blaming the field office too much. We've seen other signs that field offices are now having more trouble than usual keeping up. My guess is that things are worse now due of a lack of overtime because the agency is operating on a continuing funding resolution rather than a real appropriation.
No one in Social Security management or in Congress should think that the service that the agency is giving the public is excellent, good or even fair. Everyone who works at a field office or who deals with the agency on a regular basis knows the service is poor. This isn't because employees are lazy or uncaring. It's because there aren't enough employees and because they're forced to use cumbersome, inefficient systems.
No one in Social Security management or in Congress should think that the service that the agency is giving the public is excellent, good or even fair. Everyone who works at a field office or who deals with the agency on a regular basis knows the service is poor. This isn't because employees are lazy or uncaring. It's because there aren't enough employees and because they're forced to use cumbersome, inefficient systems.
11 comments:
Agreed...but upper management still seems to be under the impression we provide "world class service".
Computers can do it all through automation, no need for very many employees an more, lol.
It's a a frustrating situation for both ends to say the least.
I retired from HQ but am payee for my son and was a CR for the first part of my career. I have nothing but sympathy for the employees I've interacted with but to be fair, some of them are burned out and it shows. I've had to insist on some things that were appropriate when the CR didn't believe they were and I had the background to quote the POMS and get things done appropriately. Made me wonder about other persons who she interacted with, did she do the right thing for them? I speak with parents of disabled kids from around the US all the time and hear horror stories as they file for SSI at age 18. Too many stories from too many different locales for them all to be disgruntled parents venting. There simply seems to be an acceptance that the focus is on moving the work by whatever means and quality can be addressed if there is an appeal. There really isn't a way to replace a knowledgeable CR, one who isn't being crushed by unrealistic management goals. But I get now why so many parents I run into are going for lawyers at the initial filing stage based on the stories they hear from parents of older kids and their tales of woe in getting benefits.
"There simply seems to be an acceptance that the focus is on moving the work by whatever means and quality can be addressed if there is an appeal."
I think this mentality applies not just with CRs in the DO but throughout the Agency and DDS. If there is no accountability for your errors, why should an employee care if they are making them. They are more accountable for not moving things timely as opposed to doing them correctly.
Spot on! Accountability in the offices is ZERO unfortunately. As someone who makes a concerted effort to produce good work, it's a slap in the face to see others do such poor work and get paid the same. Seems like the lowest producers get promoted just so they don't screw more stuff up!
Amen to 1:14pm
There needs to be a structure that exists whereby your quality of work can directly impact your pay and not with regards to PACS or performance evaluations. Those are useless and almost always canned text.
1:14 PM yeah spot on ... and same with the the ALJ's even post remand hearing same same no accountability for their mistakes and incorrect actions I even have a appeals council remand letter that plainly states the ALJ errored and to my knowledge the ALJ is scott free with no worries.
ODAR has had OT for a couple of weeks.
As long as employees are backed by unions who only seem to care about union dues collection, kkep employees on the payroll good & bad, then there will not be any accountability. Before anyone throws darts, a good employee cannot make any mention of an employee who's not up to snuff on the job and the union will protect a substandard employee no matter what and then make problems for the one who made the mention of an inferior worker. As one government employee stated, the feds will move'em up or sideways but not out but this happens in the private sector as well. The unions is really concerned about the dues coming in and management can the claim that they save money.(ineptness & inefficiency goes a long way to save money no matter what, making management looking good. The better employees suffer as well a those who apply for SSA in the long run.
This is straight from an ex-union member who got targeted & fired after exposing ineptness & incompetence of employees who cared less about doing a good job to both management & the union.
Going back to being paid & promoted for doing a job well done should be & would be a better incentive and the govt would run a lot smoother & invariably cost less.
My experience has been that no amount of documentation will get management to confront inadequate employees- the union is never involved.
But at ODAR, I would say we give the public excellent service; we are CONSTANTLY called by claimants asking questions because their lawyers never return their phone calls. We are the ones addressing their concerns.
I am a former CR and very glad to be a former CR. The GS 11 pay was not enough for me to stay with the agency as we were hounded to do more with less. I took a nearly 50% pay cut to work non-profit helping people with SSA problems. No one from Regional comes to yell at us. No one sends snarky emails and no Monday morning meetings where we are told we are not doing enough.
I no longer take medication for hypertension, no longer take medication for depression, and I no longer drink heavily to escape the day. I go into work happy, deal with people in terrible situations and make a difference every day. If offered double the salary I would not go back to the FO.
ODAR is a joke, a huge joke. I follow friends who are now at ODAR. They post on Facebook the Gummy Bear scenes they make on their desks, how little they did and how there is nothing that can be done about it. Meanwhile, the CR if the DO or FO walks into a mountain, every day there are people waiting from office opening to office closing and it never, ever goes away. Glad to be shed of SSA, glad to use my knowledge for good, and glad that there will always be SSA problems for my job security.
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