Ronald Klym, an employee at the Social Security hearing office in Milwaukee, has been placed on administrative leave and told to leave the office after discussing problems and delays at his office with an online media source. So, is this dastardly retaliation against a brave whistleblower who revealed dark secrets? Well, the wrongdoing Klym revealed was that there is a big backlog of cases awaiting hearing at the Milwaukee hearing office and that the office had transferred out some cases to be heard by Administrative Law Judges at other offices. In case you don't know, big backlogs are the rule at Social Security hearing offices and transferring cases to be heard by other offices is nothing unusual. Klym has previously claimed a hostile work environment at Social Security and made a complaint about a union representative. He had previously worked at the IRS and had gotten in trouble there for similar whistleblowing. You have to wonder whether Klym is more of a crank than an heroic whistleblower.
14 comments:
Sadly, this is not an atypical response by top Agency officials and managers. I very seriously doubt Klym is a crank. Even though it appears to be a vast overreaction given this is the situation at all hearing offices nationwide, I believe it shows the degree to which top Agency officials and managers fear ANY public exposure about the "Empire" they have built. The last thing they want is any dirty laundry, no matter how obvious, being aired.
For the record, I have personally witnessed this type of overreaction and retaliation by top Agency officials and managers far too many times during my career with the Agency. In my opinion, this is standard operating procedure, and I can tell you that any employee under full control by Agency management who so much as offers an opinion or takes a position inconsistent with management will undoubtedly experience significant retaliation and forever have a target on their back to be forced out the door at the earliest opportunity. Moreover, I think this is more true in the current chaotic environment the Agency is in from years of gross mismanagement than ever before.
Trouble is there are too many top Agency officials and managers who have occupied the highest levels of the Agency far too long. You add in reemployed annuitants at this level, and you have several top Agency officials and managers who failed years ago, but have maintained their power by being promoted, given numerous bonuses, and hiring/promoting others culturally similar to themselves. Of course, they had to engage in prohibited personnel practices in order to do this.
This cycle must be made public and challenged before any change can be expected.
Whether he's a whistleblower or crank, the agency's action will have a chilling effect on anyone who thinks about complaining to the press. (If this employee had communicated his concerns and passed on internal documents to his Congressional reps instead of the press, agency management would likely have been too fearful of taking this kind of retaliatory action).
According to hearsay, the agency has a current internal ad campaign communicating to employees that they are collectively expected to speak with "One Voice" -- the implicit message being that employees should not express opinions that diverge too much from the dominant "One Voice" propaganda machine.
Oh, please! Really? Take the tin foil off your heads. Go outside in the sunshine.
Right - another SSA management approach - frame the "complainers" as "crazy."
I would vote for crank if the only things he is pointing out are things that have been extensively and publicly pointed out before. If his point is that there are long delays in adjudication, and SSA is having ODAR offices in less busy areas to handle some hearings for more busy offices then he is no whistle blower.
I'm for whistle blower protection for people who are exposing things that otherwise would not have been revealed, publicized or proven. That does not appear to be what is going on if the news article is correct. Can an employer hold it against an employee for publicly attacking its reputation for no good reason? Yes.
5:58 AM This isn't North Korea! As long as what is being said is truthful (ie not slander), he should be protected from retaliation. If SSA doesn't want to be embarrased about their faults, do something to improve them! And I don't mean fuzzy math like the VA was doing. If you want to decrease the backlogs, OTR more cases. Get DDS to approve more cases. Tell Congress that they must find the disabled as disabled and it's Congress' job to find the money!
lol Tim you just sound like you're screaming PAY ME !!!!!
Nothing he said was particularly secret or new. We have NCACs and NHCs of course cases are moved around the country to more efficiently use resources. A particular office's backlog is usually not the issue the "public service crisis" is the overall backlog which doesn't change by moving cases around.
@ 11:26PM stated, “Oh, please! Really? Take the tin foil off your heads. Go outside in the sunshine.”
@12:07AM responded, “Right - another SSA management approach - frame the "complainers" as "crazy."
@12:07AM is Spot on. Framing complainers, or any employee who so much as offers an opinion which differs from management, as “CRAZY” has now become standard operating procedure at SSA/ODAR. This is absolutely ludicrous and serves no useful purpose. What’s worse, Klym is hardly a whistleblower or a complainer. Everything he said is common knowledge. The very fact some ODAR manager placed him on Administrative Leave and is seeking to discipline/terminate him, demonstrates why SSA/ODAR is in the terrible shape it is in and has the ever increasing backlog of cases. These types of managers, and the top officials who back such ridiculousness, lack the necessary repertoire to manage and run a Federal Agency such as SSA/ODAR efficiently and effectively. These managers are so focused on trivial, mundane, ‘asses must be in seats at all times’ philosophy they lack the capacity to see the forest through the trees.
9:32 AM Is it really unreasonable for due process to occur in a timely matter? Even those ultimately found not disabled deserve a decision sooner. What is wrong with issueing OTRs instead of 5 minute sham hearings, where the ALJ has already decided to pay and goes through the motion just to quiet a few cranks (Cotton, Lankford, Rand Paul)? If DDS can't make more approvals sooner that aren't no brainers, why not let the workers go and have a computer make the decision? Just have predermined denial letters with atleast a sedentary RFC for those under 50! You probably wouldn't need MEs or VEs either. Just say no, and hope they go away!
As long as the climate for whistle blowers is that they are nut & sluts, cranks & then get fired & put into an eddy of libel, slander, financial ruin & gang stalking & family destruction, all for speaking the truth, about fraud & corruption or any other malfeasance, the continual moral decay of our agencies will continue & the American taxpayer pays for all of it in all ways and this is why we pay all of these taxes including SSA???.
There used to be a moral code where there was responsibility & accountability where the good used to get rewarded and now the bad guys get away with it all. it's all quite Orwellian, isn't it? Leaving us disabled to just flounder among the SSA deliberate maliciousness ineptness, ineffectiveness & incompetence. Nothing will change until enlightened consciences develop the notion on what's right & wrong permeate our government.
This is not the rant of a evangelical tea partier either. Just one of many who has been ever so screwed over by the SSA with "our" federal legislators approval. As a matter of fact, some are directly involved in the malfeasance, to keep many of the sick & disabled from receiving full on benefits, all for the legislators own agendas. They've got plenty of their own agendas which included screwing the sick & disabled of their worker comp benefits, after first & foremost letting employers/corporations.insurers get away with harming them , nothing like injuring an employee for ongoing profit & the SSA whistle blower Kyle will become another ongoing ATM machine for the SSA employer... I'd say I hope they, the profound morally corrupt employees in the SSA & other agencies, all rot in hell, but even that is too good for them.
A whistle blower for a federal contractor.
Imagine for a moment that this same thing happened on a professional sports team. Lets say a second string field goal kicker goes to the press and talks about how terrible his team's quarterback and coach is. He runs through a litany of his team mates' shortcomings and bad decisions which are preventing them from making the playoffs. He says they are letting all the fans down and he felt he just had to say his piece. Would anyone be surprised if the team cut the second string field goal kicker after that happened? Think about why that is.
1. Extremely poor judgment
2. By attacking his co-workers he is contributing to poor morale on the team. Nobody will want to work with him.
3. Not a team player. Instead of working cooperatively within the team to improve its performance he attacks it from the outside.
7:01 AM Have you heard of the COLTS kicker Mike Vanderjagt? You know, "Our idiot kicker must've got done liquored up, and run off with his mouth, again!" (Peyton Manning). The COLTS kept him for several years, until he missed a chip shot against Pittsburgh in 2005 AFC Divisional game. As for the football analogy, how does SSA "win" when it comes to SSDI/SSI? By making the "right" call on claimants in a speedy process? If that's your standard, the 1976 Tampa Bay Bucaneers come to mind. When asked "what he thought of his team's execution?" Coach McKay quipped, "I'm in favor of it!"
I vote for crank. Klym had the same issues at IRS... he 'blew the whistle' and was retaliated againt. And then he went to SSA and the same thing happens? But it's not him... its the federal agency. Oh, and he also accuses HIS UNION REP of harassment too?!? I call BS.
As a former fed gov't supervisor, I've seen firsthand the crap that people who don't want to work can pull. Not to mention, nothing he "reported" was unknown-- the long back log- common knowledge. Moving cases around for faster adjudication? Not new. Not only that- but doesn't that serve the people better-- to get adjudicated more quickly elsewhere?
People like him are the reason I left public sector management. They interfere with people who are trying to serve the public.
@7:36 AM Not making this about football, just want to set the record straight. It was a 46-yard field goal Vanderjagt missed. Indoors, it's a kick he probably made a hundred times, but I don't think you could call it a chip shot. Maybe a better analogy is Bob Knight. He was always an a-hole, but once he stopped winning, it was time to go. Can you tell I'm from Indiana?
Post a Comment