The Social Security Administration is clearing out its regulatory cupboard as we approach the end of the Obama administration and the end of Carolyn Colvin's tenure as Acting Commissioner of Social Security. The agency has sent to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a proposal titled Revisions to Rules of Conduct and Standards of Responsibility for Appointed Representatives. The following blurb is all that it is publicly known at the moment.
This regulatory change adds several affirmative duties and prohibited actions for representatives. We will clarify some of our rules regarding processing representative sanction actions at the hearing and Appeals Council levels and change the timeframe for suspended representatives to request reinstatement when the Appeals Council denies an initial request for reinstatement from 1 to 3 years.
OMB is part of the White House. If OMB approves the proposed rules, which is not automatic, the proposal get published in the Federal Register. The public can then comment on the proposal. The agency must consider the comments. The consideration given is usually nothing more than giving some meaningless reason why the comment will be ignored. This process generally takes at least a year.
The shutting down of receiving evidence 5 days prior to the hearing means ALJ's don't have to listen to my objections when they conduct silly hearing ( a minority of hearings and ALJ's)? Also means, when my client refers to something at the hearing, I can't receive 14 days to submit new info?
ReplyDeleteThis is a poor change.
If the records closes 5 days prior to the hearing, doesn't the claimant then have a due process right to file a subsequent claim since the legally relevant time period has a defined beginning and end?
ReplyDelete11:24, it might be a good idea to talk to your client before the hearing.
ReplyDeleteVery snarky, 12:01. When we get notice of a hearing, my assistants contact the client and interview them to ensure that we have missed nothing. Then, about 2 weeks prior to the hearing I conduct about a 2-hour prep session with clients. Despite working with the client for 2-3 years and these late prior interviews by my assistants and myself, surprises still occur during hearings. These claimants are not ink-blooded SSA employees, they are human beings, often with low educational levels and sometimes mental deficits.
ReplyDelete