A message from the head of the union that represents most Social Security employees:
President Trump announced yesterday that he would increase defense spending by $54 billion and cut non-defense discretionary spending by the same $54 billion.
Non defense discretionary spending is currently $666.7 billion. A cut of $54 billion is 8.1%.
SSA has informed the union that they will be forced to furlough the SSA workforce for 5 days for every 1% cut in its administrative budget.
If Trump succeeds in reducing non-defense discretionary spending by $54 billion equally to all non-defense agencies, SSA will have to furlough SSA employees for 8 weeks or 40 days. This would be an across the board pay cut of 15.4%. In addition, SSA's ability to process the public's work would collapse.
We have the fight of our lives ahead of us.
Witold [Skwierczynski, union president]
44 comments:
Drain the swamp!
Isnt it a bit Chicken Little to start this now when we have not seen a budget yet? Assuming across the board cuts, manufactured from nothing is exactly what 45 is ridiculed for. I am in favor of proper prior planning, but lets keep the on actual facts, real budget numbers and not manufacture panic in the GOP way.
The field office will be open Mondays only from 9 to noon, and it'll take a decade to get anything processed. People will still vote for the GOP.
Let me see, Obama promised we wouldn't have a sequester, but, yet, we did. Strange, very strange. And during this time, he was doubling the national debt. Even more puzzling.
Fact: President Obama did not set the government spending level, a GOP controlled Congress sets the budget and added to the National Debt.
Half Fact half fiction, 10:39 unable to comprehend beyond a sound bite.
actual info
http://www.politifact.com/arizona/statements/2016/aug/09/mike-pence/mike-pence-claims-national-debt-has-nearly-doubled/
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Let me see, Obama promised we wouldn't have a sequester, but, yet, we did. Strange, very strange. And during this time, he was doubling the national debt. Even more puzzling.
________________________________-
I understand the point you're trying to make, and if I was completely ignorant of the facts I might even agree with you.
its not gonna be equal across the board most will come from State, EPA, HUD, USAID, etc.
SSA is currently interviewing and hiring more ALJs. What's the rational? Hire and furlough?
The GOP wouldn't dare make any cuts to the SSA administrative budget as the people who vote for them (the old and uneducated) are the exact ones who utilize SSA services the most. They don't want to do things online, they want to see someone face to face or speak to someone on the phone.
I expect SSA budget to be held steady or even get a slight increase. EPA, HUD, State, IRS are in trouble, though.
"" 10:39 unable to comprehend beyond a sound bite""
Isn't that what being a true Trump voter is all about?
Make America great again...
Oh, and by the way, the deficits exploded due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and having to bail us out of the biggest financial debacle since the Great Depression. To lay all of that at Obama's feet is a crock. I will blame the democrats for forgetting what a real democrat is and going along with the social Darwinist, neo-liberal republicans with barely a whimper. Obama should have left the too big to fail banksters and hedge boys to rot in hell like you would like to leave the disabled. The bubble and crash the wrestling promoter will leave us with will make George W look like a piker.
We routinely have 3-4 hour waits in my office now for all but replacement Social Security cards. The lobby is full, their is a line of 20 inside and 30 or more outside, waiting to get help. I don't have exact numbers, but there are maybe 15-20% trying to get/change/replace a social security card, another 5trying to file T2 retirement/survivors/disability/medicare claim or appeal and the rest are for non receipt of check, overpayments and SSI stuff (50%). Most of the folks that can be kept out (RSDHI) are filing online or over the phone. The rest are coming in and in droves.
If the SSA administrative budget is cut enough to show a very appreciable drop in service at SSA, then the responsible party (this time, unarguably the republicans) will get a big albatross around its neck. Are they dumb enough to try it anyway? Ryan is. McConnel and Trump? we'll see.
With the long waits of people trying to come into the field office seems crazy that they are now teleworking.
Budget cuts for SSA/ODAR should be done at the top Management levels in Baltimore, Falls Church, and the Regional offices. The Agency is far too top heavy, and this is where the biggest drain is on the entire Agency. Many of these individuals are paid high salaries and bonuses, but actually do very little, and many of their Management decisions and policies are counter productive and ridiculous.
Just take a look at the SSA Organizational Chart published on this blog only a few weeks ago. Then ask yourselves just what do these people do? What are their skills and abilities? With regard to ODAR and the AC, how many are Attorneys, and have they ever even watched a SSA Disability Hearing? How many could actually be put to work writing legally sufficient ALJ decisions? Further, among all this top level bloat, how many could perform the support staff work that is so desperately needed? After all, these are the individuals who made the decision to remove support staff years ago. How's that working for you now? These are also the geniuses who placed Garmon, despite his documented history of labor management misdeeds, in OLMER?
5 O'clock Charlie Returns! I feel better now!
Anon 3:10--just because you don't know or understand what a person does doesn't mean that the person's job isn't important/essential. Not every person in SSA should be able to write a hearing decision. And, you must also remember that SSA is about much more than ODAR. The world is much bigger....
@9:14
3:10 here. Please do not insult my intelligence. I am an Attorney with more than 27+ years of Agency specific experience, and you?
3:10--glad to hear of your experience. That doesn't change my point--just because you don't know what someone does doesn't mean the job represents bloat.
@2:01
After 27+ years of Agency specific experience, I have been around the block more than enough to know and have an informed opinion about what these individuals do. Based on your comment, I discern I have been around this block many more years than you.
So if you had 27 years in a front office maybe so. But 27 years in some hearings office hardly makes you qualified...regardless of whether you are/are not an attorney.
It's so easy to malign that which we don't understand.
8:58 PM Enlighten Us! Just WHAT do these people do that is necessary and " worth" the money? My aunt worked for government for 35 years and said many times that you get rid of your lazy, incompetent, worthless and problem employees by promoting them, because it is so much easier than trying to fire them! I thought of that when reading some of the bios, including Nancy Berryhill's.
Well Tim (3:27) - you clearly know loads about all of the jobs at SSA because of your aunt. My goodness. And you clearly know nothing of Nancy Berryhill, because your assertion is a total throw-away comment, as is typical of so many internet trolls. Sigh. It's almost as bad as the 27+ year ODAR attorney who believes that he/she knows all of the job functions completed across the organization....And yes, I've travelled the block for an equal number of years and no, I don't work in ODAR or CO. The essence of leadership doesn't require the leader to be able to complete all lower-level job functions. Interestingly, there's often such an outcry about folks promoted through the ranks and their alleged inability to lead (even though they would be able to do those other tasks that were referenced). What is it that we all want as taxpayers and good citizens? Oh, that's the crux. Too often, everyone is looking out for him/herself....
It's ok 11:28. When people say that management doesn't do anything all day, it just shows they truly have no clue how hard managing people (like them) actually is. I welcome them to give it a try.
I would have welcomed the opportunity to work in management many years ago. I had a stellar career in terms of quality of work and production the entire first half of my 27+ years, including numerous QSI's, Performance Awards, Letters of Commendation, etc. But, contrary to the mantra Agency Management continues to push, the best, brightest and most productive were NOT the ones promoted into management. To the contrary, favorites of certain corrupt managers like Garmon, were promoted instead. Further, managers like Garmon and his ilk bent over backwards, ignored Merit System Principles, and engaged in numerous PPP's. I had a front row seat observing this for 27+ years.
Any Agency which not only tolerates such illegal conduct, but actually encourages it, promotes like minded individuals willing to engage in such conduct, pats one another on the back for such misdeeds, blatantly shields this individuals from being held accountable when said conduct is proven and brought to the publication attention, and further placates said individual by relocating an entire Hearings Office near their home while placing him in the Labor Management Relations, despite a long track record of documented LM Violations, as is the case with Garmon, and many have serious problems with this. Please enlighten me just what it is you find acceptable about such conduct dating back many years, and Garmon is only one, but many, examples of this Systemic Misconduct?
Moreover, ODAR is equivalent to the nation's largest law firm. Yet, those in Management continue to push a punitive management style, worse than I have ever witnessed, to address the disability backlog, e.g., issuing Reprimands, Suspensions, and Termination Proposals, and denying telework, to all employees who do not meet unreasonable production quotas, (a scientific study was conducted, and it revealed the quotas are unreasonable and counter productive), yet the very Management Team responsible for creating the backlog, refuses to acknowledge their fault and the results of the study.
They are also going the very same thing to any ALJ who does not schedule 50 hearings a month, regardless of the fact they do not have the decision writer's to write the additional decisions in the first place, as there is a decision writing backlog right now, and they are scheduling hearings without even contacting the claimants Attorneys, or the claimants, first for a date and time all can agree on. Do you have any conception just how idiotic this is? It is off the chart ignorance and stupidity, and I speak with 27+ years of being an Attorney with ODAR, and SA since 1995. You must also consider the fact scheduling 50 hearings a month per ALJ, will result in loads of cases being placed in unassigned writing for even longer than they are sitting there now - remember, they do not have the writers, there is a hiring freeze, and new hires require substantial training before they become productive writers. Thus, new medical evidence is going to be added to these cases sitting in unassigned writing. By the time a writer gets the case, they will not be able to write the decision because of the new medical evidence. The ALJ may have to hold a supplemental hearing on the case, then the case would go back to sitting in unassigned writing for a long time before it is assigned to a writer. If the writer tries to deal with the new evidence as best they can, and the ALJ signs and sends out the decision, the AC will send it back on appeal, and the whole process starts over.am sick and tired of this utter incompetence. Yes, I know I could run the Agency better, and place the best and brightest in Magement for a change. Unfortunately, my health has been destroyed, in large part, because of the mistreatment I received from Garmon and company over a period of several years. I will never get my health back, but I would be willing to work as a consultant, etc.
I apologize for the number of errors in my comment at 3:42. I was responding via phone, and I ran into issues with space. As I went through what I wrote to fit the comment in the space, I was working from a small window, and I was not able to see the errors, or when spell check typed the wrong word. My apology.
At 8:58 and 11:28, while I was not sitting in Falls Church, Baltimore, or a Regional Office, I had 27+ years of reading correspondence issued by many of the management officials to which I refer; dealing with ridiculous laws, regulations, rulings, and policy written by non-attorneys, or attorneys who had never held a disability hearing or written a legally sufficient decision; adhering to non-sensical rules issued almost daily; extreme micromanagement of the work performed by Attorneys and ALJ's; knew of frequent management calls involving far too many supervisors in each hearings office, and discussions over minutiae, including routine berating of all employees over numbers, etc; and watched idiots like Garmon illegally force numerous, good career Federal employees out of their jobs for no reason, including my long term Supervisory Attorney, and me, among many others over a period of several years. All those years of dealing with the nuttiness which constantly came from so many of the Deputy Commissioner offices and others shown on the SSA organizational chart, gave me a very good idea of the massive bloat in the bureaucracy, and how unnecessary many of these positions and the high salaries which go along with them are.
I have also reached out to many of these high level offices, including former Acting Commissioner Colvin, particularly after what Garmon did to me and received no responses - None. Instead, I watched Colvin bend over backwards to prevent Eanes from becoming Deputy Commissioner, after I, and others, outed her and prevented her from becoming Commissioner. She did this because as Agency Head, her, and her alone, had exclusive authority over whether known wrongdoers, including Garmon and company, would be held accountable. Regular readers of this blog know very well the extent and ridiculousness to which Garmon has been placated by the Agency not held accountable. The same is true with other known wrongdoers. I am utterly sickened by this reprehensible Organizational discrimination and hypocrisy, and I am doing everything in my power to bring this to everyone's attention. You remarked, "Everyone is looking out for him/herself." You are absolutely correct where SSA/ ODAR Management is concerned. This is clearly seen in Garmon's treatment, Colvin's conduct, and the conduct of so many other Management officials. I am beyond sick and tired of the lack of accountability among the highest levels of Agency Management and the hypocrisy of their behavior.
Disagreeing with decisions made by senior leaders does not mean the positions are bloated or should be eliminated.
27 years and got fired for not being able to do the job, the system works, just takes it 27 effing years!
@10:00, March 13:
Nice try. I was NOT fired, but illegally forced out of my job. There's a huge difference, idiot. No, the system does NOT work when SSA/ODAR engages in overt Organizational discrimination and hypocrisy by placating the likes of Garmon, who has a documented track record of PPP's and Unfair Labor Practices, by not only refusing to hold him accountable, but by placing him as a top executive in the Office of Labor Management Relations, no less, the proverbial fox in the hen house, and relocating an entire ODAR Hearings Office close to his home, inconvenient to everyone but him, not to mention the fact he is supposed to be working from Falls Church, VA, not a couple miles from his home in GA.
Why are you so quick to denigrate me? Do you mean to tell me you support this type of organizational discrimination and hypocrisy? If you do support it, you either have a personal interest in doing so, or could care less how your taxpayer money is being spent by the highest SSA/ODAR Management.
@5:49:
Apparently, you have a reading comprehension problem. In my remarks, I said much more than disagreeing with decisions of Senior Management. I cited in detail specific instances of incompetence, stupidity, counter productive punitive management the worse I have ever witnessed, the massive disability case backlog, how their decisions solely created the backlog, and how they continue to refuse to admit this, and waste, fraud and abuse in terms of Garmon not being held accountable, relocating an entire Hearings Office near his home, and placing him in a high level executive position with OLMER, despite his known documented history of labor management violations, the proverbial fox in the hen house.
What I do not understand is why you would support a Senior Management Team who engages in this type of Organizational discrimination and hypocrisy, severe punitive management style, and the few examples of gross mismanagement I pointed out - these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Yep, as always, it is about SA27+ and the constant, repetitive drivel - boiled down to "I was great, managers were bad, they had to be bad to act against someone as wonderful as me. Vast cover-up, Yada, yada, yada."
@2:54:
I have stated numerous times this is not all about me. Garmon illegally forced out many good career employees in my Hearings Office alone over a period of several years. He did this to my long term Supervisory Attorney who had a stellar career with SSA/ODAR for over 20 years. He also did this to numerous other employees. The common denominator among all of us is that we were good employees who had the balls to disagree with rogue, corrupt managers who taken over our office, and these corrupt managers were tied to Garmon, the ultimate power broker as ROCALJ. My Supervisory Attorney and I had targets placed on or heads for fighting to keep the Senior Attorney Program, which these rogue, corrupt managers had proposed to permanently destroy in our office from that point forward. This is all we did, and this was more than enough to cause Garmon to illegally force out each of us.
The bottom line is all those career Federal employees illegally forced out of their jobs over a period of several years were excellent employees who were willing to stand up and ask questions about illegal things these rogue, corrupt managers tried to do. At one point, a lawsuit was filed against these Managers and the ROCALJ by all the ALJ's, prior managers, and several local claimants attorneys. The Agency IGNORED IT! In so doing, they passively allowed the illegal harassment, discrimination, PPP's, etc., to continue unabated for many, many years. During this period, Garmon and company illegally promoted like minded favorites into management. These favorites were not the best and brightest. Tolerance of this behavior by Senior Management, and this behavior went on in other Regions, as well, led to the inept, incompetent management of the Agency which exists today, all the counter productive punitive policies of late, the massive backlog, etc.
Yes, I was a stellar employee, and I have the Rewards, QSI's, and letters if commendation to prove it right up to the point these rogue, corrupt managers took over. The same is true of my former long time Supervisory Attorney and all the other career Federal employees who were illegally forced out of their jobs by these managers. I have no problem making such assertions because they are true and I am proud of what I did. What's so utterly shocking, is why Garmon, and other similar rogue managers whom the Agency has known for years engage in this illegal conduct are not held accountable, but placed in OLMER, and cow towed, when they should have been fired long ago. You can denigrate and attack me and the others all you wish, but you cannot change the facts concerning these rogue, corrupt managers, the lawsuit from years ago, and what Garmon is responsible. It is what it is, and I will never stop until these longstanding wrongs are appropriately addressed by the Agency.
Garmon reminds me of "Boss Hogg" from the old Dukes of Hazard TV show, e.g., powerful, privileged, not too bright, and expects everyone to cow tow to his every whim. What a loser!
Fired. Terminated. Let go.
No. You said in your comment at 3:10 that savings could be achieved by eliminating positions. Your defense of that is that you were treated poorly. So do you want positions eliminated or certain individuals held accountable? It's fine that you have grievances, but that's no justification for eliminating positions on the org chart. Again being mad at people doesn't mean budget savings can be had by eliminating positions.
27 years and 27-year respondent...please stop!
11:28 AM Decisions and policy moves have shown plenty of poor leadership at SSA in recent years. Why has SSA been looking to restrict gun rights of
those with a representive payee? Doesn't fall in their mission. Why wasn't management paying attention to Daugherty and other red-stampers? Why were they rewarding them with huge bonuses? Why are they ignoring serial deniers now? Why have they allowed hearing waits to grow so much? Why have they allowed wait times at FO to explode? I could go on...
Tim, you have some interesting points lets take a look.
1 SSA and Guns. SSA didn't go out and seek to make this change, this attempt was done from outside the agency. But because SSA has the records and the ability to say what a disabling condition was that is where SSA got involved. SSA didn't come after your guns, Congress did.
2 Hearing times and FO/DO times have exploded due to the republican led congress reducing the administrative budget of SSA to hire and keep its staff. Congress was told they had reached a point where doing more with less was not possible and that the only remaining answer was to do less with less.
3 One mans red stamper is anothers mans protector of the trust fund. The bonus program should be halted at all levels of government employment, they are already paid more than the private sector and have better and cheaper insurance, if they don't like it get a job in the private sector that pays as much for so little and provides none of the continued work protections for underperforming employees. Personally, I am in favor of even stricter adherence, more in tune with how the orginal disability program was started. It should be CAL claims only. The rest should be handled through Long Term Disability and Short Term Disability in the private sector. In todays world of technology there is an assistive tech to help nearly everyone achieve income above SGA, if you truly want to get it. It is a harsh and unpopular view on this blog, but having worked around this for decades it is something I strongly believe.
11:01 AM My reference to Daugherty and other red-stampers means those with 80 plus approval rates with really high "production" rates that the agency has gone after since Huntington (Eric Conn).
By serial deniers, I mean those ALJs that are openingly hostile to claimants, often with approval rates in the low 20s or lower. Based upon comments I've read, they seem to require "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. The law is preponderance of the evidence. As for being "protector of the trust fund," that is not their job description. Their job is to determine whether the claimants meet the legal definition of disability.
As for the guns, that was Obama. I suppose you cuold say that much of SSA's leadership problems start with him and those He appointed. However, comments on this blog definitely demonstrate a lack of good leadership at the lower levels as well. As for Congress, the lack of good leadership in SSA shows up in their inability to get the funding they needed and then how they allocate what their given. An example of good leadership would be "informing" members of Congress what FO would "need" to be closed if not given the proper operating funds. Paul Ryan, we need to close 7 FO in your district, unless we get more funding. Paul Ryan, unless we get more funding, ODAR will have to approve more of the "grey" area cases, due to inability to write district court proof decisions in a timely manner.
Paul Ryan, we will not approve people for disability in worker's comp cases, because that's what workers comp is for!
Tim that's some good weed you're smoking. Your belief that SSA can hold congress hostage with threats of office closings and adjudication changes is asinine. First its simply not reality. Congress questions SSA why they need so many offices and threatens SSA with closures, not the other way around. Second I can't imagine you're serious that SSA could threaten congress with mre payment of disability claims as a way to get more staffing. If SSA leadership did any of that you'd be the first to call them reckless and irresponsible.
Obviously, you don't make it that transparent, but you would let certain Congressmen know what the consequences of their actions are. More passive agressive, less direct.
Drain the swamp dry of these three decades + bureaucracratic bigots !!
@5:19
Except none of this is true. Obviously, you are an idiot who either cannot read, cannot comprehend what you read, or reinterpret everything you read into you own alternative facts.
@9:59
I will not stop until the corruption, horrible punitive management of ODAR, and Organizational discrimination and hypocrisy among the highest level Agency officials is appropriately addressed. At this point, the undeniable evidence reveals these individuals have done nothing but dig their feet in even deeper, doubled down on their failed punitive management policies, refuse to accept responsibility for their failed management but blame all subordinate employees instead, and continue to cover-up, protect, and shield one another from accountability for known wrongdoing. I will not stop until this is appropriately addressed, and known wrongdoers finally held accountable.
@7:07
This sounds like a plan, but it must start at the very top of the SSA/ODAR Organizational Structure, because this is where 99.9 percent of the corruption, waste, fraud, and abuse exists. These are the individuals overtly responsible for not only refusing to hold known wrongdoers accountable, but spending millions of dollars to cater to such individuals, e.g., relocating an entire Hearings Office near Garmon's home; placing Garmon in OLMER, despite his documented long history of unfair labor practices and immense costs of litigation this has caused the Agency to endure; Colvin's cover-up, refusal to all Eanes to come on board, all of which was to enable the Agency to cow-tow to Garmon, and this is only the tip of the iceberg.
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