A long time Social Security employee speaks out about the problems caused by Commissioner Saul's decision to open the agency's field offices on Wednesday afternoons. I hope she won't be punished. She's only speaking the truth.
20 comments:
Anonymous
said...
You know, I'm having an awfully hard time having sympathy for these fairly well paid with good benefits government employees when I have clients who are homeless, can't buy food, can't get medication, etc. Its amazing how are clients are suffering every day because SSA's system is completely dysfunctional. And, while I know there are many hardworking dilligent employees, we see far too many examples of intentionally lost paperwork or things just not getting done the way they should - for example compassionate care cases just being ignored. I think it is interesting how the suffering of some government employees in actually having to come to an office seems to outweigh the suffering of disabled workers who paid their social security taxes and now the government either refuses to fulfill its promise to them or makes it so difficult and delays it so long that they end up homeless. WHy is no one upset about that? Why are congressmen raising hell about some employees not getting to work from home but could care less about suffering constituents who can't get the benefits they need and deserve. I"ll tell you what, I'm with Saul. Once the agency has made significant progress toward fixing its serious problems, then we can talk about perks for employees. Until then, all hands on deck in the office, open when necessary to get the job done. If you can't do that, go try and find a job that pays as well and gives you the same benefits in the private sector.
It was a letter to the editor, and she still has the right to free speech as long as she didn't do it on the job. I'm sure local management will either counsel her unofficially to be careful about making statements to the media since she isn't authorized (if they support her) or will unofficially threaten her career (if they are stormtrooper management minions who worry her activities will threaten their own career mobility - all local employees know who those kind are).
Saul's problem is that he doesn't understand that there is nothing new that he can try that will make any appreciable difference that hasn't been considered by prior Commissioners. Everything EXCEPT doing what would actually work: hiring enough competent people to do the job. Something neither Congress and the President will never allow him to do.
Because the agency has done such a poor, patchwork job of software development, that number of employees needed is far higher than it could have been otherwise. But, bad decisions have consequences, and SSA employees see the consequences every day.
The absolute worst thing now will be finding good, competent people for the few hires they do get. The good ones figure out really fast that they don't want to make a career with SSA and don't stay long, so you just end up with more dregs.
8:29, you've lost the plot and the thread of the letter. Your homeless client won't be any better served and one can argue, will be impacted more, by the lack of back-end time that will be given to representatives to complete the work. That's what Wednesday afternoons were used for.
It's not the fault of the field offices that homeless people aren't getting the benefits they might deserve. Unrealistic or unreasonably harsh rules have been developed to make it difficult to qualify for benefits. The state disability determination agencies are the ones denying your homeless. And even some of them can do so much with some of the rules they have to follow. The local office does not make disability decisions and is only partially responsible for gathering medical information. I wouldn't disparage the difference between what an SSA employee receives and a person with nothing. I am more upset that there are hungry children, people who can't get foodstamps, and homeless people while those who would further cut their benefits who own houses they don't have time to visit and what candidate will help them get and keep more money.
829 the problems your clients are facing are due to budget cuts, staff reductions and rising numeric pressures. SSA claims of any sort are highly complex. Our computer systems suck. What you need to understand is that numbers are rewarded. Not doing it right, just getting it done so a widget can be counted. When you have such complex work, rushing to meet unreasonable numeric goals only results in a higher percentage of erroneous actions.Instead of blaming hardworking employees, why don't you spend some energy trying to get more funding and a more compassionate management style for the agency. The ultimate beneficiaries of this approach will be your clients.
Over the years I have seen many denials that have a favorable comment in them, BUT it does not go back to some absurd AOD. The Rep has a responsibility to review the file; it might help to have a letter in there saying that you would consider a later onset date. Some claimants will put down birthdate, e.g. as the AOD and they may be 55 years old T16 only. That does not excuse the agency problems, - plenty of them, but it might help!
8:29 I get more work done at home teleworking than I do in the office where there are distractions and where I'm tired after commuting. I fail to see how sitting in traffic for an hour each way to work in the office will make me a better employee. By cutting telework Saul has made a terrible decision that is harmful to the agency and will actually make the backlogs go up. Did you even read the Congressional letter which laid out the reasons why ending telework is not good for the agency and will increase backlogs and make it difficult to hire and retain good employees? You and Saul both seem to be stuck in the past, and that type of attitude will hurt both the agency and those we are trying to help on a timely basis.
I think Saul will be forced to reinstate telework, he can't ignore almost half of Congress and if he does nothing some Republicans from swing districts will sign the next letter, making it a majority of Congress on his back to restore telework. He made a terrible decision which has brought terrible publicity to the agency, and he showed no respect whatsoever for the hard working SSA employees. He needs to correct his error immediately and an apology to employees would not hurt either.
With forms uploaded through iclaims/iAppeals and faxed documents going directly into WorkTrack, not certain how any paperwork could be intentionally lost unless a Rep refused to use those services and instead relied on snail mail.
8:29 - “... the suffering of disabled workers who paid their social security taxes and now the government either refuses to fulfill its promise to them...”
This part tripped me up because I’m not sure if all your homeless clients are applying for Disability Insurance Benefits, or if some of them are only eligible for SSI. If you’re including SSI applicants in your post, then your claim that the government is cheating people who paid social security taxes is misleading. I can’t tell if you’re arguing on behalf of disabled “people,” or only disabled “workers” who paid into the system.
to 8:29 So yesterday, I called the State Agency to find out the status of a case we filed in July 2019. I was told a determination was made on November 15 and the case sent back to the District Office. Oh, and neither the client nor my office had received any notice. For me, that was not particularly surprising since the State Agency had no information to indicate that we were even representing the client. You should also note that I had submitted the 1695 and 1696 and fee agreement when teh claim was filed, noted my representation in the application, received a letter that was sent to the client acknowledging that I had filed the claim on their behalf.
Did the anyone intentionally lose the representation paperwork? I don't know but I do know that this exact scenario has been repeated hundreds of times in my office and to many other representative as well.
At what point does sheer incompetence translate to intentional disregard. You tell me.
No- no one intentionally lost your paperwork. No one processed it. Its probably on the desk of someone calling numbers at the window because CS', TEs, and sometimes management are all doing the CSR job 50% of the time on top of everything else as those positions are not being replaced. Those are the frontline positions which need to be replaced and those positions need to lead to the CS position. I don't know who Mr. Saul is talking to, but he needs better advisors who actually know what's going on.
Well I can tell you the time management found boxes of paper hearing files that had been hidden under other boxes and not sent to OHA. This before the banana program came in. Claims not sent and a few applicants had died. I think oldest case was 4 years old. I wanted to cry. Bad PR.
I have had trouble with some of my representation forms not being processed in the local office, forms which I have faxed, but I can't say it has happened hundreds of times. At least when you fax, you still have the forms to re-fax.
@923 AM After your forms are processed in the local office the Claims Rep has to take a minor step to notify DDS that you represent your client. If CRs had more time they could run the UAT (update after transfer) function on WAC and it would identify all cases (initial, recons and hearings) that have new info (attorney, change of address, etc) that someone could possibly have done and forgot to notify DDS or OHO about the change.
@829 No one is saying that the workers who lost telework are suffering more than the disabled or homeless. If somehow your earnings were reduced say 50%, would it be okay for you to be unhappy about that even though you weren't suffering as much as the disabled or homeless?
The employee asserts: "The root cause of the problem started when the agency made the poor decision to cut staffing levels at a time when workloads increased as the Baby-Boomers aged." Who cut the staffing levels? No mention or attention paid to the role of the Republican Congress in passing budgets that did not allow for the replacements of losses or the addition of staff to meet the Baby Boomer wave. Point the finger at the problem's origin: Congress and Republican Presidents who refuse to fund the social welfare side of government sufficiently to assure good customer service.
Actually like Saul trying something new. But he seems to be an old-fashioned out of touch manager who thinks everybody is lazy at the SSA. Not true. Sure, there are lazy ones. But making them work on Wednesday afternoons will defeat the purpose. Also eliminating telework is a bogus idea.
However, the Saturday work day schedule seems like a good idea. Postal workers have to do it. I would recommend hiring contractors to work the Saturdays. Then, they would automatically be in line for a fulltime position during the week when they arise. Problem solved.
I agree. Competent people would go a long way. While the employee has the right to free speech she doesn't impress me as anyone I would want. Does she understand the unwanted attention she brought to her office? She has been a CS For 18 years? Has she had any other positions? Doesn't impress me as a team player or leader too me. What constructive solutions does she have going forward?
I am sure the same people who are so compassionate on here about their disabled and homeless clients aren’t taking $6,000 in back pay simply for faxing a few forms in. That would definitely not be in the best interest of those suffering.
I have seen a lot of people on here mentioning hiring contractors to work Saturdays and backlogs. How is a contractor going to get trained and given systems access? Most agency contractors work things like IT or systems work , not technical positions. They would certainly have to be re-employed annuitants or former employees.
20 comments:
You know, I'm having an awfully hard time having sympathy for these fairly well paid with good benefits government employees when I have clients who are homeless, can't buy food, can't get medication, etc. Its amazing how are clients are suffering every day because SSA's system is completely dysfunctional. And, while I know there are many hardworking dilligent employees, we see far too many examples of intentionally lost paperwork or things just not getting done the way they should - for example compassionate care cases just being ignored. I think it is interesting how the suffering of some government employees in actually having to come to an office seems to outweigh the suffering of disabled workers who paid their social security taxes and now the government either refuses to fulfill its promise to them or makes it so difficult and delays it so long that they end up homeless. WHy is no one upset about that? Why are congressmen raising hell about some employees not getting to work from home but could care less about suffering constituents who can't get the benefits they need and deserve. I"ll tell you what, I'm with Saul. Once the agency has made significant progress toward fixing its serious problems, then we can talk about perks for employees. Until then, all hands on deck in the office, open when necessary to get the job done. If you can't do that, go try and find a job that pays as well and gives you the same benefits in the private sector.
It was a letter to the editor, and she still has the right to free speech as long as she didn't do it on the job. I'm sure local management will either counsel her unofficially to be careful about making statements to the media since she isn't authorized (if they support her) or will unofficially threaten her career (if they are stormtrooper management minions who worry her activities will threaten their own career mobility - all local employees know who those kind are).
Saul's problem is that he doesn't understand that there is nothing new that he can try that will make any appreciable difference that hasn't been considered by prior Commissioners. Everything EXCEPT doing what would actually work: hiring enough competent people to do the job. Something neither Congress and the President will never allow him to do.
Because the agency has done such a poor, patchwork job of software development, that number of employees needed is far higher than it could have been otherwise. But, bad decisions have consequences, and SSA employees see the consequences every day.
The absolute worst thing now will be finding good, competent people for the few hires they do get. The good ones figure out really fast that they don't want to make a career with SSA and don't stay long, so you just end up with more dregs.
8:29, you've lost the plot and the thread of the letter. Your homeless client won't be any better served and one can argue, will be impacted more, by the lack of back-end time that will be given to representatives to complete the work. That's what Wednesday afternoons were used for.
It's not the fault of the field offices that homeless people aren't getting the benefits they might deserve. Unrealistic or unreasonably harsh rules have been developed to make it difficult to qualify for benefits. The state disability determination agencies are the ones denying your homeless. And even some of them can do so much with some of the rules they have to follow. The local office does not make disability decisions and is only partially responsible for gathering medical information.
I wouldn't disparage the difference between what an SSA employee receives and a person with nothing. I am more upset that there are hungry children, people who can't get foodstamps, and homeless people while those who would further cut their benefits who own houses they don't have time to visit and what candidate will help them get and keep more money.
829 the problems your clients are facing are due to budget cuts, staff reductions and rising numeric pressures. SSA claims of any sort are highly complex. Our computer systems suck. What you need to understand is that numbers are rewarded. Not doing it right, just getting it done so a widget can be counted. When you have such complex work, rushing to meet unreasonable numeric goals only results in a higher percentage of erroneous actions.Instead of blaming hardworking employees, why don't you spend some energy trying to get more funding and a more compassionate management style for the agency. The ultimate beneficiaries of this approach will be your clients.
8:29 Please show me a proven example of intentionally lost paperwork.
Over the years I have seen many denials that have a favorable comment in them, BUT it does not go back to some absurd AOD. The Rep has a responsibility to review the file; it might help to have a letter in there saying that you would consider a later onset date. Some claimants will put down birthdate, e.g. as the AOD and they may be 55 years old T16 only. That does not excuse the agency problems, - plenty of them, but it might help!
8:29 I get more work done at home teleworking than I do in the office where there are distractions and where I'm tired after commuting.
I fail to see how sitting in traffic for an hour each way to work in the office will make me a better employee. By cutting telework Saul has made a terrible decision that is harmful to the agency and will actually make the backlogs go up.
Did you even read the Congressional letter which laid out the reasons why ending telework is not good for the agency and will increase backlogs and make it difficult to hire and retain good employees? You and Saul both seem to be stuck in the past, and that type of attitude will hurt both the agency and those we are trying to help on a timely basis.
I think Saul will be forced to reinstate telework, he can't ignore almost half of Congress and if he does nothing some Republicans from swing districts will sign the next letter, making it a majority of Congress on his back to restore telework. He made a terrible decision which has brought terrible publicity to the agency, and he showed no respect whatsoever for the hard working SSA employees. He needs to correct his error immediately and an apology to employees would not hurt either.
8:29 I think we found the Russki.
With forms uploaded through iclaims/iAppeals and faxed documents going directly into WorkTrack, not certain how any paperwork could be intentionally lost unless a Rep refused to use those services and instead relied on snail mail.
8:29 - “... the suffering of disabled workers who paid their social security taxes and now the government either refuses to fulfill its promise to them...”
This part tripped me up because I’m not sure if all your homeless clients are applying for Disability Insurance Benefits, or if some of them are only eligible for SSI. If you’re including SSI applicants in your post, then your claim that the government is cheating people who paid social security taxes is misleading. I can’t tell if you’re arguing on behalf of disabled “people,” or only disabled “workers” who paid into the system.
to 8:29
So yesterday, I called the State Agency to find out the status of a case we filed in July 2019. I was told a determination was made on November 15 and the case sent back to the District Office. Oh, and neither the client nor my office had received any notice. For me, that was not particularly surprising since the State Agency had no information to indicate that we were even representing the client. You should also note that I had submitted the 1695 and 1696 and fee agreement when teh claim was filed, noted my representation in the application, received a letter that was sent to the client acknowledging that I had filed the claim on their behalf.
Did the anyone intentionally lose the representation paperwork? I don't know but I do know that this exact scenario has been repeated hundreds of times in my office and to many other representative as well.
At what point does sheer incompetence translate to intentional disregard. You tell me.
No- no one intentionally lost your paperwork. No one processed it. Its probably on the desk of someone calling numbers at the window because CS', TEs, and sometimes management are all doing the CSR job 50% of the time on top of everything else as those positions are not being replaced. Those are the frontline positions which need to be replaced and those positions need to lead to the CS position. I don't know who Mr. Saul is talking to, but he needs better advisors who actually know what's going on.
Well I can tell you the time management found boxes of paper hearing files that had been hidden under other boxes and not sent to OHA. This before the banana program came in. Claims not sent and a few applicants had died. I think oldest case was 4 years old. I wanted to cry. Bad PR.
I have had trouble with some of my representation forms not being processed in the local office, forms which I have faxed, but I can't say it has happened hundreds of times. At least when you fax, you still have the forms to re-fax.
@923 AM After your forms are processed in the local office the Claims Rep has to take a minor step to notify DDS that you represent your client. If CRs had more time they could run the UAT (update after transfer) function on WAC and it would identify all cases (initial, recons and hearings) that have new info (attorney, change of address, etc) that someone could possibly have done and forgot to notify DDS or OHO about the change.
@829 No one is saying that the workers who lost telework are suffering more than the disabled or homeless. If somehow your earnings were reduced say 50%, would it be okay for you to be unhappy about that even though you weren't suffering as much as the disabled or homeless?
The employee asserts: "The root cause of the problem started when the agency made the poor decision to cut staffing levels at a time when workloads increased as the Baby-Boomers aged." Who cut the staffing levels? No mention or attention paid to the role of the Republican Congress in passing budgets that did not allow for the replacements of losses or the addition of staff to meet the Baby Boomer wave. Point the finger at the problem's origin: Congress and Republican Presidents who refuse to fund the social welfare side of government sufficiently to assure good customer service.
Actually like Saul trying something new. But he seems to be an old-fashioned out of touch manager who thinks everybody is lazy at the SSA. Not true. Sure, there are lazy ones. But making them work on Wednesday afternoons will defeat the purpose. Also eliminating telework is a bogus idea.
However, the Saturday work day schedule seems like a good idea. Postal workers have to do it. I would recommend hiring contractors to work the Saturdays. Then, they would automatically be in line for a fulltime position during the week when they arise. Problem solved.
I agree. Competent people would go a long way. While the employee has the right to free speech she doesn't impress me as anyone I would want. Does she understand the unwanted attention she brought to her office?
She has been a CS For 18 years? Has she had any other positions? Doesn't impress me as a team player or leader too me. What constructive solutions does she have going forward?
I am sure the same people who are so compassionate on here about their disabled and homeless clients aren’t taking $6,000 in back pay simply for faxing a few forms in. That would definitely not be in the best interest of those suffering.
I have seen a lot of people on here mentioning hiring contractors to work Saturdays and backlogs. How is a contractor going to get trained and given systems access? Most agency contractors work things like IT or systems work , not technical positions. They would certainly have to be re-employed annuitants or former employees.
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