From National Public Radio:
... Social Security field offices are closed. But the shutdown hasn't stopped the agency from processing claims for new benefits and appeals of benefit denials. And according to statistics that the SSA sent its workers, the agency has been doing so at a faster pace than before. ...
According to [Ralph] deJuliis [head of the union that represents most Social Security employees], the SSA has found that its backlog of pending cases has fallen by 11% since March 23, when the agency instituted wide-scale telework, and that calls from recipients are answered more quickly. ...Exactly which backlog of pending cases is it that's fallen by 11% since March 23? There are many backlogs at Social Security and they certainly haven't all dropped by 11% in less than a month and a half. I'd love to see those statistics that Social Security sent its employees.
17 comments:
This is a little misleading. In alabama where I work, the DDS hasn’t been closed for over a month. That means very few new appeals entering the pipeline. OHO is still working. The bath tub has a slow leak and is draining but that will soon change when the water is turned back on.
I suspect the message refers to initial applications and requests for recon. And it's hardly surprising. Due to office closures, folks aren't flooding the offices with new claims. Additionally, doctors whose patients aren't coming in for maintenance visits have more time to devote to reviewing records.
I have noticed a quick denial turn around with many of my clients cases at the Reconsideration level. Examiners are not requesting a new Function Report form for these cases either
DM here. We’ve limited our services to such a degree that we are able to tackle backlogs. In many offices like mine - we are struggling to find work. So yes - we are more efficient but who wouldn’t be when you’re only doing a portion of what we used to do ? Also - what happens if/when we reopen ?
I would agree that this is very misleading. There are so many cases sitting at DDS just STUCK because there are no CEs and medical records requests are not being processed. Medical providers big and small have laid off staff or working from home, so getting anything done is SLOW. DDS is not doing cessations now, so that is a big chunk of workload gone. OHO is working, but the longer we go the harder it is to get a case closed due to outstanding records. My DDS level caseload is bloated, sitting around collecting dust. The the percentage of my cases closed at hearing is getting smaller by the week. Whatever short term gains we all had to catch up on work will all be erased when DDS is able to attack their stuck cases, and OHO gets bombarded with hearing requests again. And we are already started to see a surge in calls for post COVID disability claims. There are a lot of impaired folks who were able to maintain some employment in the margins of a full employment world, who will never be able to work in a the new COVID economy due to health.
I agree with your comments. Misleading stats from Union. When reopening happens and full workloads resume then what. Hope you stay safe.
When you are not doing anything with CDRs, non-disability hearings, paper cases, overpayments, FOIA requests, in-person mySSA verifications, or fee petitions it's so easy to catch up on the rest!
My question is how many younger employees are saying that management is still being unfair and that they are suffering unbearable circumstances?
Thought this would be the case in 2 key areas.
1. As stated above, the local SSA office employees should have more time now without having to conduct in-person contact. Feel like the SSA has wanted people to do most of their business online for a while now.
2. The decision writes should have a little more time. I know a few OHO writers. There is a lot of wasted time spent just in the normal social atmosphere in an office. Feel like the decisions should be coming sooner.
And for both above, there is the reduction in time and money spent on commuting.
Better Call Saul may have been against telework. But most modern workers usually feel it is a plus.
When there is a reopening how will employees pivot to meet new demands? Will employees adapt or dig in there heels. By the same token can Saul and management focus on more telework, streamline administrave burdens, and upgrade legacy system? How many employees have retired or left during this pandemic.
The stats are made up by the union president. Ralph said the same thing about "productivity." It is a made up number that he is firing off with no actual statistical backing. There is no magic 11% workload number either he can support. Take what he says as far as workloads with a grain of salt.
The statistics of improving backlogs are real and genuine.
Telework has enabled employees to work more credit hours and overtime, this has reduced the backlogs. There is not much incentive to take leave as most employees have been under a stay-at-home order. There is little to do other than work, so employees have been working.
I work in a payment center and I can tell you our backlogs have indeed gone way down. Our overtime was even cut last week because overtime is no longer needed to keep up with the workload, people are doing so much work at home.
Many employees were very disappointed when Saul ended telework for PC,TSC,FO last November. The morale at SSA was seriously damaged by his actions. Now employees want to prove that telework is a good thing and they are working harder than ever from home, so that they won't ever have their telework terminated again.
Anon 3:56 Good points. Never really understood Saul's opposition to telework. I took it like an old-school manager who thought everyone is lazy where he walked to school uphill both ways when he was younger. Or he wants the SSA secretly to fail. Either way is a bad idea.
3:58, I could not agree with you more. I also work as a Claims Authorizer at a Payment Center. Most colleagues are working more than ever on telework to prove the same point, we hope that this will prove to the agency heads that the decision practically eliminate telework was a grave mistake. At my Payment Center, we still have all the overtime we can work, however, much of that is due to this PC taking on some older workloads from other PCs. My pending is the least it has been in years, according to figures that management shares with us on certain reports, our module is doing the best it has did in many years regarding the reduction of pending and also with meeting weekly and daily goals in critical casework. It is interesting how those that comment that are not ‘on the inside looking out’ know so much more than we do about our workloads and how we process it. Not to mention the fact that according to them all of our union’s statistics are ‘phony’ and made up. Must be nice to know so much more than those that actually work inside an organization.
nobody disbelieves that pending claims, other widgets you Operations folks turn, have gone down. It's just that the Union official disingenuously attributes all of those gains to the employees being on full-time telework.
As others have already pointed out, there are far fewer claims coming in the door/moving through the process these days due to COVID-related issues. Certain workloads are not being touched at all. There are fewer interviews (I have a friend in a WSU and they say the FOs/DOs don't appear to have taken on more internet/phone claims usually routed to WSUs as his WSU's workload is exploding). Of course the FO/DO/TSC employees are catching up on work in this environment, it's just not accurate to give all the credit for that backlog reduction to telework.
If SSA ends telework while it's still unsafe to return to the office, there will be a mass exodus of experienced workers retiring or quitting.
I realize that some employees have to go to the office and they are already doing that, such as mailroom personnel. But for employees who can do their jobs at home, they should not be asked to return to the office at all, until their is an effective vaccine for COVID-19. Even then, most telework should be retained, as it has been shown to be effective.
I don't believe it. If management were allowed to monitor what employees do then I would say yes. Tried one time because employee was surfing the net but couldn't prove it. Security said I had to have exceptional reasons. Common practice in private sector to be able to monitor employees.
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