This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It is basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations. Click on the image to view full size.
16 comments:
effect of claim filings down ... or are they clogged at recon?
I expected greater decline as numerous State DDS offices were not processing any decisions for a period of time as they tried to figure out how to work remotely.
Rumor is that due to COVID-19 logistical issues there are bunches of claims languishing at DDS's all over the country and that a potential tsunami of claims could hit at OHO in the not too distant future.
Rumor, hearsay and conjecture but seems very plausible.
Wouldn't this primarily be the result of holding claims at recon that needed CE's to be decided?
Michigan here...recon definitely slowed things down. Lack of ability for DDS to utilize CEs slowed things down. Full-time remote work has slowed things down. Economy improved in 2019 (remember, disability requires 12 months of no work, so it's a lagging indicator), slowed things down.
Combine all those things, I'm surprised intake was only down that little.
Does anyone know what the membership numbers for NOSSCR look like over the last few years? Holding? Up or down? Just wondering how they are fairing and not hearing much.
Here at our office, we have huge numbers of cases bottle-necked at initial and recon. It's very clear that decisions there are taking much, much longer to make or aren't being made at all for the time being. Cases that are at OHO are being scheduled faster than ever, and the judges are whittling down the backlog that their offices have had. That's easy to do when the requests for hearing are down so much.
Our requests for hearing are down about 50%, even though the number of apps we have filed and are working on at initial and recon levels is up about 20%.
This will clearly create huge problems in 2021. From a firm management standpoint, I'm worried about the big drop in hearing numbers we'll see in the next 6 months. 12 months from now, though, when all these bottle-necked cases finally get to OHO, wait times will skyrocket.
I filed an initial T2 DIB claim in early June and clearly stated I am working at SGA with no accommodations (LTD allows me to continue to work while awaiting the LTD decision but requires simultaneous SSA filing). This should have been an immediate denial. Just today I received an 821, so it appears my claim has been sitting in an electronic pile for the last 2 months. There is a definite bottleneck at the initial level.
Talked to some ALJs out here in California. The backlog has been going down mainly due to more time not spent handling other stuff in the office. Also no travel to the office. Most are liking the return to telework contrary to Saul.
Just wondering if this is a temporary uptick in hearings and then nothing. Feel like September and October will be the real test of the stall around March or April. Seems like OHO and SSA was fairly up to business as usual around May. But not sure.
I'm guessing the California backlog is going down because multiple non-CA offices are taking thousands of cases off their plate.
Back logs have dropped like a rock at the OHOs. We were told that they were running out of cases to schedule because some firms and many unrep'd claimants did not agree to phone hearings. Since our firm agrees to phone hearings, our cases were the ones left to schedule. We're scheduling cases for hearing 3 months post request of hearing. Good for our clients, but bad for our attorney fees. Last year, we were looking at 12-15 month wait. As other posters said, as DDS gets back up to speed scheduling CEs and disposing of cases, the OHO back logs will go back up. Plus, I anticipate that the economic crash will cause initial filings to increase, eventually working its way to OHO. I know our new client intakes have gone up significantly since March and it loos like that trend is not slowing down.
@10:04 AM
It seems absolutely unconscionable to me that any claimant's attorney would continue advising against a telephone hearing at this point. Personally, if my attorney hadn't figured out by now that we're not marching into the offices for in-person hearings this year, I would seriously wonder whether they even have sufficient contact with reality to provide competent representation.
I just got a request for a 60 day extension for submission of the administrative record because the office that transcribes the record is shut down due to covid. Saul needs to go.
@ 1:19
I have about seven cases in Federal District Court where they have now been granted two 60 day extensions over my objection the last time. I also have a case before the Circuit Court that has had three extensions of time to file the Appellee's brief (again over my objections) because they have been unable to perform the "internal review procedure."
As for the general discussion, I've spoken to several supervisors at the DDB in our state and, yes, the cases are just sitting there because no one is working them up right now.
You have to question the good faith of the Commissioner and his more public Deputies, like the head of OHO. One could be forgiven for thinking that they're trying to Post Office the disability system -- applicants and employees alike.
DDS s are not allowed to do any cessations or determinations based on failure to cooperate or insufficient information. We can now due limited bCEs if the claimant chooses. Where I work we are hindered by schools not sending information and claimant's not being able to go to in person visits at their doctors. One claimant had a problem sending in forms because they took away the mail box near her. Otherwise IT people have done a pretty good job from only two states that could telework on a very limited basis to telework for I think all states
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