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.
By the way, obviously backlogs continue to dwindle but what happens when the Covid-19 pandemic ends? We all hope that's coming early next year as a result of a vaccine. Is there a backlog of claims that people have deferred filing because of office closures? We know that backlogs have increased at the initial and reconsideration levels. How much will receipts increase at OHO as that backlog is worked down? For that matter, will it be worked down? Will a possible change of Presidential Administrations matter? Will there be many new claims as a result of chronic health problems caused by Covid-19 itself? I don't know the answers to these questions but one way or another the circumstances we see at the moment won't last. There's a very real chance that there will be a dramatic increase in new requests for hearing next year. Work down that backlog while you can.
15 comments:
Is there a metric somewhere in the SSA data that shows the split between in person SSDI claims and online? I know you cant file SSI online. One would think they keep track of that somewhere.
I am in the Lansing Mi OHO region. With only an isolated exception, my clients have preferred to wait until in-person hearings resume, recognizing that the future is uncertain. Eventually, it may be necessary to reconsider that decision and proceed with telephone hearings.
A few weeks ago, I received emails from central scheduling (OHO Region 5 CSU) requesting dates available for me to have hearings in January and February, 2021. I completed the answers to the requests immediately and returned them to the sender, who acknowledged that my responses had been received.
These previously routine (since scheduling was taken away from the OHO offices of the alj) scheduling inquiries had not been submitted to me since the shutdown began in mid-March. It is unclear whether these dates available requests can be interpreted as a signal that the scheduling of in-person hearings is anticipated to resume in January 2021, at least at Lansing OHO or other locations in OHO R5.
Your thoughts are invited.
I would not read anything into your current contact with the CSU. From what I can ascertain, the next big move is the implementation of video hearings from home. The first stage is with Hearing Office Chief and other management Judges. Eventually in 2021 it will be with line ALJs as well. Also, there will be some resumption of the workload accomplished in the hearing offices, by select staff, and for specific limited purposes. To my knowledge there is yet to be a credible forecast for the resumption of face to face hearings in the foreseeable future. Any speculation on that point appears to be just that, speculation. Anyone waiting for an in person hearing may be in for a very long wait.
@11:20
The Region 5 centralized scheduling unit told us over 2 weeks ago that they are scheduling phone hearings into at least February. That could change, especially if there is a roll out of video hearings via the Teams app.
Why has the overtime increased so much at OHO?
@ 11:20 AM, I am in the same CSU region and we have not missed a month with solicitation of availability from CSU. Maybe you just feel off their list for awhile?
@1042 AM It is limited but SSI DI can be filed online for some people. When they file SSA DI they can check a box for SSI. If they meet the profile (first time filer among other things) then they can file an SSI claim online. If not, the T2 internet team will call the person to take an SSI claim.
OHO has been using the small-relative-to-amounts-in-recent-years of OT largely for the HO clerks to contact folks to fill hearings lots for October and beyond, which are largely empty after the initial centralized scheduling. Maybe some OT is being used for pulling cases since those clerks are spending significant new time holding hearings since the VHRs are still not being used.
The DWs are also using OT for related claimant (not really reps anymore) contact procedures meant to schedule/prep cases for hearing.
That's our bottleneck right now--enough cases ready to go for hearing and be decided. DDS is still sending us up a good number of claims but we remain so large we are keeping up well in terms of our machine's pace/capacity levels. But between COVID phone hearings, etc. we just can't fill all the hearing slots we need to keep feeding the OHO dispositional beast.
Since we opened up some dismissals and CDRs recently, we should see a quick/short spike in dispositions as we close those cases out (some won't need another hearing; many will). But we have run out of low hanging fruit to nab and the bottom line is we can't do any better with any of our workloads until we start successfully scheduling and holding all the hearings we need (essentially the high capacity we reached pre-COVID or very, very close to it)
Great news!!!!
Feel like there will be a surge about 1-2 years from now. It happened after the 2008 financial collapse. People lost their jobs, got depressed, and never really recovered. It will happen again. Covid also might bring more breathing problems.
We will see how the SSA responds to this new surge of cases.
@ 11:03AM
You stated "we can't do any better with any of our workloads until we start successfully scheduling and holding all the hearings we need." I am wondering what you need by "need?" Do you mean the arbitrary # created by management?
Isn't the number of hearings needed related to the number of claimant's willing to do phone hearings in some way? If a significant # want to wait for in-person hearings, then it would seem that OHO does not "need" to schedule as many hearings as it previously did.
4:11 that's a good point, but what I said still stands.
We need to hold more hearings lest we can't utilize our massive capacity to issue as many dispositions as we are able, clear the backlog faster or at all, etc.
What you said speaks to the fact that OHO remains overstaffed in terms of decision writers (and senior attorneys) and ALJs. If so many people are waiting it out for in-person, that will drop the total number of cases we are able to schedule, hear, and decide in the coming months. That just leaves fewer ready cases/hearings/dispositions for the largely static (slowly dwindling by natural attrition, last time I checked about 7% a year) number of judges and DWs.
OHO doesn't need more ALJs or writers right now. Probably some clerks and maybe even a few managers and RO staff (y'all won't want to hear/believe that). What we need is to find a way to schedule and hold more hearings. Everything else is all staffed up and ready to rock and roll like it had been for the last couple years.
We "need" a certain number of hearings to fully utilize the ALJs and DWs we have on staff. Since the brass have been intransigent in terms of relaxing productivity standards (they still want 500 from ALJs and it's still 95% DWPI for the writers--they just take them off the DWPI clock when they do other duties rather than just relax the productivity standard due to the dearth of cases to write!), an insufficient number of cases ready for hearing leads to fun things like cooking up alternate duties for the SAAs and DWs and finding a way to still beat the judges over the head about dispositions or something else when there simply aren't enough cases for them to schedule 50/month and dispose of 500 a year. And what other things the brass will cook up in these conditions...nobody wants to see.
So yes, "needs." OHO needs to start holding more hearings or more bad/dumb things are going to be done to otherwise thoroughly utilize the production capacity of our human capital units.
@1:55pm The agency hired an excessive amount of writers about two years ago that were not needed. So, the agency has way more writers than it needs right now and won't have to hire any more if there is a surge of cases. Same goes for the ALJ's (too many).
The backlogs spoken to have trickled down to the FO as is relates to T16 Appeal Reversals requiring effectuation. FO's routinely have 15-20 pending cases requiring updates of the non-Medical factors of SSI entitlement. During COVID FO pending for this workload has rarely been more than 5. Anticipating a deluge when hearings are actually held. The surplus of decision writers spoken to will be beneficial at that time . FO personnel find these cases imposing and complex due to the extensive time lapsed (years)from initial claim filing to the favorable decision. The Windfall Offset processing for many of these cases can be daunting as well.
Who was the “genius” with that reasoning-more now so less later. Too funny!
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