From Federal Times:
Employees at the Social Security Administration overwhelmingly do not have confidence in their leadership’s ability to successfully direct the agency, according to surveys released by two employee associations Dec. 9.
The American Federation of Government Employees’ Council 220, which represents 26,000 SSA employees, unanimously found no confidence in SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioner David Black.
The Association of Administrative Law Judges, which represents approximately 1,100 administrative law judges who are responsible for making decisions on disability claims at the hearing level, found that 88 percent of their members have no confidence in Saul. And 84 percent of those members expressed no confidence in Theresa Gruber, deputy commissioner for Social Security’s Office of Hearing Operations, and Chief Administrative Law Judge Patrick Nagle. ...
Much of the dissatisfaction stemmed from how agency leaders have managed the COVID-19 pandemic and employee safety concerns. ...
Not intending to defend management, but what are the specifics of how the virus crisis has been mishandled within SSA, and more directly, at OHO facilities? Lansing OHO has been closed down to in-person hearings since mid-March. Reasonable accommodations could have been made to allow for continuation of in-person hearings for the claimants who preferred to proceed. Telephone (or video) hearings are not a substitute for in-person hearings.
ReplyDelete"Telephone (or video) hearings are not a substitute for in-person hearings."
ReplyDelete? So you are saying all these hearings since the pandemic are invalidated. Not sure what this means. Is this Saul?
5:50 fair point. Let's see. Saul was slow to publicly acknowledge the pandemic to employees, while privately making lucrative stock trades based on how bad he knew the pandemic really was. The ALJs have been cut out of the scheduling loop, and the video hearing rollout set for last month was botched and was seemingly quietly dropped.
ReplyDeleteThe 100% telework is a huge positive, but it is not unique to SSA/OHO, and Saul/Gruber/Neagle backed into it rather than boldly leading the way into it.
And there are others points raised in AALJ communiques, but I'll let Union leadership speak for itself.
“ Telephone (or video) hearings are not a substitute for in-person hearings.”
ReplyDeleteWell, they are a substitute for them and particularly helpful for claimants who have underlying health conditions or live in more remote areas of the country of 100+ miles from their local hearing office.
Does anyone have any updated information on how ALJs favorable rates have changed with phone hearings? I’m sure there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence for or against, but have the numbers come out yet?
I had huge problems with how Saul handled taking Wednesday afternoon admin time away from field offices and killing telework.
ReplyDeleteI had major problems with how slow and inconsistent Saul was in responding to the virus.
I had some problems with how the agency adapted its processes to 100% telework.
I have had very few problems with how the agency, at least ODO's slice of it, has handled us working from home.
I have some problems with how they essentially have no plan for going back to the office.
It seems like Saul is checked out already and kicking the can to the next commissioner.
@1117 PM. I thought Wednesday afternoon admin time was supposed to be a short term policy to catch up on backlogs. It went on for several years. Field offices used to be open M-F 9-430 PM. If someone came in at 425, they'd be helped unless it was an unusually long interview.
ReplyDelete