From Government Executive:
An independent arbitrator this week took the rare step of ordering the Social Security Administration and a union representing administrative law judges to completely redo negotiations on a new contract, after he found several instances of illegal bad faith bargaining by the agency.
In a decision dated May 17, Arbitrator John T. Nicholas found that management at the agency engaged in unfair labor practices in relation to five different articles of its contract negotiations with the Association of Administrative Law Judges. The ruling marks the third instance in which an arbitrator has found instances of malfeasance on the part of management at the Social Security Administration in connection with their negotiations with the judges’ union.
In those previous cases, the arbitrator issued narrow awards to the union, such as requiring the agency to provide previously improperly withheld information and rescind an effort to implement a partial contract. But Nicholas instructed the parties to completely restart the contract negotiation process from the beginning with negotiations on ground rules for bargaining over an entirely new contract. ...
The arbitrator also found that the Social Security Administration engaged in “surface level” bargaining on official time, in essence making tweaks to their proposal without actually trying to find a solution amenable to both parties, and he found the agency engaged in bad faith bargaining in its negotiations over provisions intended to protect the judges’ judicial function. ...
In a statement, Social Security Administration spokesman Mark Hinkle downplayed the potential impact of the arbitrator’s ruling, and accused the judges’ union of blocking efforts to negotiate a new contract.
“The arbitration decision was substantively moot by the time the decision was issued, as SSA has offered the AALJ the opportunity to renegotiate the entire CBA on several occasions,” Hinkle said. “In fact, the agency’s chief spokesperson for these negotiations has sent at least four communications making that offer to the AALJ chief negotiator . . . Despite these repeated efforts, AALJ has refused to even meet with the agency.” ...
Melissa McIntosh, the president of the ALJ union, recently appeared on Tom Temin's show on WFED. The posted transcript demonstrates the depth of the gap between union and management at Social Security.
And everyone involved on the management negotiation team was praised, commended and some even promoted by the commissioner of Social Security for their failed and illegal, per arbitrator, efforts to own the AALJ. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteThird instance of malfeasance? Seems like that alone would be grounds for dismissal for the Commish if the WH cared enough to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteFYI - this does nothing for the AFGE contract, under which the vast majority of SSA employees fall. Kudos to the ALJs, but let's reverse ALL of Saul's contracts.
In other news water is still wet.
ReplyDeleteThis conduct by SSA Management is not unique to dealing with Unions. This is also repeatedly occurring in MSPB & EEOC cases against SSA. Some cases are a decade, or more longer, because SSA engages in Procedural Illegalities never heretofore seen by many Federal Employee Attorneys; they issue decisions with no basis in fact or evidence that is clearly in the record; they refuse repeated requests to Mediate or Negotiate; and the list goes on & on.
ReplyDeleteEach and everyone of these maneuvers stops everything for appeals based on the illegalities or conduct engaged, and 9-12+ months for a decision from the Appeals Board. Federal employees attorneys fees escalate immensely each and every time these Bad Faith conduct issues are engaged by SSA, and the amounts rise to unnecessarily high levels, which these types of Administrative Courts are unaccustomed and far beyond average amounts of attorneys fees typically recoverable in successful cases, providing the Complainant can even afford to move forward with the case.
Frankly, I have never seen anything like this before. After 4 years of Trump allowing many of these cases to just there, there has been no accountability or Compliance Orders issued against SSA for such illegalities and Bad Faith conduct. I sincerely hope journalists will also investigate and expose these similarity situated types of employee & labor relations issues. It’s as though SSA flips a middle finger to all these cases because they can, and SSA Management Officials make a mockery of the entire system available for redress and remedies.
Sounds like the agency is treating ALJs similar to the way some ALJs treat claimants.
ReplyDeleteI have represented disability claimants since 1976. This is not a new fight. SSA has been attempting to abolish the due process hearing for claimants since at least the 1970s.
ReplyDeleteI vividly remember that outstanding former Chief ALJ,Judge Charles Boyer. He spoke at numerous conferences and every time he spoke he emphasized to the representatives present the critical importance of maintaining the de novo, due process hearing. When he left SSA, it was in protest of the Hearing Process Improvement Plan, which threatened the due process hearing: https://aljdiscussion.proboards.com/thread/3258/judge-charles-chuck-boyer
I applaud the efforts of the AALJ to fight the union busting, anti-due process efforts of Andrew Saul and his minions.
John R. Heard
So, if SSA is this "fair" with their employees, imagine how "fair" it looks to claimants.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why it's so hard for so many folks at SSA to do the right thing. Very sad that they don't, can't, and won't.
ReplyDeleteThe union serves an essential function to prevent SSA managers from overreaching and exerting total control over ALJs, but at the same time, the union must be serious about doing something about bad ALJs in their ranks, using the union for cover. These are the folks who think ALJ and APA protections mean they can do and say anything they want, flout and refuse to learn & follow agency rules and regulations, disrespect claimants and reps at the hearing or in the decision, do thumbs up or down decisions based on whether a claimant “looks right” or deserving to them, not show up for work, not actually read, write or take accountability for their decisions, and/or refuse to actually give a fair, due process hearing by wrongfully dismissing cases or holding a token 10-minute hearing without actually developing or resolving any facts —contrary to their critical and important role as the Agency’s principal de novo fact finder and Administrative LAW judge. Regardless of whether these ALJs are high payers or low payers, it is an insult to all the hard working, conscientious ALJs who actually do the job right, applying SSA law to the evidence and take their APA duties seriously, to allow the worst ones to continue harming the claimants and the agency. I would hope that any new contract emphasizes the importance of the ALJ position and collective bargaining but also shows the union is serious about improving ALJ public service.
ReplyDelete@ 1:12 AMEN!!!
ReplyDelete