From Think Advisor:
On Wednesday, Acting Social Security Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi offered the opening remarks at a retirement equity forum held by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis and the Economic Policy Institute. ...
Kijakazi says her focus is now squarely on advocating that Congress pass President Joe Biden’s proposed fiscal 2023 budget, which would direct about $14.8 billion to the Social Security Administration, an increase from the agency’s $13.3 billion budget for fiscal 2022.
According to Kijakazi, the SSA is currently operating with one of its lowest levels of staffing on record, and the SSA’s staff are grappling with significant backlogs and challenges, especially when it comes to the review and approval of Social Security disability claims. ...
Maybe she could devote a little attention to staff retention, too? DWs are currently still being held to productivity standards implemented when case files were averaging about 1/3 to 1/2 of the current average, and the discrepancy is even greater for ALJs. Predictably, many are simply getting fed up and leaving as a result, all while a tsunami of claims sits backlogged in the states, the economy enters a recession, and the agency bleeds out millions in EAJA fees that could easily be avoided if everyone had another couple hours to do their damned jobs correctly.
ReplyDeleteAbsent some real changes, many of which can be made without more money from Congress, the coming years are going to make the pre-pandemic backlogs look like like a bad hair day.
As bad as DW is, it's not as bad as GS. There was an article just today noting how SSA is having trouble filling management spots. Anecdotally I heard that in my old OHO office, not a single one of the many GS-12 DWs who, only a few short years ago would have stepped on their own mothers' necks for a 13, bothered to even apply for a GS opening recently.
ReplyDeleteIt's miserable at SSA. Significantly greater funding for the Agency is certainly a necessary condition for SSA to run well, but it's hardly sufficient due to the terrible management structure/managers up and down the chain.
Funding isn’t going to fix terrible management decisions from the top. The only solution they’ve ever offered out of Baltimore to the problem of the backlog is “Let’s just have everyone do more!” That solution is met with rounds of applause and bonuses for everyone. Then it gets shoved onto the folks at Falls Church, who have all been handpicked yes men/women and are more than happy to force the hearing offices to implement the “new” policy.
ReplyDeleteI actually heard one of the OHO higher ups say that despite asking for a significant increase in production from the DWs, he did not expect the quality to go down in any way. It would have been comical had people’s livelihoods not been at stake.
And yes, GS is the worst job in OHO.