Please. These cases are 3-4 times larger than they were just a few years ago. So saying ALJs just need to do “a full docket” isn’t a genuine solution. And as someone who routinely reviews their work, I’d be frightened of the mess they’d create if most HOCALJs tried to handle more cases. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about that….
No ALJ hires between late 2017 and late 2022. The new ALJ class barely out of training and not holding hearings yet. Hundreds of fewer judges than 5 years ago and much less support staff. So many potential abandonment dismissals bottlenecked awaiting approval by GS-13s at the ROs because ALJs lost their dismissal authority during the pandemic.
Reviews are still happening for FTAs. They’ve loosened control on death and withdrawal dismissals, but all abandonment dismissals still have to get reviewed by region.
Dismissal reviews were not eliminated. While the dismissals no longer have to be reviewed by the HOCALJ, all abandonment and untimely filing dismissals are still required to go through quality review. That can either be quick, or it can really bog down if QR gets flooded with a lot of dismissals at the same time.
Dismissal review was a great idea and should continue. The reversal stats on them have been and are so bad because ALJs and staff were/are abysmal at simply following the clearly articulated HALLEX contact procedures required before dismissal due to varying degrees of laziness, incompetence, and lack of care among the two.
My biggest concern is staffing. The agency can't find competent people to want to work these support staff jobs. My hearing office got permission to hire 6 (since we had lost so many people). We could only find 4. 1 quit before showing up for training. 1 quit before she was done with training. The other 2 moved to other agencies paying more before 6 months were up. In the meantime, we lost 2 more staff that had previously been here. The remaining employees are slammed with work all day every day, and this is with historically low case numbers. When the bottleneck at DDS is finally loosened, we'll just have a new bottleneck at the hearing level.
I am noticing problems already with 1 hearing office. Marked decline in their ability to exhibit files properly prior to hearings.
SSA needs to pay more or improve their tech. Simple as that. They cannot compete with private sector job and other government jobs that pay more. And they cannot competently exhibit files with low skill staff and no ability to filter for duplicate records. Electronic medical records are getting more complex and longer. Not the fault of SSA staff, but that is reality we are facing as attorneys too. The record takes longer to develop and organize properly. And if SSA hearing staff cannot be bothered to use the exhibit names and date ranges we provide in the ERE submissions, why should attorneys be expected to review for duplicate records?
The problem is agency leadership. It's a miserable place to work. Agency structure hasn't changed in decades, despite tech advances that micro manage line employees. Layer upon layer of managers. No one in their right mind will stay in these lower level jobs, if they can get out. You can throw billions at this agency, and it won't improve until you fix its awful leadership and management culture. Sorry. That's the reality
11 comments:
Incremental. If the local chief judges and NHC judges handled close to a full docket, this would disappear
Please. These cases are 3-4 times larger than they were just a few years ago. So saying ALJs just need to do “a full docket” isn’t a genuine solution. And as someone who routinely reviews their work, I’d be frightened of the mess they’d create if most HOCALJs tried to handle more cases. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about that….
No ALJ hires between late 2017 and late 2022. The new ALJ class barely out of training and not holding hearings yet. Hundreds of fewer judges than 5 years ago and much less support staff. So many potential abandonment dismissals bottlenecked awaiting approval by GS-13s at the ROs because ALJs lost their dismissal authority during the pandemic.
@3:24. Wrong about dismissals. Reviews were eliminated several weeks ago due to supposed improvement (though the stats are still quite pathetic)
Reviews are still happening for FTAs. They’ve loosened control on death and withdrawal dismissals, but all abandonment dismissals still have to get reviewed by region.
Dismissal reviews were not eliminated. While the dismissals no longer have to be reviewed by the HOCALJ, all abandonment and untimely filing dismissals are still required to go through quality review. That can either be quick, or it can really bog down if QR gets flooded with a lot of dismissals at the same time.
@3:40 the HOCALJs are no longer reviewing the dismissals, but QR at the RO is still reviewing them.
Dismissal review was a great idea and should continue. The reversal stats on them have been and are so bad because ALJs and staff were/are abysmal at simply following the clearly articulated HALLEX contact procedures required before dismissal due to varying degrees of laziness, incompetence, and lack of care among the two.
My biggest concern is staffing. The agency can't find competent people to want to work these support staff jobs. My hearing office got permission to hire 6 (since we had lost so many people). We could only find 4. 1 quit before showing up for training. 1 quit before she was done with training. The other 2 moved to other agencies paying more before 6 months were up. In the meantime, we lost 2 more staff that had previously been here. The remaining employees are slammed with work all day every day, and this is with historically low case numbers. When the bottleneck at DDS is finally loosened, we'll just have a new bottleneck at the hearing level.
@ 7:07
I am noticing problems already with 1 hearing office. Marked decline in their ability to exhibit files properly prior to hearings.
SSA needs to pay more or improve their tech. Simple as that. They cannot compete with private sector job and other government jobs that pay more. And they cannot competently exhibit files with low skill staff and no ability to filter for duplicate records. Electronic medical records are getting more complex and longer. Not the fault of SSA staff, but that is reality we are facing as attorneys too. The record takes longer to develop and organize properly. And if SSA hearing staff cannot be bothered to use the exhibit names and date ranges we provide in the ERE submissions, why should attorneys be expected to review for duplicate records?
The problem is agency leadership. It's a miserable place to work. Agency structure hasn't changed in decades, despite tech advances that micro manage line employees. Layer upon layer of managers. No one in their right mind will stay in these lower level jobs, if they can get out. You can throw billions at this agency, and it won't improve until you fix its awful leadership and management culture. Sorry. That's the reality
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