The Social Security Administration has finally released its Caseload Analysis Report for its Office of Hearing Operations. It’s only through March but it’s still good to have it again. I’d like to reproduce it here but there’s a practical problem I won’t bore you with. You can just go to the link.
There’s a couple of new things I notice. First, the total receipts at OHO are far higher than the dispositions. Perhaps related is the fact that OHO is getting a ton of overtime. Second, there’s a new line showing “Agency Video Objections.” It’s only a handful of cases. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that they’re forcing a few people who want phone or video hearings to show up in person so ICE can arrest them but maybe it’s something different altogether. I’d be interested to know.
Leaders at the Social Security(link is external) Administration are reportedly instructing agency employees to provide Immigration(link is external) and Customs Enforcement with information about in-person beneficiary appointments.
ReplyDeleteWiredreported(link is external) Friday that the instructions were “recently communicated verbally to workers(link is external) at certain SSA offices.” The outlet quoted an unnamed employee with direct knowledge of the orders who said that “if ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time.”
Social Security numbers are issued to US citizens but also to foreign students and people legally allowed to live and work in the country,” the outlet observed. “In some cases, when a child or dependent is a citizen and the family member responsible for them is not, that person might need to accompany the child or dependent to an office visit.”
The revelation that SSA workers are being told to hand over appointment details to ICE came amid an ongoing congressional fight over proposed reforms to the immigration agency that has resulted in a funding lapse(link is external) at the Department of Homeland Security, which has a data-sharing agreement(link is external) with the Social Security Administration(link is external).
“You’re seeing SSA becoming an extension of Homeland Security,” Leland Dudek, the former acting commissioner for the Social Security Administration, told Wired.
Finally, after a five year hiatus where ALJ per day productivity went as low as 1.25 per day, OHO has at last regained the level of productivity it consistently maintained in the 15 years leading up to the pandemic. Unfortunately, now that receipts are skyrocketing and ALJ attrition continues apace, the component will not be able to meet its incoming cases even with increased productivity. This has already begun with a vengeance, as pending has gone from 278,000 to 351,000 in just six months. So, ironically, OHO may soon be blamed for its backlog even though it is working much more efficiently, just like they were unjustifiably praised when the backlog went down due to diminished receipts, even though they were putting out much less work per ALJ.
ReplyDeleteWay to paint ALJs as a bunch of lazy wastrels for busting their asses to do more work than ALJs have ever done before, and for having fewer cases to work on in previous years due to circumstances they had no control over at all, including the pandemic and inadequate staffing at DDS. I sure hope you’ll stay far away from OHO for the rest of your apparently miserable life.
DeleteGet ahold of yourself dude. The stats speak for themselves. Go back and look at old reports if you want to post factually..
ReplyDeleteI’m flummoxed. ALJ productivity held steady until April 2020 when daily dispositions started to decline in parallel with a dramatic decline in hearings held and a more gradual but equally dramatic decline in requests for hearings (driven by backlogs at DDS). Is your position that ALJs should have been issuing dispositions on claims that weren’t before them or before holding the hearings?
Delete"Second, there’s a new line showing “Agency Video Objections.” It’s only a handful of cases. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that they’re forcing a few people who want phone or video hearings to show up in person so ICE can arrest them but maybe it’s something different altogether. I’d be interested to know."
ReplyDeleteDumb dumb dumb and egregiously wrong. "Agency video" is the new name for VTC hearings -- claimant in one OHO, ALJ in another. That's the claimant's objection to coming in, not the HO's objection to the claimant staying home. ICE has nothing to do with it.