Social Security Finally Acknowledges That Phony Mailing Dates Are A Problem

    The dates that Social Security places on its outgoing mail are mostly fictitious. Most outgoing mail is printed and mailed from a central printing operation that serves the entire agency.  This correspondence bears the date upon which some agency employee sent it to be printed but the date printed and mailed is actually several days later. 

    There are time limits to file appeals. If these time limits are based upon a date that is several days prior to the date that the correspondence was actually mailed, the claimant is being cheated out of those days to file an appeal. Appeals can be dismissed -- and have been dismissed -- based upon these phony dates.

    Social Security has finally acknowledged the problem. The agency's HALLEX manual for hearings and appeals has been amended. Now, notices sent out centrally will be presumed to have been sent out three days later than the date they bear.  This is in addition to the five days given for the mail itself.

    I have not seen this changed in the POMS manual that serves the whole agency but maybe I've missed it. It's needed there since appeals also get dismissed at field offices and payment centers. 

    Wouldn't it be simpler to put accurate dates on these notices to begin with? This doesn't seem to be a problem beyond the limits of human ingenuity. 

Improvement In Mail Processing But Some Problems Persist

    From Follow-up: The Social Security Administration’s Implementation of Mail Procedures, a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (footnotes omitted):

...  Mail processing at SSA offices is primarily a manual workload. This requires that managers and employees open each mail item, scan the program-related documents into a workload management system, and assign to staff. SSA’s regional offices are responsible for monitoring the status of mail handling in their region ...

In September 2021, SSA issued a Mail Handling BPD that focused on 10 key issues significant to mail processing. ...

We judgmentally selected and visited 87 SSA offices throughout the continental United States. At each office, we interviewed management and observed the mail handling process. ...

SSA offices had improved mail processing since our July 2021 review. SSA offices we visited generally complied with the requirements in the Agency’s Mail Handling BPD.While most offices were meeting the requirements of 6 of the 10 BPD key issues, some offices did not always meet the requirements ...

Of the 87 offices visited, the following offices complied with the timeliness metrics established:

• 86 (98.9 percent) received mail directly from mail carriers,

• 84  (96.6 percent) opened mail within 1 business day of receipt,

• 81 (93.1 percent) processed all Social Security number applications within 5 business days of receipt, and

• 79 (90.8 percent) returned all original primary evidence documents to customers within 3 business days  of receipt and kept a log of the returned documents.  ...

• 73 (83.9 percent) processed their undeliverable returned mail within 5 business days of receipt, as required. However, the remaining 14 offices had undeliverable returned mail over 30-days-old. Moreover, three of these offices had mail dated back to January 2022, and one with mail dated back to September 2019. ... 
  

• 67 (77 percent) complied with the requirements for remittances and returned unendorsed Treasury checks. Specifically, the offices processed to completion all remittances and returned unendorsed Treasury checks within 1 business day of receipt, 16 recorded receipt in the office’s remittance log, and secured 17 checks that could not be processed to completion the same day. The remaining 20 offices had the following issues:
  

• 17 did not process remittances within the required timeframe. Of these, 15 offices had checks that remained unprocessed 3 to 31 days after the 1-business-day requirement. Additionally, two offices had unprocessed checks that dated back to July 2020 and November 2021. The banks could return these checks as non-negotiable since they were not endorsed within 6 months, as required by banks.,
  

• 5 did not use remittance logs, as required. For example, 1 office had 77 unprocessed checks that were unsecured and accessible to office staff. In fact, 1 office had 58 checks dating back to October 2022 with no record they existed. The new remittance manager was unaware these unprocessed checks were locked in a safe because they were not recorded in the office’s remittance log.
  

• 2 did not properly secure the unprocessed checks. For example, 1 office had 77 unprocessed checks that were unsecured and accessible to office staff.

• 36 (41.4 percent) scanned and profiled mail within 5 business days of receipt, as required. The remaining 51 offices, on average, scanned and profiled mail within 10 business days of receipt. ...

What A Horror Show -- The Most Damning OIG Report I've Ever Seen

     From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) (footnotes omitted):

... We have initiated two reviews to assess SSA’s management of mail and controls over its processing of Social Security card applications during the COVID-19 pandemic....

 Key Concerns Related to the Agency’s Policies and Oversight of Mail

• SSA has no performance metrics and does not maintain management information on the volume of incoming, outgoing, or pending mail. Consequently, the Agency does not have sufficient information to enable it to adjust staffing levels to ensure mail is processed timely.
  

• SSA lacks comprehensive policies and procedures to track and return original documents—including driver’s licenses, birth certificates, passports, and naturalization documents—that customers provide as proof of eligibility for benefits or a Social Security number card.

Effects of Inadequate Internal Controls over Mail Processing

• Some offices had backlogs of workloads that involved original documents. For example, one PSC [Program Service Centers, where benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act are processed]had more than 9,000 unprocessed original documents it had received as early as November 2020. We found that some of these documents were necessary to establish individuals’ eligibility for benefit payments.  
• Some offices had backlogs of unprocessed applications for new or replacement Social Security cards. For example, one field office had 677 unprocessed applications dated as early as July 2020. We also observed a Social Security card center that had over 9,000 unprocessed applications dated as early as May 2021. As a result, individuals have yet to receive their original documents or Social Security number card. 
• Some locations had backlogs of remittances or un-negotiated benefit checks. For example, one PSC had 247 unprocessed remittances or un-negotiated checks dated as far back as November 2019. Financial institutions are not obligated to cash uncertified checks that are more than six months old, which leaves the Agency at risk of not being able to collect the remittance check funds. 
• There were large quantities of undeliverable mail at some PSCs. For example, at one PSC, auditors noted more than 200,000 pieces of returned mail, some of which were over one year old. Some of these pieces may require action, such as suspending or terminating beneficiaries’ payments.  
• While all SSA facilities were locked, some offices stored original documents in unsecure locations, such as desks and bins. In addition, employees at three offices informed us the U.S. Postal Service or special carriers left mail or packages, which may have included original documents or personally identifiable information, outside the offices in publically accessible areas after business hours and over the weekends. 
• Approximately 50 percent of field office managers reported they are overwhelmed by mail duties, and approximately 20 percent stated they are unable to keep up with mail workloads. Some office managers also told us they did not have adequate in-person staffing to keep up with mail duties while offices remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

     Update: This OIG report is already drawing attention from Fox and CNBC. Expect more media coverage. This is exactly the publicity needed at a time when Social Security's operating budget for FY 2022 is under consideration.

The Problem Of The U.S. Mail

      Social Security’s regulations assume that any notices they mail to claimants will be received within five days. I think many of us have recently had personal experiences with the unreliability of the U.S. mail. For example on January 4 I received a package that was sent to me by U.S. mail on December 4. As another example, well into the new year I was still receiving Christmas cards mailed to me a week or more before Christmas. For another example, I’ve already had at least one payment I mailed received late even though it was mailed more than a week before the due date. You can add your own examples. 

     There is only a limited time given to file appeals from adverse Social Security decisions. There is only an extremely short time given to ask for interim benefits when a person is told they are no longer disabled. I think it’s time for Social Security to revisit its assumptions about mail service.