We are extending for two years our rule authorizing attorney advisors to conduct certain prehearing procedures and to issue fully favorable decisions. The current rule is scheduled to expire on August 10, 2009. In this final rule, we are extending the sunset date to August 10, 2011. We are making no other substantive changes.
SSC Disability (a Social Service Coordinators company) has announced a name change to Freedom Disability and has expanded its operations into a new corporate headquarters in Shelton, CT. The larger 22,000 square foot facility will accommodate the continued growth of the business, bringing hundreds of new jobs to the state. ...
[T]he expansion to a new facility represents our commitment to the national Disability Services market, as well as our community here in Connecticut. We are pleased to be able to grow and offer new employment opportunities in an otherwise challenging economy. Not only will we be hiring in Shelton, but we will also be adding remote Disability Advocates across the country and in our regional offices in Florida and Arizona." ...
Fee Payments | ||
|---|---|---|
| Month/Year | Volume | Amount |
Jan-09 | 28,423 | $101,128,880.69 |
Feb-09 | 31,352 | $112,791,207.17 |
Mar-09 | 29,199 | $104,155,187.96 |
Apr-09 | 30,963 | $110,133,425.19 |
May-09 | 36,603 | $126,725,262.45 |
June-09 | 31,799 | $113,962,564.84 |
In an additional effort to promote understanding of the hearings, the ABA [American Bar Association] sponsored a mock Social Security disability hearing for congressional staff members. The session showed them what occurs at the hearings, which ordinarily are closed to the public due to privacy concerns.
Members of the ABA presented the mock hearing May 27 at the U.S. Capitol. ... The Standing Committee on Governmental Affairs sponsored the program, and its chair, Wm. T. (Bill) Robinson III, served as moderator. The mock hearing was cosponsored by 12 ABA entities and staffed by the Governmental Affairs Office. Social Security Deputy Commissioner David V. Foster answered questions from congressional staff.
I wonder what you would find if you did the same study with Social Security Administrative Law Judges.Surging caseloads and a chronic lack of resources to handle them are taking a toll on judges in the nation’s immigration courts, leaving them frustrated and demoralized, a new study has found.
The study, published in a Georgetown University law journal, applied a psychological scale for testing professional stress and exhaustion to 96 immigration court judges who agreed to participate, just under half of all judges hearing immigration cases. The survey found that the strain on them was similar to that on prison wardens and hospital physicians, groups shown in comparable studies to experience exceptionally high stress.
...[T]his bill sustains critical support for America’s most vulnerable children, families, and seniors. These investments include: ... $11.4 billion for the Social Security Administration, which provides the single largest dollar increase in the bill and the request – to help the agency process a rising number of retirement and disability claims, make progress in reducing the backlog of disability hearings, and improve services to the public.The figure for Social Security is $200 million less than what President Obama had asked for. However, I would note that there are rumbles about a possible second economic stimulus bill. If such a bill happens, it will almost certainly include some additional money for Social Security.
