Should Social Security Copy This?

From Federal Times:

It seems like everybody’s got a new idea for attracting new talent to the federal government these days. But Jim McDermott, chief human capital officer of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, thinks he’s found a foolproof way to convince young engineers to come to his agency: Find them dates.

“There are incentives, and then there are incentives,” McDermott told a crowd of human resources officials at the HCMF Conference in Arlington, Va., earlier today. ”When we’re hiring, we say, ‘Is there a significant other in the picture?’ If there’s no significant other, I tell them, ‘We can help.’ ” ...

Engineers may not necessarily become better dancers by taking a job at NRC, but McDermott said they can meet other single engineers (who probably won’t roll their eyes at Star Trek or lectures on reactor cooling systems). McDermott said NRC’s dating scheme — which he jokingly called “NRC Harmony,” after the eHarmony online dating service — has so far resulted in about eight or nine weddings.

Happy Thanksgiving!

No Early Dismissal For Social Security

An e-mail to Social Security employees:

November 25, 2009

MESSAGE TO ALL SSA EMPLOYEES:

SUBJECT: THANKSGIVING 2009

Late yesterday, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum authorizing agency heads, as a mark of gratitude for the service provided by their employees, to provide an early dismissal on November 25 to the extent that doing so does not interfere with agency operations.

While we are, of course, truly grateful for the service you provide each day, it is critical that we continue to make that service available to the American public. Due to the nature of our operations, we cannot implement an early closing in a fair and equitable manner without disrupting critical and necessary agency operations. For these reasons, the Social Security Administration will not offer an early dismissal today.

Again, thank you for your continued commitment to our mission and the welfare of all of those who depend on us.

Reginald F. Wells

Deputy Commissioner

for Human Resources

Poll

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Poll On Individual Experience With The Federal Government

Gallup has a poll out on "the individual experience with federal agencies." The Social Security Administration was chosen as the federal agency that has the biggest impact on American lives personally and by a wide margin. Social Security was in the second quartile of agencies in terms of how satisfied people were with their interactions with the agency, ranking behind agencies such as Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the State Department and VA Hospitals.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Should Social Security automatically find a person disabled if that person has been found 100% disabled by VA (assuming that person meets non-disability requirements for Social Security disability benefits)?

Yes (73)	42%
No (99)	58%

Total Votes: 172

A Technical Question

Would it be possible for a hearing office at Social Security to enter a decision in Social Security's computer system as having been made when no decision has actually been issued? Could that computer entry cause payment of benefits? Is it conceivable that a hearing office could delay issuing a written decision -- either an allowance or a denial -- for months after entry of a notation in Social Security's computer system that a decision had been made? Who would be responsible if such a thing happened? Who would know about it?

Addendum: How can I receive a fee check (not direct deposit) on November 23 on an Administrative Law Judge decision that bears the date on its face of November 17 unless that decision was implemented without an electronic signature?

Reaction To Delaware Story

The News Journal of Delaware has a story up on the reaction of local politicians to the newpapers' series of stories on the Social Security disability program. Needless to say, they are not pleased.

Dangerous Spam Campaign

From the University of Alabama at Birmingham:

A new spam campaign using false e-mails made to look like messages from the Social Security Administration is capable of stealing Social Security numbers and downloading malware onto victims’ home computers, says Gary Warner, director of computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

The campaign was discovered Nov. 23 by Warner and his team in the UAB Spam Data Mine. ...

The spam messages tell users that there are errors with their Social Security statement then asks them to link to false pages made to look like the Social Security Administration Web site. Warner says the false pages ask users to enter their Social Security numbers before prompting them to download their fake statement.

“The reality is that the download is actually a virus capable of stealing personal information, including bank passwords, from home computers,” Warner says. “So once you have completed the login and download, the cyber criminals not only have your Social Security number, they also have infected your computer with serious malware that enables them to steal information and raid your bank and other accounts.”

A Good Comment

Below is a comment made about the allegation that disability claims dismissed for failure to cooperate had gone up to 30% at one California Disability Determination Service (DDS) office. In one sense, the writer is a little confused. No one is alleging that the number of dismissals went up because of any change at Social Security field offices. The allegation is that changes were made at a DDS office, but that is a quibble. In a larger sense this comment helps explain how what is alleged could happen. Many Social Security claimants need a lot of help. Many of them are frustrating to deal with. It is not easy to say where one should draw the line and say "I've done as much as I should reasonably be expected to do. Either start cooperating or your case is going to get dismissed." When employees are overworked, whether at DDS or a Social Security field office, the line is likely to be drawn at a different place than would be the case if the workloads were more reasonable. As a nation, I think we ought to be encouraging Social Security and DDS employees to go the extra mile and give a lot of help to claimants with cognitive or psychiatric difficulties, but we cannot expect them to do so if they are badly overworked.

Social Security claims reps and service reps are not social workers. Not trained as social workers, not in their job description. And many of the SSI clientele need someone to hold their hands and help them through the process, but some people are just not willing to help themselves. Just this week, I had two cases where the parent had made two appointments to file claims for either two children or themselves and a child. Our appointment calendar is so solidly booked that these appointments were pushed about a month after request. So, our office set aside 3 hours to do what was necessary to file two claims. Both parents cancelled the appointments the same day because they weren't ready after about a month lead time. How much hand holding is SSA supposed to do? The parent is the best source of knowledge, but was unwilling to put forth any effort to file the claim. The parent did not make it a priority and that is just not the fault of SSA. It is very difficult to help people who don't want to do anything to help themselves. I shouldn't care more about the outcome of a claim more than the claimant does. I would really prefer to spend my limited work hours processing claims for people who do manage to complete forms in a reasonable amount of time and who do make a reasonable effort to provide answers to the questions asked.

However, I do believe strongly in due process and applying the regulations without shortcuts and providing assistance as it is needed. To hell with processing time in some claims. But I cannot complete the ADL's on anyone without their assistance. I don't know their lives. They do.

If Astrue truly cared about correcting bad "failure to cooperate" denials, he needs to implement more accountability across the board for technical errors and provide more staff to do the work. Without staff, the backlog will grow. I still think he is using this issue as a bully pulpit to get Schwarzeneggar to back down on his ridiculous furlough of DDS employees. So, I hope he takes a close look at all shortcuts taken by SSA employees. And find a way to properly staff the agency. Automation is not the only answer.