California Court Enjoins Furloughs

I was not expecting there to be news about Social Security on New Year's Day, but there is. State budget problems have become a major headache for Social Security. States are furloughing employees and imposing hiring freezes. These actions usually affect the state disability determination agencies that make determinations on Social Security disability cases at the initial and reconsideration levels. This is happening even though the furloughs and hiring freezes do nothing to help state budgets since all salaries and costs associated with the disability determination agencies are picked up by the federal government. State governors seem to believe that the fair thing is to treat all their employees the same.

The state that has the worst budget problems is California. It was had the worst furloughs of state employees, including disability determination emploees. This has had a dramatic effect upon disability determination in that most populous of all states.

One response to this mess has been litigation. Social Security did not start this litigation but has filed a "Statement of Interest" with the California court. It is extremely unusual for any federal agency to take an official position in a case pending in a state court other than to file papers to remove a case to federal court or to assert that a state court lacks authority to compel the federal agency to do anything. The Los Angeles Times reports on what happened yesterday in that litigation:

An Alameda County Superior Court judge Thursday ordered Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to halt thrice-monthly furloughs for tens of thousands of state workers, saying the administration overstepped its authority in approving the unpaid days off. ...

He said that the governor's use of furloughs was an "abuse of discretion" and that he "violated a mandatory duty to take into account the agencies' varying needs before reducing workplace hours."

The governor plans to appeal Roesch's decision and noted that the order blocking the furloughs would be stayed until the appeal is ruled on, said Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger.

Happy New Year!

How They're Using The Economic Stimulus Money For The DDS's

Here are some excerpts from Disability Determination Services' Staffing Under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG):

ARRA [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the economic stimulus bill] provided SSA an additional $500 million to process retirement and disability workloads. ARRA funds should help SSA address increasing disability and retirement workloads caused by the combination of the economic downturn and the leading edge of the baby boomer retirements. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, SSA expected disability and retirement claims to increase by 600,000 over FY 2008.

At the time of our review, $87 million of SSA’s ARRA funds for FYs 2009 and 2010 had been allocated for labor costs of DDS employees and additional overtime, including indirect costs. The labor costs included hiring 300 new DDS employees. The remaining $413 million was allocated to the Offices of Operations and Disability Adjudication and Review, as well as for health information technology (IT) research and activities to facilitate the adoption of electronic medical records in disability claims. ...

Seven On Your Side Gets It Done!

From "News Channel 7" in Spartanburg, SC:

“I have 5 herniated disks,“ said disability insurance applicant Debi Lovell.

Lovell said she has so much pain from degenerative disk disease she has to use a walker to take the pressure off her back.

“My spinal cord is being strangled,“ she said.

Debi says in 2007 her doctor declared her disabled and it’s taken since then to get a final answer from the Social Security Administration about her disability claim. ...

On December 14th 7 On Your Side asked the Social Security Administration in an e-mail why Debi hadn’t received a decision about her hearing. The next day a judge sent a letter to Lovell saying she had been approved.

Astrue v. Ratliff Wiki

The SCOTUS Blog has started a Wiki for each case to be argued before the Supreme Court this term. One of these cases is Astrue v. Ratliff which is on the issue of whether attorney fees payable under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) belong to the Plaintiff or the Plaintiff's attorney.

The government is ordered to pay EAJA fees far more often in Social Security cases than in any other type of case. If the EAJA fee belongs to the Plaintiff, it is subject to offset for debts that the Plaintiff owes the federal government.

The case is set for oral argument on February 22, 2010. The certiorari stage briefs are available through the Wiki. The government's brief on the merits is also available. The opposing brief should be available in the near future.

Pay Up

According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Social Security has 1,913 employees who owe federal taxes totaling $16,426,239. Social Security's delinquency rate, that is the percentage of its employees who owe federal taxes, is 2.99%.

Attorney User Fee To Remain At 6.3% In 2010

Attorneys and others who receive direct payment from the Social Security Administration of fees for representing claimants must pay a user fee. The user fee has been 6.3% for years but Social Security must determine on a yearly basis whether this percent should be reduced. Social Security will publish a notice in the Federal Register tomorrow saying that the user fee will stay at 6.3% in 2010.

Retirement Of A District Manager

From the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

Eleanor Jones has always thought Social Security workers get a bad rap.

And she hopes she has changed some people's minds after serving as district manager of the area's Social Security office for the past decade.

"Sometimes people think of the government as uncaring, but we are caring," said Ms. Jones, who plans to retire at the end of December. "I tell everyone to treat everyone as if they are your grandmother and leave them with their dignity." ...

C.C. Kennedy, assistant director of the district Social Security office, said Ms. Jones' retirement feels like the end of an era.

"It's been the golden years," she said. "She is kind, compassionate and caring. She cares about the employees and public service. I have looked forward to coming in to work every day working for her."

Social Security's Top Ten Contractors

Courtesy of FedSpending.org here are the top contractors at Social Security for fiscal year 2009, which ended on September 30, 2009:

IBM CORP.	$44,762,855
CA INC	$31,033,053
VION CORP	$20,268,560
DELL COMPUTER CORPORATION	$18,671,233
NANA REGIONAL CORPORATION INC	$12,341,548
PC MALL, INC.	$12,338,011
KONIAG INC	$10,131,412
COMPUWARE	$6,778,885
YORK TELECOM CORPORATION	$5,484,667
I. LEVY AND ASSOCIATES, INC.	$5,202,386

NANA is an Alaska native owned business. There have been questions asked about the appropriateness of contracting preferences given NANA.

Social Security Working On 75th Anniversary Plans

From the Social Security Update, a newsletter put out by the Social Security Administration:

Social Security’s 75th Anniversary

As we ring in 2010, we also will be ringing in the 75th anniversary of Social Security. On August 14, 1935, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. Since then, for 75 years, Social Security has been a cornerstone of our nation, touching the lives of almost every American at one time or another. We’re hoping that Congress will help us celebrate our anniversary by enacting legislation we proposed to name the Operations Building at our headquarters complex after former Commissioner Robert Ball.