Trying To Stir Up Trouble

Our old friend Andrew Biggs is up to it again. Biggs was put in a research position at Social Security by the Bush White House in order to work on Social Security privatization plans. Biggs campaigned with President Bush for the partial privatization of Social Security while working at Social Security. He later received a recess appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security.

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has now published a study by Biggs claiming that people born in 1947 are the new "Notch Babies." Biggs bases this, somehow, on the facts that there was no cost of living adjustment for this year's Social Security benefits while there was a large COLA the year before. Basically, those retiring a year earlier benefited from the big COLA while those retiring later do not.

The "Notch Baby" reference is an obvious attempt to invoke an earlier, similarly bogus, controversy. Anyone who is trying to be taken seriously would stay miles away from the term "Notch Baby," a fact that Biggs knows well.

It is impossible for the human mind to devise any system that guarantees that there will never be anyone complaining of unfairness, a fact well known to lawyers like myself. Social Security COLAs are designed to be and are a neutral system. Any alternative system would produce its own allegations of unfairness. Certainly, what Biggs would prefer, a privatized system, would produce massive unfairness.

Fortunately, so far, Biggs' study, unlike the "Notch Baby" controversy, appears to have gained no traction.

Social Security Goes With Lexmark

From a press release:

Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE:LXK - News) announced today that it has been awarded a five-year blanket purchase agreement (BPA) for the purchase of monochrome and color laser printers and multifunction products (MFPs) by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The estimated value of the BPA is expected to reach $127 million.

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Tell Your Story

From a press release:

A new effort to gather stories about the importance of Social Security in our society has been launched. The Social Security Stories Project is seeking story submissions from the public, with a goal of receiving 1,000 stories by the end of July. The stories will then be reviewed for possible inclusion in a new book to be published in honor of the 75th anniversary of Social Security on Aug. 14, 2010. ...

“We are hoping the younger generations will interview their parents and grandparents on the subject which is why our website offers interview questions,” says Barbara Burt, executive director for the Frances Perkins Center, a nonprofit organization leading the project as part of its mission to honor and learn from Frances Perkins (the first woman to serve in a presidential cabinet). A pioneering woman in and ahead of her time, Perkins was U.S. secretary of labor for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was champion of the New Deal, close friend and advisor to FDR.

Social Security Wants Employees To Retire

Looks like Social Security is eager for its employees to retire. From an e-mail sent to all Social Security employees:

From: ^Human Resources Internal Communications
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2010 10:58 AM
Subject: Availability of Early Out Retirement for 2010 -- INFORMATION

To: All SSA Employees

From: Reginald F. Wells
Deputy Commissioner
for Human Resources

Subject: Availability of Early Out Retirement for 2010—INFORMATION

This is to inform you that the Social Security Administration (SSA) is offering early out retirement to all employees except:

All employees in the Office of the Chief Actuary; and All employees in the Office of the Chief Information Officer.

By July 1, 2010, all eligible employees who wish to retire must advise their immediate supervisor of their intent to separate through the early out program and contact their servicing personnel office (SPO) to initiate their retirement processing. All employees must separate by August 31, 2010.

Supervisors should ensure that all employees under their supervision (including those on extended leave) receive this information.

AGE, SERVICE, AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

To be eligible, employees must have completed 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years of age, or have at least 25 years of creditable service at any age. (This must include 5 years of civilian service). Employees must be serving under a non-time-limited appointment and have been continuously on SSA's rolls since November 16, 2009. In addition, employees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) must have served in a CSRS position for at least 1 year out of the 2 years immediately before retirement. This last requirement does not apply to employees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). ...

That Predicted Social Security Employee Retirement Wave ...

That predicted wave of Social Security employee retirements? It may not be happening. At least, the predicted retirement wave of federal employees generally is not happening The Federal Times reports that the number of retirements of federal employees dropped last year to its lowest level in seven years.

Has anyone seen any numbers on employee retirements just at Social Security?

ALJ Gender

Someone who says that he or she is a Social Security Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) has tried to figure out the gender breakdown of Social Security's ALJ corps based only upon their names. From the ALJ Discussion Forum:

January 2010 Reporting	Total	% of Total
male name	947	71%
female name	312	23%
initials only used	39	3%
unisex (shortened or epicene) name	38	3%
total alj unique names	1,336	100%

I am sure that Social Security knows the exact breakdown but I do not recall it ever being released.

Social Security Bulletin Released

The Social Security Administration has released a new issue of the Social Security Bulletin, the agency's scholarly publication. This issue includes a brief remembrance of the late Robert J. Myers.

Issues With ALJ Docket Regs

On February 24 Social Security sent over to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a package of final regulations to "amend our rules to clarify that the agency is responsible for setting the time and place for a hearing before an administrative law judge." This proposal had originally been published in the Federal Register on November 10, 2008, shortly after the last Presidential election. This proposal has been controversial, particularly among Administrative Law Judges, since it would threaten to remove any control that ALJs have over their dockets. OMB approval is necessary before these regulations can be published in the Federal Register. OMB is part of the White House. Ordinarily, OMB is required to act on regulatory proposals within 90 days. It has now been more than 90 days but there has been no OMB action. The OMB website now notes "**REVIEW EXTENDED" for this item. This is uncommon. OMB can negotiate changes with an agency, send a proposal back to an agency for further review or simply refuse to accept an agency's proposal. Thus far, the Obama Administration has not flatly refused to accept any regulatory proposal and has sent only one regulatory proposal back to an agency for further review. There have been many negotiated changes in regulations, however.

We cannot know exactly what is going on with this proposal but there is clearly some back and forth between the White House and Social Security.

One Overpayment In New Jersey

From the Newark Star-Ledger:

Angelina Maria Colabella doesn’t have to pay.

Earlier this month, Colabella, who receives Social Security disability benefits, received a letter from Social Security. It said through the years, the agency had overpaid Colabella nearly $59,000 and she had 30 days to pay it back.

Colabella had her meeting with the agency and it reviewed her case.

"Social Security reversed its decision in my favor," Colabella said. "I’m just thrilled. I don’t have to worry anymore." ...

"There was a string of times she went over one month or more, but by averaging the year she was under," said Bill Hayden, an attorney with the Community Health Law Project, who represented Colabella at the SSA meeting. "It never should have gotten that far." ...

Hayden said mistakes like this are not uncommon in his experience. He said there is a delay before Social Security receives a beneficiary’s earnings records, but usually only a year or two.

‘‘For this, someone went back 10 years to retroactively do it," he said.