What’s New? ALJ Union And SSA At Odds

     From Government Executive:

Officials with the union representing administrative law judges said the Social Security Administration is trying to implement an unfinished collective bargaining agreement, despite the fact that several elements of the contract remain pending before an independent impasses panel. 

The Association of Administrative Law Judges and Social Security reached agreement on 20 of 29 articles for their union contract last year. The other nine articles remain unresolved, and have been sent to the Federal Service Impasses Panel for adjudication in the coming weeks, although the union has objected to that, citing constitutional concerns about how panel members are appointed.  

In early March, Social Security Administration Chief Spokesman Eddie Taylor formally called on the administrative law judges union to ratify the portions of the contract not before the impasses panel by May 4, arguing that the remaining unresolved issues don’t need to be ratified since they will be imposed by the panel. ... 

Thus far, the union has rejected calls to ratify the contract, arguing that the 60-day ratification window should not begin until the impasses panel issues its decision. AALJ President Melissa McIntosh said it would be inappropriate to continue to push for early ratification of a partial contract while the agency responds to the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

“I think it’s really unseemly that they continue to pursue this during a pandemic,” she said. “They really need to be focused on making sure the American public receives essential services and that hearings go off as planned, rather than continuing its effort to eliminate the judges’ union. I really am stunned that they’re persisting with this.” ...

     The general rule in negotiation is that nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon. Is there some exception to that rule that applies here?

SSAB Urges That SSI Recipients Receive Covid-19 Relief Payments Automatically

     From a press release:

Today, the Social Security Advisory Board (“Board”) sent a letter to Commissioner of Social Security, Andrew Saul, urging action related to relief payments to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and restoring representative payee monitoring.

The Board urged the Commissioner, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-136), to work with the Department of the Treasury to ensure that those who receive SSI payments also receive relief payments automatically and quickly, without filing any forms. ...

     Honestly, unless your goal is to harass SSI recipients, I don't know why you want to make them go to the trouble of filing any kind of tax return. Social Security has all the info in its databases needed to make these payments. Forcing SSI recipients to file tax returns makes more work, not just for them but also for the IRS and Social Security, which will both be receiving phone calls about this.  Of course, one guiding principle of the Trump Administration is what some have referred to as "performative cruelty", that is cruelty for the sake of cruelty conspicuously aimed at disfavored groups. Poor people are certainly disfavored by this Administration. If you’re poor, it must be because you’re lazy or because God doesn’t love you. In any case, if you’re poor, you can’t be a Republican and that’s good enough reason for you to be punished.

     Update: More pressure on this issue, now from AARP:

...  When contacted by AARP for clarification about the requirement for low-income SSI and VA beneficiaries to file a tax return to receive a stimulus payment, an IRS official would only say that “guidance is still in the process.” In addition, SSA announced on April 3 that it is working with the IRS to clarify the requirements for SSI beneficiaries: “We are working closely with Treasury to address outstanding questions about our SSI recipients in an attempt to make the issuance of economic impact payments as quick and efficient as possible.” SSA added that economic impact payments won't count as income for SSI recipients, and the payments will be excluded from resource calculations for 12 months.

As it did with Social Security beneficiaries, AARP is urging the IRS to reverse course and make automatic stimulus payments to SSI and VA beneficiaries without the burden of filing any additional paperwork such as a tax return. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, free tax services for low-income filers such as the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program have been forced to suspend operations. ...

Decline In Earnings Prior To Disability Claims

     This is from DI & SSI Program Participants: Characteristics & Employment, 2015, which Social Security recently released.

Click on image to view full size

     Note that disability usually does not arise like a thunderclap just before a claim is filed with Social Security. There is often a period of declining work activity that extends back several years. Illness sneaks up on people. They think they'll get better and often they do but sometimes their health just keeps declining as they age. People are not eager to file Social Security disability claims. They try to put it off as long as possible. By the time they file a claim, they're often at the end of their rope physically, mentally and financially.

What Do You Think?

     From Syracuse.com:

Joe Huppman didn’t hesitate to answer the urgent plea last month for retired doctors and nurses to help New York fight the coronavirus pandemic in hospitals stretched thin by a surge in patients.  

Huppman, 64, of Camillus, volunteered to return to the Syracuse VA Medical Center where he worked as a nurse for 17 years until retiring in 2017. He’s now on standby to help if needed. 

If he’s called to duty, Huppman and other retired medical personnel like him will be asked to make a financial sacrifice: The Social Security Administration will cut their benefits if they work too many hours, a penalty for exceeding annual earnings limits.

Huppman and others who started collecting Social Security before their full retirement age of 65 will have $1 deducted from their benefit payments for every $2 they earn above the earnings limit of $18,240 this year. 

Huppman shared his concerns with U.S. Rep. John Katko, who wants to change the law as the coronavirus takes its toll on the U.S. and stretches hospitals and first responders to historic limits. ...

NOSSCR Opposes Mandatory Telephone Hearings

     From a letter from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) to Social Security’s Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) and the Chief Administrative Law Judge (CALJ):

Some of our members have been told that SSA [Social Security Administration] plans to change its policy of making telephone hearings voluntary, perhaps as soon as April 27. This is not acceptable to NOSSCR and we urge you to clarify as soon as possible that telephone hearings remain optional. Claimants who want to wait for in-person hearings (or video hearings, if they have not submitted an HA-55 opt-out form) should be permitted to do so.

     In case it's not clear to you, let me spell out the subtext. NOSSCR is concerned that ALJ hearings will become mandatory not just for the current emergency but from now on; that the agency will use this emergency to  achieve an unrelated goal.

Social Security Loses A Lot In Federal Court

     The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) compiles a yearly report on the attorney fees paid by federal agencies under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to those who sue them or are sued by them when the court determines that the agency's actions were not "substantially justified." 

     The Fiscal Year 2019 report has come out. It shows that the Social Security Administration paid out a total of $45,842,213.45 in 8,223 cases, an average of $5,574.88 per case. To give a comparison, the agency that paid out the second most dollars was the Department of Commerce with $6,068,000.00 in just three cases. In terms of numbers, the Department of Homeland Security was second at 46 cases. Overall, Social Security accounted for 99% of the number of EAJA awards and 78% of the dollar amount of all EAJA awards.

OK, Now Let’s Take Care Of SSI Recipients; Also Don’t Change Your Mind Again

     From the Washington Post:

The Treasury announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment. 

The announcement is a reversal from earlier in the week when the Internal Revenue Service said everyone would need to file some sort of tax return in order to qualify for the payments. Democrats and some Republicans criticized the IRS for requiring so many extra hurdles for this vulnerable population to get aid when the government already has their information on file....

No CEs For Now; Claimants Must Wait For Decisions

     I had posted to a news report from Buffalo about Social Security requiring disability claimants to attend consultative medical examinations during the Covid-19 epidemic. There is a new report out of Buffalo quoting an agency spokesperson saying that “We are not requiring applicants to appear in-person for consultative examinations during the national COVID 19 pandemic.” He went on to say that “We have instructed the DDSs [Disability Determination Services] to hold any case where the consultative exam, necessary for a disability decision, is canceled and to reschedule it once the COVID 19 pandemic subsides.”
     Social Security really ought to put out a national press release on this.

Great Work Everybody

     From your friends at the I.R.S.:

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today announced that distribution of economic impact payments will begin in the next three weeks and will be distributed automatically, with no action required for most people. However, some seniors and others who typically do not file returns will need to submit a simple tax return to receive the stimulus payment. ...

How will the IRS know where to send my payment? 

The vast majority of people do not need to take any action. The IRS will calculate and automatically send the economic impact payment to those eligible. 

For people who have already filed their 2019 tax returns, the IRS will use this information to calculate the payment amount. For those who have not yet filed their return for 2019, the IRS will use information from their 2018 tax filing to calculate the payment. The economic impact payment will be deposited directly into the same banking account reflected on the return filed. 

The IRS does not have my direct deposit information. What can I do? 

In the coming weeks, Treasury plans to develop a web-based portal for individuals to provide their banking information to the IRS online, so that individuals can receive payments immediately as opposed to checks in the mail. 

I am not typically required to file a tax return. Can I still receive my payment? 

Yes. People who typically do not file a tax return will need to file a simple tax return to receive an economic impact payment. Low-income taxpayers, senior citizens, Social Security recipients, some veterans and individuals with disabilities who are otherwise not required to file a tax return will not owe tax. 

How can I file the tax return needed to receive my economic impact payment? 

IRS.gov/coronavirus will soon provide information instructing people in these groups on how to file a 2019 tax return with simple, but necessary, information including their filing status, number of dependents and direct deposit bank account information. ...

     Of course, Social Security’s databases have the needed information for those receiving benefits but that would be too easy. Let’s make sure we harass poor elderly and suck people and prevent as many of them as possible from getting the payments.

     Also, who were the Democratic staffers involved with this negotiation? What were they thinking?

Transmission of Fraudulent Robocalls Enjoined

     From a press release:

The Department of Justice announced that the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York entered orders in two separate civil actions barring eight individuals and entities from continuing to facilitate the transmission of massive volumes of fraudulent robocalls to consumers in the United States.  In one of the matters, United States v. Nicholas Palumbo, et al., the court entered a preliminary injunction that bars defendants Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo and two entities from operating as intermediate voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) carriers during the pendency of the civil action.  In the other matter, United States v. Jon Kahen, et al., the court entered consent decrees that permanently bar defendants Jon Kahen and three entities from operating as intermediate VoIP carriers conveying fraudulent robocalls into the U.S. telephone system. ...

More Covid-19 Scams

     From a press release from Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

Today, I am warning the public about fraudulent letters threatening suspension of Social Security benefits due to COVID-19 or coronavirus-related office closures. Social Security will not suspend or discontinue benefits because their offices are closed.

The Social Security Office of the Inspector General has received reports that Social Security beneficiaries have received letters through the U.S. Mail stating their payments will be suspended or discontinued unless they call a phone number referenced in the letter. Scammers may then mislead beneficiaries into providing personal information or payment via retail gift cards, wire transfers, internet currency, or by mailing cash, to maintain regular benefit payments during this period of COVID-19 office closures. ...

Claimants Objecting To Health Risk Of CEs

     From the Buffalo News:

While safety concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic have closed government offices across the United States, the Social Security Administration is putting people in danger by directing them to a small Buffalo clinic for medical evaluations, five Buffalo-area attorneys said Friday. 

The Social Security Administration has continued to require applicants for disability benefits to be evaluated by doctors at the 699 Hertel Ave. clinic run by Industrial Medicine Associates, also known as IMA, the attorneys said. 

“I’ve had clients who have been told to go to this clinic and told that if they didn’t go, their applications for benefits could be negatively impacted,” said Richard G. Abbott, a Kenmore attorney who represents applicants for Social Security disability insurance. “Our president, our governor and county executive are telling people with underlying health issues to stay home. Social Security tells them to go to a place where they may be exposed to people who are sick. It’s outrageous.”

What To Do With That $300 Million?

     Why is it that I have this feeling that the Social Security Administration, under the leadership of Andrew Saul, will use little of the $300 million supplemental appropriation it just got on additional overtime so it can get its work done but will, instead, spend the money on IT contractors who may help the agency, at best, in the long run? Perhaps because I've noticed that Republican officeholders are enormously hostile towards the federal workforce and either indifferent or hostile towards the federal government providing services to the public. Perhaps because I've seen what has happened previously when Social Security got special appropriations when a Republican Administration was in power.

Some Info On Economic Stimulus And Social Security

     From a Senate Finance Committee staff summary of the economic stimulus bill just passed by the House of Representatives and which is only pending the President's signature:

Are individuals with little to no income or those on means-tested federal benefits, such as SSI, eligible for a recovery rebate? Yes, there is no qualifying income requirement. Even individuals with $0 of income are eligible for a rebate so long as they are not the dependent of another taxpayer and have a work-eligible SSN.

Are seniors whose only income is from Social Security or a veteran whose only income is a veterans’ disability payment eligible? Yes, as long as they are not the dependent of another taxpayer. The bill also provides IRS with additional tools to locate and provide rebates to low-income seniors who normally do not file a tax return by allowing them to base a rebate on Form SSA-1099, Social Security Benefit Statement or Form RRB-1099, which is the equivalent of the Social Security statement for Railroad Employees. However, seniors are still encouraged to file their 2019 tax return to ensure they receive their recovery rebate as quickly as possible. ...

I am eligible for a rebate, what do I have to do to receive it? For the vast majority of Americans, no action on their part will be required to receive a rebate check since the IRS will use a taxpayer’s 2019 tax return if filed or their 2018 return if they haven’t filed their 2019 return. This includes many individuals with very low income who file a tax return despite not owing any tax in order to take advantage of the refundable Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit.

What should I do if I did not file a tax return for 2019 or 2018? The best way to ensure you receive a recovery rebate is to file a 2019 tax return if you have not already done so. This could be accomplished for free online from home using the IRS Free file program (https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free).  ...

If I have a past due debt to a federal or state agency, or owe back taxes, will my rebate be reduced? No, the bill turns off nearly all administrative offsets that ordinarily may reduce tax refunds for individuals who have past tax debts, or who are behind on other payments to federal or state governments, including student loan payments. The only administrative offset that will be enforced applies to those who have past due child support payments that the states have reported to the Treasury Department.

     This is a bit confusing. It says that the payments can be made just based upon the SSA-1099 but goes on to encourage Social Security benefit recipients to file a tax return even if they don't really have to. Why? What about SSI recipients? They don't get SSA-1099s. Do they have to file tax returns even though they have zero income?

Extra $300 Million For SSA

     A Federal News Radio article says that the Social Security Administration will receive a special $300 million appropriation under the economic stimulus bill which is likely to become law today. However, I don't see anything about this in the link to the bill which they give. That's probably because what they link to is only Part A of the bill, with the appropriations being in Part B. I would love to see Part B if anyone has a link.

Social Security Recipients Will Get Stimulus Payments

     From WYMT:

We at WYMT received many calls and emails from viewers who wanted to know whether or not individuals that are living on social security will receive the benefit checks as a result of the stimulus package currently making its way through congress.

Thursday, we talked directly to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for answers.

His office told WYMT that all U.S. residents who are not claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer and have a work-eligible social security number (up to the income threshold limits) will receive a stimulus check.

"This does apply to those who have no income, as well as those who receive income from non-taxable means-tested benefit programs, such as Social Security," they told us in a statement. ...

     What I wonder about are the people who don't  get their stimulus checks because they've changed bank accounts. Who's responsible for taking care of those cases? I don't think it's Social Security, though.

Up To 90 Minutes To Get Through On Phone

     From Social Security's Covid-19 webpage (emphasis added):

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are dedicating available staff to serve people in most critical need of our services. Please read below before deciding whether to contact your local Field Office inquiry line or our National 800 Number. Please be aware that our call wait times are longer than normal. It may take you up to 90 minutes or more to reach an agent ...

Covid-19 Response Bill Would Not Affect Trust Funds

     Section 2301 of the Covid-19 response bill passed by the Senate and likely to be passed by the House of Representatives, gives employers temporary relief from payroll taxes, including the F.I.C.A. tax. However, part (i) of §2301 requires a transfer of funds from the Treasury to the Social Security trust funds to make up for the lost revenues.

Future Of Field Offices After Covid-19?

     When the Covid-19 threat is over will the field offices ever fully reopen to the public or will they be on their way to being phased out?

Only Limited Service Available

     Social Security has updated its Covid-19 webpage to include a statement that "During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are dedicating available staff to serve people in most critical need of our services." Also, "Our 800# agents can assist with limited transactions and are focused on helping those people most in need."