Three Listings Extended

     Social Security has extended without change the Listings for Low Birth Weight and Failure to Thrive, Endocrine Disorders, and Cancer (Malignant Neoplastic Diseases). Each of the Listings has an expiration date. They must be extended or modified by that date.

Who Gets Your Vote?

find bike trails

Some Tentative Musings About The Future For Benficiaries

     Alicia H. Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, has penned a piece for Marketwatch on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Social Security. She's not definite. It's not possible to be at this point. She suggests that even though there will be no near term effect upon Social Security's ability to pay benefits, the economic effects of Covid-19 may hasten the day that something will have to be done about the Social Security trust funds. She also believes it is possible there will be no cost of living adjustment in Social Security benefits this year because the economic crisis has stopped inflation. In the long run, Munnell thinks that there may be some effect upon future Social Security payments to those whose earnings are reduced or absent now due to Covid-19. Low income workers may be the ones most affected.

What A Mess

     Can Social Security start holding in person hearings prior to the release of a vaccine for Covid-19? Many disability claimants are immunocompromised because of medication they're taking. Even if everything else is reopening, it may be inadvisable for them to attend a hearing. And it's not just the claimants. Some of the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who hold the hearings are immunocompromised as are some of the attorneys, vocational experts and hearing reporters who attend the hearings. Many others are at additional risk from Covid-19 because of their age. I really want to get back to in person hearings but can they be held with reasonable safety for all the participants?

Still No Update To Fee Payments Stats

     I pointed out a few months ago that Social Security was late in posting updates on the amount of fees paid to attorneys and others representing claimants before the agency.

     They still haven't posted an update. The last one posted was for November 2019. I don't know why but it looks like a decision was made to stop posting the numbers. Is a report still being compiled internally?

New List Of Sanctioned Attorney And Non-Attorney Representatives

     The Social Security Administration has posted an updated list of attorney and non-attorney representatives who have been barred from representing claimants before the agency due to misconduct. It's a cumulative list that goes back to the late 1980s. Here are the names added in the last year. The date listed is the date the person was sanctioned.

• Calder, Jarrett Skipper,  South Carolina, Attorney, 7/25/19
• Hoegh, Thomas,  California, Attorney, 2/18/20
• Isayan, Andranik California, Non-attorney, 8/2/19
• Krout, Jr., Dale E., Florida Attorney, 6/10/19
• Liles, Sean, Michigan, Attorney, 5/20/19
• Melkonian, Lousine, California, Non-attorney, 7/1/19
• Patrick, Megan Mariah, Misissippi, Attorney, 12/9/19
• Pogosian, Ani, California, Non-attorney, 9/4/19
• Smith Grayson,Christy, Kentucky, Attorney 12/9/19

     Almost half the list comes from the state of California. The three non-attorneys from California were all sanctioned around the same time and all have surnames of Armenian origin. I don't know what the story is there. I'm guessing it was a group thing.

NADE Newsletter

     From the Spring 2020 newsletter of the National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), the voluntary organization of personnel who make disability determinations for Social Security at the initial and reconsideration levels, concerning a meeting with Grace Kim, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner of Operations and John Owen, the Associate Commissioner of the Office of Disability Determinations:

... The NADE board brought up an agenda item that was noticed in various regions. There have been problems seen where the DDS [Disability Determination Service] is contacted by an office claiming to be an appointed representative who filed the SSA-1696 [appointing an attorney or other person to represent a Social Security disability claimant] with the field office but it is not in the electronic file. Grace mentioned that this is a customer service issue and someone has been appointed to look into the issue. ...

     This is a big problem for people like me. We keep submitting  the 1696 form repeatedly and field offices do nothing with it. This leaves us incapable of representing the claimant before the agency. This problem has been around for years and it's been getting worse.
     I don't understand the process but, apparently, it's ridiculously difficult for field office personnel to enter the appointment of a representative in their computer system. I think most of those who represent claimants would prefer some system where we could enter the information directly. I don't see how imposing this work load on field office personnel adds any layer of protection for claimants or the system. If there's some issue with us abusing the system, it's not hard to find us or to take action against us.

     There is also material in the newsletter about how NADE members are coping with the changes brought about by Covid-19. I'm not going to reproduce any excerpts here but reading it might be a good idea for those who have had little contact with DDS personnel. There are a lot of unjustified negative attitudes about disability examiners. The system may be uncaring but the people aren't.

Arbitrator Finds Bad Faith Bargaining

     From Government Executive:

An independent arbitrator last week ruled that the Social Security Administration violated federal labor law by engaging in bad faith bargaining in its contract negotiations with a union representing administrative law judges who preside over Social Security disability cases. 

The ruling is a result of a grievance filed by the Association of Administrative Law Judges, which accused the agency of repeatedly denying the union’s requests for information while the parties prepared to negotiate a new contract. 

In its grievance, the union highlighted a number of instances when routine requests for data related to provisions in its collective bargaining agreement were delayed or denied. These requests included detailed disposition data for the agency’s administrative law judge corps, the estimated cost of training a new administrative law judge, the criteria by which the agency places ALJs under “close supervision” and data supporting the need for the agency’s demand for a seven-year contract term. 

In many of these cases, arbitrator Malcolm Pritzker found the agency’s denials did not meet the standard needed to justify withholding information. In one instance, he noted that although the agency claimed the union’s request regarding the proposed contract duration was “not related to collective bargaining,” officials eventually used the requested data as part of the agency's justification for the contract length before the Federal Service Impasses Panel. ...

"Policy changes at the SSA had slowed down any further expansion. That changed with the rapid spread of COVID-19"

     From a Northrop Grumman website:

Ordinarily, the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) headquarters and its more than 1,200 field offices across the country, are visited daily by thousands of citizens either in person, or by phone, seeking assistance with supplemental income and health and disability insurance. ...

Four years ago, a Northrop Grumman team began working with the SSA on a project to allow field office workers the opportunity to telework one or two days per week using a softphone, or having access to their phone lines through their computers.  ...

The project had rolled out to nearly half of the field office workforce, about 28,000 employees, however policy changes at the SSA had slowed down any further expansion.
That changed with the rapid spread of COVID-19.

With SSA facilities closing in response to the coronavirus pandemic, there was suddenly an immediate need for all 50,000+ SSA field office employees to have softphone access.
During a marathon multiday session beginning March 13, a team of 16 Northrop Grumman employees who support the SSA on the Information Technology Support Services Contract (ITSSC2), sorted through databases to identify the SSA employees who were not set up with softphones. More than 30,000 names were identified and given to the SSA’s Division of Integrated Telecommunications Management (DITM). Plans were immediately put in place to accelerate the softphone rollout. ...

Within five days, the project to identify names and provide softphone access was complete. ...

     What I've wondered about is how they came up with all the hardware so quickly. I'm pretty sure the "softphones" require hardware.

Might Need A Psych Evaluation

     From Your Content:

Officials announced the arrest of a 65-year-old Philadelphia man who forced entry into a federal building after authorities informed him it was closed due to coronavirus, Your Content has learned. What’s more, the crazed elderly man slapped the federal officers around, resulting in additional charges. ...

Authorities say Washington forced his way inside the SSA office at 701 East Chelten Avenue, after he was told by a FPS security officer that the office was closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic. ...

26 Months Of Pre-Trial Detention?

    From a press release:

After having served approximately 26 months in pretrial detention, Slaven Nedic, 28, of St. Louis, was sentenced to three years of probation.  Nedic appeared today before U.S. District Judge John A. Ross. 

According to court documents, on March 9, 2018, Nedic entered the lobby of the Crestwood office of the Social Security Administration and punched an armed guard in the face.  He also attempted to obtain control of the guard’s firearm during the ensuing physical confrontation.  An unarmed employee of the administrative agency heard the altercation, and came to the guard’s aid.  The two were able to restrain Nedic until local law enforcement officials arrived.  Nedic has been in custody since his arrest on March 9, 2018. ...

OHO Receipts Stabilizing As ALJ Corps Dwindles But Dispositions Still Far Outpace Receipts

     This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. It is basic operating statistics for Social Security's Office of Hearings Operations. Click on the image to view full size.

"The Injustices ... Are Both Many And Deep"

Carl Boatner

     From the Meridian Star:

Carl Boatner suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, two liver diseases, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, major depressive disorder and anxiety disorder.

The administrative law judge handling his appeal of the denial for disability payments determined those medical conditions “could reasonably be expected to cause” disabling symptoms.

And then he denied Boatner’s appeal.

He concluded the Carthage man’s severe medical conditions failed to “meet or medically equal the criteria for any listed impairment,” despite the fact they had once landed him in hospice, a care facility designed to give supportive care to people in the final phase of a terminal illness.

Boatner didn’t die before getting his benefits, but that wasn’t the case for Phillip E. Herring of Tupelo.

Vonda Peters of Tupelo received her brother’s third denial letter in the mail the day after his funeral in July 2019. “I don’t normally cuss, but I thought, what the f---?” Peters said.

U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, in a ruling that eventually awarded Boatner disability benefits, pointed to a pervasive attitude among many administrative law judges to view applicants with skepticism, adding Boatner’s judge issued denials at a rate 25 percent higher than the national average.

“The injustices of the disability payment system are both many and deep,” Reeves ruled. “Research suggests the majority of denials may be incorrect, and applicants struggling to manage their disabilities say such denials can amount to a ‘death sentence.’” ...

In a May 11, 2018, ruling, Reeves posed the question: Did the administrative law judge review the evidence properly?

Reeves’ response: No.

In his blistering opinion, he detailed where each component of the disability process had failed Boatner before he then awarded the veteran truck driver his long-denied benefits.
Reeves turned his focus on the state agency acting on the Social, Security Administration’s behalf — Disability Determination Services. ...

n his ruling, Reeves described the “waiting” Boatner had to do, saying, “Boatner has spent nearly a decade seeking disability payments from the Social Security Administration, filing his last application in 2014. Despite acknowledging the severity of Boatner’s medical conditions and his trips to death’s doorstep, the Administration has denied each of his four applications. These denials have been painful. One caused Boatner to walk out of his house, put a gun to his head, and threaten to kill himself.” ...

In his ruling, Reeves took aim at the disability examiners and the administrative law judge that handled Boatner’s case, noting the ALJ had resolved more than 600 cases in 2016. Reeves also said examiners are not prepared to handle as many cases as SSA asks them to handle.

Mississippi DDS’ 111 examiners processed approximately 64,000 cases last fiscal year, according to Patti Patterson, regional communications director for the Atlanta regional office of the Social Security Administration. Caseloads per examiner range from 65-125 cases, said Chris Howard, head of the Department of Rehabilitation Services. ...

When To Reopen Social Security Field Offices? Union Says Never

     From Bloomberg Law:

Telework at the Social Security Administration is boosting call center answer rates and otherwise improving customer service, the leader of a union that represents about 25,000 field office and call center workers says.

The agency should allow employees to continue teleworking to the maximum extent possible even after the Covid-19 pandemic abates, said Ralph de Juliis, president of Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees. The union is asking the agency to consider a plan that would allow the SSA to close most of its 1,300 field offices in the U.S. and save hundreds of millions of dollars on facility costs, he said. Though the agency has clashed with its unions in the past over telework, de Juliis said he’s hopeful agency officials are seeing the benefits now that most employees are working from home. 

“If they want to go that way, they have the union’s support,” he said. ...

This Just In: There Are Nutty People Working At The White House

     From the Washington Post:

... Senior White House economic officials also are exploring a proposal floated by two conservative scholars that would allow Americans to choose to receive checks of up to $5,000 in exchange for a delay of their Social Security benefits, according to three people familiar with the internal matter. That plan was written by Andrew Biggs of the right-leaning American Enterprise Institute and Joshua Rauh of the right-leaning Hoover Institution at Stanford University. ...

Another Question Or Two

     Some claimants whose cases have already been scheduled for a hearing by Social Security are declining the offer of a telephone hearing. That leaves a hole in the schedule of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). Are hearing offices trying to fit the cases of other claimants who haven't already been scheduled into those holes? I think the answer is generally no so my next question is, why not? 

     Let me spell out what may be obvious to many readers. I'm pointing out a possible flaw of centralized scheduling -- inflexibility.

A Pet Peeve: "It's Been A Minute"

     Here's a pet peeve of mine: Clients who answer "It's been a minute" when asked when some event occurred. What the hell does that mean? Where did this usage come from? I think I've only heard this in the last year or two. Is this usage national? 

     Unfortunately, lawyers usually need to know when things happened! We get annoyed when given answers like this. My instinct as a lawyer is that if my client seems evasive when answering a question, I've just hit upon a key problem.  Of course, "It's been a minute" isn't necessarily evasive but it sounds that way even when it isn't.

Man Sentenced For Threating SSA Employee

     From KHGI in Nebraska:

37- year-old John J. Scoggins of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on Wednesday for making a threat to a Social Security Administration Official.

Scoggins was sentenced to five months of prison with an additional one month home detention, followed by a one-year term of supervised release.

According to United States Attorney Joe Kelly, on February 8, 2019, Scoggins contacted the Social Security Administration by telephone to confirm his address and other information related to his benefits.

During the conversation, Scoggins became belligerent with the Social Security Administration employee and threatened to physically harm her, according to officials.

Claimants Denied Disability Benefits Don't Go Back To Work; They Just Keep Trying To Get On Disabiltiy Benefits

     From the Social Security Bulletin, the agency's scholarly publication:

This article examines the experiences of Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) applicants aged 51 or older who were initially denied benefits because the disability examiner determined that they could perform either their past work or other work. ... We find that few older DI applicants who were denied benefits on this basis resumed work at a substantial level following denial. More commonly, applicants denied at this stage continued to pursue benefits, often successfully. Nearly two-thirds of initial work capacity-related denials were ultimately allowed DI benefits after appealing the initial decision or reapplying, and our estimates suggest that many of the rest claimed Old-Age and Survivors Insurance benefits before they reached full retirement age.

     Is it just me or does this suggest that it would be fairer to allow more of the disability claims filed by older people? Denying so many of the disability claims filed by older people creates misery and doesn't end up saving much money anyway. It makes work for me and other attorneys but that's certainly not a valid policy objective.
     Also, do you see evidence in this study to support increasing the age categories in the grid regulations? Should 55 or 57 be the new 50? Where is the proof that making this change would be a reasonable thing to do?

Video CEs

     Social Security has now issued new instructions to allow for video consultative examinations of disability claimants but only by psychiatrists and psychologists. 

     I'm not seeing any physical consultative examinations locally. Are any going on elsewhere? Is there a plan for this other than to hold cases indefinitely?