Axiom Wins $18 Million Ticket to Work Contract

Axiom has won an $18.2 million contract with Social Security under the Ticket to Work plan.

New Rules on Service of Process

The Social Security Administration has adopted new rules on the service of legal process on the agency. The new rules require that those suing the agency serve process on the Commissioner of Social Security by sending the process to Social Security's General Counsel office that serves the area of the country where the suit is brought. Separately, SSA published a long list of the addresses of the offices to which the Commissioner's copy of process must be sent. The rules are effective immediately, which is certain to cause problems for many litigants.

SSA Central Office Building May Close

The Baltimore Sun reports that Social Security's:

...26-year-old Metro West building on North Greene Street [in Baltimore] was designed to hold up to 5,000 employees, but that automation has reduced the number of people who work there to fewer than 2,000. The 1.4 million-square-foot building also needs a new heating and air-conditioning system and security improvements.

As a result SSA is considering closing the building and moving the employees to other buildings in the area.

Monthly Stats for November

The Social Security Administration has released basic monthly statistics for November on claims paid under Title II and Title XVI of the Social Security Act. These show by type of payment the numbers of people paid and amounts of benefits they received.

Second Circuit Says You Can't Be Fugitive Felon Without Knowing It

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has held in Fowlkes v. Adamec that a peson cannot be a fugitive felon unless there is proof that they knew there was a warrant outstanding for their arrest. Ironically, Mr. Fowlkes cannot get benefits at the moment since he is imprisoned in Massachusetts on unrelated charges.

Barnhart: Tidbits on Her Future and Her Plan's Future

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of SSA's front line managers, has published the minutes of its annual meeting held in November. Present at the meeting was Mary Chatel, SSA's Director of Disability Service Improvement, who had, curiously enough, been President of NCSSMA at one time in her career. Chatel told NCSSMA that "The implementation [of the Commissioner's plan] will hopefully begin in the Spring of 2006 and will go region by region – probably taking about 5 years to complete."

The summary of the meeting also includes this interesting exchange which tells us that at least some people in Baltimore believe that Jo Anne Barnhart may be nominated for a second term as Commissioner of Social Security:

Q: What will happen to this new approach in January 2007 when the Commissioner’s term ends?

A: Since they do not know if the Commissioner will serve another term, they need to approach this in the belief that she may actually be gone in January. The Commissioner strove to work on changes that could at least be begun in some regions before her term ends. Hopefully, Jo Anne will be here beyond January 2007 to see the process even farther down the pathway. The publication of a final rule should help to see that this work continues.

Supreme Court Rules on Student Loan Case

The Supreme Court has issued a unanimous opinion in Lockhart v. U.S. holding that Social Security benefits may be seized for payment of a student loan, even though the debt is more than ten years old.

Age Category NPRM Comments

Even though the estimates are that the proposal would save almost $6 billion over the next ten years, SSA has received few comments on its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would add of the age categories of the grid regulations. My own comment may be worth taking notice of, more for the 426 pages of material I attached to the comment than for the comment itself.

The grid regulations were originally based upon administrative notice taken of the numbers of unskilled sedentary, light and medium jobs found in the Third Edition of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, which has long since been superceded by the Fourth Edition of the DOT and now by O*NET. The material which I attached shows SSA's own serious concerns that the evidence no longer shows the existence of such numbers of unskilled jobs, particularly at the sedentary level. This material has received almost no attention over the years. My point is that if the entire foundation for the grid regulations has crumbled, it makes little sense to keep adding to the ediface.

The comment period on the NPRM closes on January 3, 2006.