Office Of Personnel Management Posts ALJ Job Announcement

The Office of Personnel Management has posted the following job announcement and note how short the time period is for applying (why?):

Administrative Law Judge

SALARY RANGE: 109,373.00 - 154,600.00 USD per year OPEN PERIOD: Friday, May 04, 2007
to Friday, May 18, 2007
SERIES & GRADE: AL-0935-03 POSITION INFORMATION: Full Time Career/Career Conditional
DUTY LOCATIONS: Many vacancies - Throughout The Nation, US
WHO MAY BE CONSIDERED:
U.S. Citizens

JOB SUMMARY:

The Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) function was created by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in 1946 to ensure fairness in administrative proceedings before Federal Government agencies. The APA also provided for a merit selection system and statutory protection of ALJs' independence and impartiality.

BACKGROUND: ALJs act as independent, impartial adjudicators of fact in formal hearings similar to that of a trial judge conducting civil trials without a jury. In general, ALJs prepare for and preside at formal hearings required by statute to be held under or in substantial accord with provisions of the APA, codified in relevant part, in sections 553-559 of title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.).

The Federal Government employs ALJs in a number of agencies throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. Cases may involve Federal laws and regulations in such areas as admiralty, advertising, antitrust, banking, communications, energy, environmental protection, food and drugs, health and safety, housing, immigration, interstate commerce, international trade, labor management relations, securities and commodities markets, transportation, social security disability and other benefits claims.

Individuals who wish to apply for a position as an ALJ with the Federal Government should read this vacancy announcement in its entirety before preparing an application. Applicants must meet all the minimum qualification requirements for an ALJ position as described in this announcement.

SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING OPEN PERIOD: This announcement is open for a period of two weeks, from May 4, 2007 to May 18, 2007, or until the day on which 1,250 completed applications have been submitted, whichever comes first.

An application is considered complete when the Assessment Questionnaire and résumé (described in the "How to Apply" section) are submitted, including veterans' preference documents (if applicable).

If 1,250 applications are reached before the end of the two week open period, this announcement will close at 11:59:59 PM EDT on the day that 1,250 applications have been submitted.

KEY REQUIREMENTS:

* You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
* Subject to a background suitability investigation/determination.
* All supporting documents must be submitted (see "How to Apply" section).

Live Web Chat On Social Security Disability For Lupus Patients

From a Lupus Foundation press release:

Social Security disability insurance and supplemental income issues for people with lupus will be the topic for the next Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) live Web chat at http://www.lupus.org on Wednesday, May 9, 3-4 p.m. eastern daylight time. The guest presenter will be Jacqueline Beard who is a Senior Case Manager at the Patient Advocate Foundation headquartered in Newport News, VA. Ms. Beard provides assistance to patients to help resolve problems that are relevant to Social Security disability insurance, Supplemental Security Income, and Medicaid issues.

Individuals may submit questions to Ms. Beard in advance, or during the course of the live chat, by logging on to the LFA Web site at lupus.org. A transcript of the chat will be available on the LFA Web site for one year.

Memo From OPM On Administrative Law Judge Hiring

An anonymous person has posted this memorandum that is said to have gone out recently from the Office of Personnel Management to federal agencies:

MEMORANDUM FOR CHIEF HUMAN CAPITAL OFFICERS

FROM:
Linda M. Springer
Director

Subject:
Administrative Law Judge Examination

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM)has issued revised regulations for the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) program (5 CFRpart 930, subpart B), which took effect on April 19, 2007. As a result of the revisions to the regulations, OPM will soon issue a new ALJ vacancy announcement to introduce a new ALJ examination, which will replace the existing register.

The existing register will remain in effect until a new ALJ register is established. OPM will establish the new register after completely processing all ALJ applications based on the new examination.

The new vacancy announcement will be posted in the next few days on OPM's USAJOBS website: http://www.usajobs.opm.gov/. Individuals can conduct a search with the job title "ALl" to locate the OPM vacancy announcementwhen it is posted. Full details concerning the application and the examinationprocess will be provided in the announcement.

cc: Human Resources Directors

Social Security Advisory Board Report On Hiring ALJs

The Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) has issued a report on "Recruiting SSA Administrative Law Judges: Need for review of OPM role and performance."

SSAB blames the OPM for Social Security's failure to hire enough ALJs. The report recommends that the responsibility for the ALJ selection process be passed from OPM to Social Security.

The curious thing about this report is that Michael Astrue made reference to it during his testimony before the House Social Security Subcommittee on Tuesday. He mentioned that it talked about some Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) having low productivity. The report says nothing about this subject. Astrue must have been conflating this report with some other report that crossed his desk recently. That other report was probably an internal report that was critical of ALJs. That unreleased report that may have had something to do with Astrue's recently stated desire to have a large pool of ALJs located close by Social Security's central offices -- where they could be closely monitored.

Seattle TV Station Reports On Social Security Hearing Backlogs

KING in Seattle, Washington is reporting on Social Security hearing backlogs. The Seattle hearing office ranks 111th out of 142 hearing offices. Some excerpts:

Social Security is so bogged down that people's lives are falling apart waiting for the process to work, and we've found the Seattle area is one of the worst. ...

Wait times for disability benefits are long nationwide, but we've found the Northwest is especially bad. If you're denied, you'll wait an average of 19 and a half more months just to plead your case in court in our area. Only the Chicago area is worse at 19.8 months.

"As a citizen it breaks my heart, as a professional it bothers me," says Don Uslan, a psychotherapist who treats chronically ill patients. One third of his clients have pending disability cases.

"This time period, this three or four or five years appears to be the slowest and the most inefficient I've ever seen in my 30 years of practice," says Uslan.

Social Security says the wait times are so long because there's too much work, not enough money, and a shortage of judges to hear cases. But they couldn't come up with any explanation as to why Seattle's particularly slow, and they refused our repeated requests to talk about these important issues on camera.

Social Security Disability In Britain -- The Cooking Test

Those who have some role in the Social Security disability process in the United States may want to take a look at the Rightsnet board from the United Kingdom, which is used by those who help applicants for similar benefits on the other side of the Atlantic. In particular, you may want to scroll down and take a look at the thread having to do with the "cooking test" as well as other threads dealing with HIV, bipolar disorder, fibromyalgia, back pain and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Hearing Today On Medicare Programs For Low Income Beneficiaries

Beatrice Disman, Regional Commissioner, New York Region, Social Security Administration, will be testifying today at a hearing of the Subcommittee on Health of the House Ways and Means Committee on Medicare Programs for Low Income Beneficiaries. The hearing starts at 10:00 and is available in streaming video.

Tenor Of Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

I have posted a good deal on Tuesday's hearing at the House Social Security Subcommittee as well as posted links to accounts in the news media, but there is one subject that I think that I and others have only hinted at and that is the tenor of the hearing.

The head of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) was bound to catch hell. That was inevitable and justified. However, it was surprising just how much hell Michael Astrue, the Commissioner of Social Security, was catching. Virtually all of the panel members present asked questions of Astrue that suggested a concern about whether Astrue was doing all that he could about the horrendous backlogs at Social Security. None of the panel members was asking softball questions. Representative Tubbs Jones was openly hostile and angry, but Congressman Sander Levin was the most devastating. In a quiet, soft voice Levin said that he did not understand how Astrue and others at Social Security could live with themselves because he felt they were not doing all they could about the backlogs. I really wish I could attach a video of what he said to this blog. Astrue could probably tell himself that Tubbs Jones was just a junior Congressperson who was being a jerk. He cannot dismiss Sander Levin in that way. He is a very senior member and he was expressing great sadness rather than anger.

Why would the Subcommittee members be talking to Astrue like this? He has only been on the job for about two and a half months. Clearly, he is not responsible for the backlogs at Social Security. Everyone who has any familiarity with the situation knows that there are serious limits on what can be done about these backlogs this fiscal year. More budget is clearly needed. Astrue was honest in telling the Subcommittee that the problem with hiring more ALJs has not been OPM but Social Security's budget, which meant that he was telling the Subcommittee that his predecessor had misled the Subcommittee. That should have gotten him some points with the Subcommittee.

There were references to regular meetings between Astrue and the Subcommittee staff. These meetings were referred to as being "frank." The word "frank" is used in diplomacy to indicate open, perhaps angry disagreement. I suspect that "frank" may have been used in the same way to describe the meetings between Astrue and Subcommittee staff. I can only guess at what brought about disagreement, but Astrue's personality probably did not help. Apparently, Astrue may be a bit prickly and he is not the world's best listener. The subjects that are likely to have been the subject of disagreement are Astrue's apparent unwillingness to rapidly expand the ALJ corps, his possible foot dragging on short term measures to keep the hearing backlog from growing (such measures as senior attorney decisions, short form ALJ decisions and re-recon) and his apparent interest in trying to "manage" ALJs.

This hearing was not that far from breaking into a shouting match. If relations between Astrue and the Subcommittee are this bad this early in Astrue's career as Commissioner of Social Security, it is hard to imagine where we are going to be in a year or two. Michael Astrue would be wise to consider carefully how he can improve relations with the Social Security Subcommittee because they have the whip in their hands. Astrue must adjust to them.