Why Such A Short Time To Apply For ALJ Jobs?

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is now taking applications to become federal Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). Most of the ALJ hired as a result of this process will end up working for the Social Security Administration. OPM will only take applications for two weeks or until they have about 1,250 applications. The application itself is long. OPM must somehow grade the applications as if they were an examination. Applicants will receive numerical scores that will go a long way towards determining who becomes an ALJ. It is important that applicants do a good job on the OPM form. Those wanting to become ALJs want to spend time finely crafting their applications, yet they have at most two weeks. The time frame could easily be no more than a few days.

Why would OPM do this to someone wanting to become an ALJ? It seems so bizarre that one thinks there must be some bizarre explanation. However, let me suggest a simple explanation that fits the facts. OPM is under enormous pressure to grade those ALJ applications and produce a register of ALJ applicants by the beginning of the next fiscal year, October 1, 2007. Grading ALJ applications must be time consuming. No one knows how many people would file applications if OPM gave a more reasonable time to submit applications, such as three months, but it would probably be several times 1,250. More time given to submit ALJ applications also cuts into the time OPM has to grade applications before October 1. Thus, I suspect that the reason that OPM is making the application period so short and is only willing to accept about 1,250 applications is that OPM wants to make sure that it can finish grading all the applications by October 1. I think that OPM has a rational basis for what it is doing, even though I am sure I would be fuming if I wanted to become an ALJ. Of course, OPM should not have gotten itself into this situation, but that is another story.

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.