AFGE Newsletter

Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 25,000 Social Security employees, has issued its July 2007 newsletter. Here are a few tidbits:

When the Union met for the first time with Commissioner Michael Astrue June 6, immigration reform was still a hot topic. He estimated its passage would requiring double the staff (currently 61,000) to issue national identification cards and verify social security numbers for employers. [emphasis added. This is the first time I have seen an estimate on this from Social Security. It may still happen. Why has Michael Astrue not been giving loud and public warnings about this?]

However, backlogs in hearings offices are first priority with the Commissioner. He made 20,000 hours of overtime available for volunteers from the field/TSCs to assemble hearings files. He also would like to hire 173 more Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and support staff for them (each ALJ averages 4.4 support staff) and allow senior attorneys to review and reverse reconsideration decisions on pending hearings. ...

After experiencing a communications boycott from former Commissioner Barnhart, the Union participants were pleased the Commissioner openly discussed his ideas on how to improve the disability program with Union leaders. ...

Mr. Astrue’s desire for better communications with the Union is not mirrored by his subordinates. The Deputy Commissioner for Operations Linda McMahon and all Regional Commissioners (RCs) refuse to meet with employee-elected representa-tives. They make decisions without employee input.

WBKO On Backlogs

Television station WBKO of Bowling Green, KY is running a story entitled "Red Tape and Disabilities" on Social Security's disability adjudication backlogs. See it in streaming video.

An Image From 1997

Expanding Workload For Social Security

From the Associated Press:

Employers across the country may have to fire workers with questionable Social Security numbers to avoid getting snagged in a Bush administration crackdown on illegal immigrants.

The Department of Homeland Security is expected to make public soon new rules for employers notified when a worker's name or Social Security number is flagged by the Social Security Administration.

The rule as drafted requires employers to fire people who can't be verified as a legal worker and can't resolve within 60 days why the name or Social Security number on their W-2 doesn't match the government's database.

Employers who don't comply could face fines of $250 to $10,000 per illegal worker and incident.

The natural thought is of illegal immigrants working under phony Social Security numbers and there will be plenty of those cases. However, there may be millions of other cases involving U.S. citizens where the records are simply incomplete or inaccurate. There are many women who changed their names when they married or divorced, but never told the Social Security Administration. Social Security employees will have to resolve these cases -- and in short order. Potentially, this is a huge workload, for which the Social Security Administration is ill-prepared.

Disability Benefits For Wounded Warriors

Social Security has created a new web page and a new pamphlet for "wounded warriors." Social Security promises expedited review of the claims of those who became disabled while in military service regardless of whether the disability is the result of combat or is any sort of wound.

More Work For Social Security Employees

From Social Security Legislative Bulletin 110-5:

On July 27, 2007, by a vote of 24 to 17, the House Ways and Means Committee passed H.R. 3162, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection (CHAMP) Act of 2007. ... [The bill]

• Would direct the Commissioner of Social Security to provide MSP and LIS applications to individuals who apply for Medicare benefits with SSA. SSA would also be required to provide assistance to beneficiaries in completing these MSP applications, which would be forwarded to the State Medicaid Agency for processing. This provision would be effective January 1, 2009.
• Would increase allowable assets for Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) and the Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) program to $17,000 for an individual and $34,000 for a couple, in order to qualify for assistance with Medicare Part B and D costs. Would be effective January 2009, with limits increasing annually starting in 2010, by $1,000 per individual and $2,000 per couple. ...
  
• Would allow the Commissioner of Social Security to obtain certain adjusted gross income data including information on State, private or individual pensions and annuities from IRS to identify beneficiaries potentially eligible for the LIS, effective upon enactment.

Proposed Regulation On Government Pension Offset

From today's Federal Register:

To implement section 418 of the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 (SSPA), we propose to revise our regulations to explain that a State or local government worker will be subject to the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provision under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), if any part of the last 60 months of government service was not covered by Social Security. We also propose to replace the words ‘‘receiving’’ and ‘‘received’’ with the word ‘‘payable’’ when referring to the eligibility to or payout from a government pension. This wording change will make the regulatory and statutory language consistent and help clarify when the GPO is applicable. In addition, we propose to revise our regulations to reflect a separate 60- month requirement that was made applicable to Federal employees by a 1987 law.

This proposed regulation is not controversial, but the underlying statute remains controversial.

Gray Leaves After Two Weeks

An anonymous person has sent me this e-mail which appears to be genuine and which, apparently, was just sent out:

DATE: August 2, 2007
TO: Senior Staff
FROM: Michael J. Astrue /s/
Commissioner

SUBJECT: Executive Personnel Assignment - INFORMATION

I regret to announce that Dr. David Gray has resigned as Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs due to personal issues and he has returned to Washington University.
I have continued to be impressed by his intelligence and thoughtfulness and believe that this hard decision is best for David and his family. I wish him well and I am sorry that we will not benefit from his talents and knowledge.
During this time of transition, I have asked David Rust to serve as Acting Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs. Executive Secretariat matters should be referred to Gary Thorne until further notice.
I would also like to thank Manny Vaz once again for his strong leadership during his tenure as Acting Deputy Commissioner for Disability and Income Security Programs in recent months.

Astrue had just announced the hiring of David Gray on July 18!