An Image From 1965

Getting Congressional Help

This bit of naivete is from Mercury News:

Q Regarding help from congressional representatives, about four years ago my son injured his back while working. He had to have major spine surgery.

He was having great difficulty convincing the Social Security Administration of his complete inability to ever work again.

Doctors and a hearing officer said he would never work again.

Still, he was denied disability benefits.

I helped him write letters to Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer outlining the entire debacle and asking that someone intervene on his behalf.

Feinstein assigned one of her top aides to delve into the problem.

Within three weeks my son received notice from the Social Security office that he had been awarded disability coverage.

We are absolutely certain that had Feinstein not intervened he would have been denied a third time.

P.S. I have also written letters for other problems such as non-payment of rebates with the notation "cc: Action Line" and always get immediate attention.

Thanks for having such a strong reputation that vendors and manufacturers hurry to resolve complaints in order to avoid having their names published in the newspaper.

Gloria DeJarlar
San Jose

A Thanks, Gloria. From the mail I'm getting, it looks like the folks in congressional offices can really make things happen. So, if you have a problem with a federal agency, get in touch with your local representatives. You'll find their contacts information on the Web or in the phone book.

I call this naivete because all that results from contacting a Congressman or Senator about a pending Social Security case is a meaningless exchange of form letters, with the Senator or Congressman getting all the credit if the claim happens to be approved. Funny, but the Congressional representatives never seem to get the blame for denials and delays.

Protest On No-Match Letters

This happened just before the injunction that prevents Social Security from mailing the new no-match letters and may be a sign on what is to come if Social Security is able to go ahead with sending the new no-match letters. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

More than a dozen representatives of labor, church and immigrant-rights groups gathered Thursday outside the Social Security Administration office in Seattle, trying to dissuade its administrator from taking steps they said will lead to mass firings nationwide.

The petitioners handed a request to SSA spokeswoman Joy Chang asking administrator Don Schoening to refrain from mailing so-called no-match letters next week. Chang agreed to consider a meeting addressing the group's concerns.

I do not know who Don Schoening is.

Upcoming Meetings and CLE

• September 7, 2007, Idaho State Bar CLE, teleconference
• September 7, 2007 Michigan NADE State Conference, Traverse City, MI
  
• September 10-15, 2007, International Social Security Association General Assembly, Moscow, Russia
• September 14, 2007, SSI Coalition meeting, Boston, MA
• September 15-20, 2007, NADE National Conference, Sioux Falls, SD
• September 20, 2007, Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel Teleconference
  
• October 17-20, 2007, NOSSCR CLE, St. Louis, MO
• October 26, 2007, Utah Trial Lawyers Association Social Security luncheon, Salt Lake City, UT
• October 31-November 2, Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Advisory Panel Quarterly Meeting, Washington, DC
  
• November 16, 2007, SSI Coalition meeting, Boston, MA
• November 16, 2007, Utah Trial Lawyers Association Social Security luncheon, Salt Lake City, UT
• November 30, 2007, Legal Services of New York Legal Support Unit CLE, New York, NY
• December 5, 2007, Tennessee Trial Lawyers Association CLE, Chattanooga, TN
• December 14, 2007, NC Academy of Trial Lawyers CLE, Winston-Salem, NC
  
• January 25, 2008, University of Mississippi CLE, Jackson, MS
  
• February 2, 2008 Minnesota Legal Services Coalition CLE, location?
• February 28-March 1, 2008 NADE Mid-Year Board Meeting, Washington, DR
  
• April 8-11, 2008 NADE Regional Conference, Austin, TX
• April 13-16, 2008 NADR Conference, St. Petersberg, FL
  
• April 21-24, 2008, NADE Regional Conference, Los Angeles, CA
  
• May 5-6, 2008 NADE Regional Conference, Madison, WI
• May 13-16 2008, NADE Regional Conference, Birmingham, AL
  
• May 14-16, 2008, NADE Regional Conference, Annapolis, MD
• May 21, 2008, Northwest Suburban Bar Association CLE,
  Arlington Heights, IL
  
• June 4-7, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Miami, FL
• September 15-18, NADE National Conference, Nashville, TN
  
• October 15-18, 2008 NOSSCR CLE, Century City, CA
• September 5-9, NADE National Conference, Covington, KY
• September 11-16, 2010, NADE National Conference, Albany NY
  

If you know of others I have not listed, please use the feedback button on the right side of the page to let me know.

Social Security Enjoined From Sending No-Match Letters

From the Associated Press:

The Social Security Administration cannot start sending out letters to employers next week that carry with them more serious penalties for knowingly hiring illegal immigrants, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Ruling on a lawsuit by the nation's largest federation of labor unions, U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney granted a temporary restraining order prohibiting the so-called "no-match" letters from going out as planned starting Tuesday.

Utah Incident

From The Salt Lake City Tribune:

Police in Provo say a motorist steered her car into the offices of the Social Security Administration

The crash happened about 4:30 a.m. Friday at the Social Security office at 491 N. 500 West.

The car backed through the front doors, crashing into furniture and interior walls, police said. Officers found the 45-year-old driver unconscious in the car.

Police said the damage may have been intentional and the motorist was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Officers took her to a hospital for evaluation then booked her into the Utah county jail on suspicion of criminal mischief and driving under the influence.

National Law Journal On ALJ Lawsuit

I saw this link on the CONNECT Board. The National Law Journal has an article about the Association of Administrative Law Judges lawsuit about the process for hiring more ALJs. Here are a couple of excerpts:

For the first time in nearly a decade, the executive branch this past spring opened a register to applications for administrative law judge positions. Within three days of posting the announcement on the government jobs Web site, the opening closed, having drawn a targeted 1,250 applicants. Was it long pent-up demand or something not quite proper that prompted the application onslaught?

The latter, charges the Association of Administrative Law Judges, a union of ALJs, in a federal lawsuit filed this summer. The suit contends one or more federal agencies received advance notice of the vacancy announcement and shared that information with its own attorneys, and, as a result, those agency attorneys received preferential treatment over other qualified attorneys in private practice. Association of Administrative Law Judges v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, No. 07-0711. ...

"There is a sense of antagonism between [the Office of Personnel Management] and ALJs, at least from the ALJs' view," said a longtime ALJ. "They see an institution historically required to manage and protect ALJs, which now is really doing neither or not doing it very well."

Fraud Allegation In Montana

From MontanasNewsStation.com:

A Clyde Park woman is accused of lying to get Social Security benefits for 18 years. Sandra Bowman pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges. ...

The indictment says Bowman falsely claimed she lived alone, or only with her child, when she was living with her common-law husband or boyfriend.

It also alleges Bowman claimed that no other person paid for her food, rent, taxes and utilities, when her boyfriend paid some or all of the bills, the indictment alleges.