Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

From the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee:

Congressman Michael R. McNulty (D-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Social Security of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing to examine Social Security provisions affecting some public employees and other workers and their families who face hardships in retirement, or in the event of disability or death. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, in the main committee hearing room, 1100 Longworth House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

ALJ With Second Federal Job

At the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) conference a few months ago, Social Security Commissioner Astrue referred to a disciplinary action against an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who was holding down a second full time federal job. I had posted about this.

I have been contacted by the person whom Astrue must have been talking about, Kelly S. Jennings. Jennings has sent me the statement reproduced below. I have no personal knowledge of the situation. I think it is appropriate to post this statement here, since Astrue was publicly criticizing Jennings, even if Jennings' name was never mentioned.

In 1994 Kelly S. Jennings was appointed an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration and assigned to the Atlanta (GA) North ODAR.

From 2003 to 2005, official SSA statistics reveal ALJ Jennings was among the most productive ALJs in the Atlanta North ODAR with disability case dispositions of 249 in 2003, 395 in 2004, and 449 in 2005 for a 3 year disposition total of 1,093 cases. In addition, Judge Jennings heard 144 disability cases in 2003, 318 cases in 2004, and 309 cases in 2005 for a total of 771 disability cases heard from 2003 to 2005.

In 2003, Judge Jennings was also selected by SSA to serve as a Quality Assurance Review (“QAR”) ALJ. SSA placed Judge Jennings in a Flexi-place/Alternate Duty Station (“ADS”) status and sent him hundreds of disability cases and decisions issued by other SSA ALJs from SSA headquarters in Baltimore to review for legal sufficiency and quality purposes.

In January 2003 Judge Jennings, a Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps having served 25 years in the U.S. Army Reserve, was mobilized and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (“OIF”). For his service in Iraq, Colonel Jennings was nominated for the Bronze Star Medal.

From 2003 to 2005 Judge Jennings provided military orders and leave requests on a continuing basis to the ATL North Hearing Office Chief ALJ (“HOCALJ”) who knew of his mobilization and deployment in support of OIF.

The Regional Chief Administrative Law Judge (“RCALJ”) (“GARMON”) and the Associate Commissioner of the Office of Hearings and Appeals (“THURMOND”) were also aware Judge Jennings had been mobilized and deployed to Iraq.

SSA continued to send disability cases to Judge Jennings by email for review and decisions for editing even while he was deployed to Iraq and Kuwait.

When he redeployed from Iraq to the United States in order to attend and eventually graduate from the prestigious U.S. Army War College, Judge Jennings would at periodic times use a combination of accrued/carryover annual/military/advanced leave and while in a Flexi-place/ADS work status conduct Social Security disability hearings and issue decisions.

Using accrued/carry over annual, military, and advanced leave, together with being placed in a Flexi-place/ADA work status by SSA, Judge Jennings continued to receive his salary from Social Security for the hearings conducted and disability case dispositions accomplished.

In 2007, nearly two years after having been released from active duty with the USAR and mobilized in support of OIF, an anonymous complaint was submitted to the SSA OIG, alleging Judge Jennings had received “dual income” from both Social Security and the USAR from 2003-2005.

In August 2007, Chief Judge Frank Cristaudo and Deputy Commissioner-ODAR Lisa DeSoto determined Judge Jennings was really not working for SSA as an ALJ from 2003-2005 due to his military status with the USAR as a mobilized reservist.

In August 2007, Cristaudo ordered the Time/Attendance (“T/A”) records of Judge Jennings retroactively amended for the years 2003-2005 in order to place him in a Leave Without Pay (“LWOP”) status and to revoke previously authorized and SSA management approved use of annual/military leave.

In November, 2007 SSA sent Judge Jennings a certified letter demanding repayment of SSA salary from 2003-2005 in the sum of $309,662.04 plus interest within 30 days.

Subsequently, in November and December 2007, SSA without notice to Judge Jennings invaded and confiscated $43,804.20 from his Thrift Savings Plan (“TSP”) account and $21,954.85 from his Federal Employee Retirement System (“FERS”) account despite the fact Judge Jennings had protested the $309,662.04 debt determination and had requested a hearing.

In August, 2007 Cristaudo and DeSoto suspended Judge Jennings from his duties as an ALJ and instituted an action with the MSPB to remove him from his position as an SSA ALJ.

The MSPB proceeding against Judge Jennings is pending and an MSPB Administrative Law Judge recently raised the question to SSA to the effect that if Judge Jennings was really not working for SSA as an ALJ from 2003-2005 as SSA contends, how he could legally hold 771 hearings and issue 1,093 disability decisions. This issue remains unresolved.

SSA has notified Judge Jennings his T/A and leave records for 2003 are lost and only partial T/A and leave records are available for 2004 and 2005. An SSA OIG audit confirmed the 2003 T/A records for Atlanta North ALJs were missing and cannot be located.

The SSA action before the MSPB has been set for hearing in March, 2008 on the question of whether the facts support removal of Judge Jennings from his position as an SSA ALJ. Judge Jennings has been forced to spend thousands of dollars in attorney fees, costs, and other expenses to defend himself against the MSPB action.

Mean while, the number of disability cases pending for hearing in the Atlanta North ODAR has climbed above 13,000 as one of the worst pending in the Nation.

AARP Radio On Social Security Disability

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has a short radio piece on the difficulties faced by Social Security disability claimants. Listen to it at AARP Radio.

Really Stupid Crooks

From the Associated Press:

Two men wheeled a dead man through the streets in an office chair to a check-cashing store and tried to cash his Social Security check before being arrested on fraud charges, police said.

David J. Dalaia and James O'Hare pushed Virgilio Cintron's body from the apartment that O'Hare and Cintron shared to Pay-O-Matic, about a block away, spokesman Paul Browne said witnesses told police.

The witnesses saw the two pushing the chair with Cintron flopping from side to side and the two individuals propping him up and keeping him from flopping from side to side," Browne said.

The men left Cintron's body outside the store, went inside and tried to cash his $355 check, Browne said. The store's clerk, who knew Cintron, asked the men where he was, and O'Hare told the clerk they would go and get him, Browne said.

A police detective who was having lunch at a restaurant next to the check-cashing store noticed a crowd forming around Cintron's body, and "it's immediately apparent to him that Cintron is dead," Browne said.

The detective called uniformed New York Police Department officers at a nearby precinct. Emergency medical technicians arrived as O'Hare and Dalaia were preparing to wheel Cintron's body into the check-cashing store, Browne said. Police arrested Dalaia and O'Hare there, he said.

Cintron's body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner's office told police it appeared Cintron, 66, had died of natural causes within the previous 24 hours, Browne said.

GAO Report On Backlogs

From a report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO):

Substantial growth in the numbers of disability claims, staff losses and turnover, and management weaknesses have contributed to the backlog problem. Initial applications for benefits grew more than 20 percent over the period while SSA experienced losses in key personnel: claims examiners in the state determination offices and administrative law judges and support staff in the hearings offices. In addition, management weaknesses evidenced in a number of initiatives to address the backlogs have failed to remedy and sometimes contributed to the problem.

The GAO report does not mention that GAO itself was a cheerleader for several failed initiatives at Social Security: Re-engineering, Hearing Process Improvement (HPI) and Disability Service Improvement (DSI). These initiatives have wasted hundreds of millions of dollars and have only made the backlogs worse. GAO's harping over the years on the theme of "management weakness" has been a major factor in bringing about all those failed initiatives.

Far from recognizing its own culpability, GAO seemingly questions the decision to end DSI. GAO recommends that Social Security "conduct a thorough evaluation of DSI before finalizing the agency's decision on implementation." To its credit Social Security's response to this GAO report "expressed concern that the draft report did not sufficiently emphasize SSA’s need for additional funding and noted that the success of future efforts to reduce the disability claims backlog will depend on adequate and timely agency funding."

I think it is time to paraphrase Ronald Reagan: The GAO's advice is not the solution to Social Security's problems. The GAO's advice is a major part of Social Security's problem. I recommend that the Social Security Administration quit listening to GAO, because GAO does not know what it is talking about. GAO is the one in need of a thorough evaluation of its own "management weakness."

Dirty Old Men?

From Justin Fox's blog at Time Magazine:

Here's something interesting I just learned from the Social Security Administration's website: There are 70 women aged 25 or younger in this country who are earning Social Security benefits as the spouses of retired workers.

Biggs Leaving

An e-mail from the Commissioner of Social Security:

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 4:00 PM
Subject: COMMISSIONER'S BROADCAST--01/08/08

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject: Dr. Andrew Biggs

I want to let you know that our Deputy Commissioner of Social Security, Dr. Andrew Biggs, has informed me he soon will be leaving the agency to pursue an exciting job opportunity.

Dr. Biggs will become Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), a prominent Washington think tank, where he will continue his research work on Social Security.

Before his appointment as the Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Biggs served as Associate Commissioner for Retirement Policy as well as Deputy Commissioner for Policy. During his nearly five years at SSA, he has done much to improve the public's understanding of the complexities of the programs we administer. In particular, he has led the Office of Policy's research agenda, which covers all areas of the Social Security program and how it interacts with the economy and affects the well-being of the people we serve.

In addition to being the Secretary to the Social Security Board of Trustees, Dr. Biggs was a member of the Trustees Working Group, which undertakes the staff-level preparation of the annual Trustees Report. Dr. Biggs also has been an important advisor to the President on retirement policy.

On a personal level, let me say what a pleasure it has been to work with Andrew during my time here. Not only is he an intelligent and thoughtful public servant, Andrew is also an extremely nice guy who handles the many challenges of his job with professionalism, grace and humor.

Andrew plans to leave SSA in early February and start at AEI in March. Please join me in wishing him all the best in the future.

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

Congress did not defund Biggs' job, but he leaves voluntarily shortly after the appropriations bill passes. Interesting.

Alert At Michigan Office

From the National Terror Alert Response Center (a blog):

A security guard notified authorities after he came across a suspicious package left at the new Social Security office on S. Telegraph Rd. this afternoon.

The area was cordoned off and the public was not allowed to enter the building, which is south of Seventh St. Officials have cleared the scene and the area has since been reopened after a police dog determined the package did not contain explosives, said Monroe County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Angerer.

Homeland Security officials were notified since a government building was involved and have reportedly taken away the package and will continue any investigation.

Sgt. Angerer said the parcel was delivered by the post office and reportedly left near or outside the office door. The security guard then became suspicious either based on the way it was left behind or because of the writing on the package.