SSA Retirements

JOA, a Social Security employee who posts on the CONNECT Board, gives some interesting information suggesting that the long predicted wave of retirements at Social Security is well underway.

It is impossible for any government agency to have a replacement immediately ready to do the job being left by a retiree. Hiring and training does not happen that fast, particularly in government service. Even when a replacement is finally available, the replacement will be inexperienced and less productive than the retiree and will make mistakes that others must straighten out.

Galveston Office Stays Put For Now

From the Galveston County Daily News:

GALVESTON — The Social Security Administration has halted a plan to move its island office to League City, a spokesman said.

Wes Davis, spokesman of the administration’s regional office in Dallas, said public outcry prompted administration officials to consider starting the move process again.

“Everything is on hold right now,” he said. “We need to evaluate how we will proceed, step back and consider if we need to do another site survey.”

Government leaders and residents have urged the administration to maintain an office on the island. Islander Margaret Canavan has collected 1,600 signatures on petitions opposing the move since it was made public in April.

Senate Pursues Red Herring

From an article by Mary Walsh in today's New York Times:

The Senate is investigating whether insurance companies are forcing able-bodied people to apply for Social Security disability benefits, worsening a severe backlog in the government program while increasing their own profits.

Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, has sent letters to nine insurers, requesting detailed information about their handling of disability claims “as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into these important matters.” ...

“The last thing those who rely on Social Security need is for insurance companies to be clogging up the system by forcing ineligible applicants to apply,” he said.

Note that it is a Republican who is most interested in this inquiry.

I consider this inquiry to be a red herring that distracts from the real reason for the backlogs, a lack of adequate staffing at Social Security. Over 90% of those on long term disability benefits who apply for Social Security disability benefits are approved. Why is it a bad idea to encourage these people to apply? They have a much higher success rate than other claimants.

Updated Employment Figures

The Office of Personnel Management has released figures showing the number of employees at federal agencies as of March 2008. Below is the March 2008 figure for Social Security with the numbers from earlier dates for comparison. Note that the number of employees at Social Security has gone down by 8.6% in the last two and a half years and that Democratic majorities in Congress have not stopped the decline.

• March 2008 60,465
  
• December 2007 61,822
• September 2007 62,407
• June 2007 62,530
• March 2007 61,867
• December 2006 63,410
• September 2006 63,647
• September 2005 66,147
• September 2004 65,258
• September 2003 64,903
• September 2002 64,648
• September 2001 65,377
• September 2000 64,521
• September 1999 63,957
• September 1998 65,629

A Question Of Ethics

On the separate Social Security Perspectives blog I have posted a copy of the decision of the California State Bar on the reinstatement petition of Weldon Ray Reeves, who is pictured to the left. You can click on each page of the decision to read it. It is spread over four posts due to technical limitations in Blogger. Let me briefly summarize the decision.

• Mr. Reeves was a lawyer in the past, but he was disbarred in March 1996 after he pled guilty to a felony charge of aiding and abetting a false statement in a bankruptcy petition.
• Mr. Reeves' petition for reinstatement as an attorney was denied in 2000.
• On June 6, 2006, the Appeals Council of the Social Security Administration overturned a decision of an Administrative Law Judge that held that Mr. Reeves should be disqualified from representing Social Security claimants on the grounds that he had deceived a client, but still disqualified Mr. Reeves from representing Social Security claimants on the grounds that he lacked good character and reputation.
• Mr. Reeves is the sole proprietor of Disability Advocates. (Note that other entities unassociated with Mr. Reeves use the same name in other parts of the country.)
• After he was disqualified by the Social Security Administration, Mr. Reeves continued to represent Social Security claimants through the "veil" of Georgia McGreal. Other than discontinuing going to hearings himself, the disqualification hardly changed Mr. Reeves' activities in representing Social Security claimants.
• On July 15, 2008, the California State Bar again denied Mr. Reeves' petition for reinstatement as an attorney.

There is a good deal more in the decision of the California State Bar about Mr. Reeves' activities. Much of it casts Mr. Reeves in a very bad light.

I find it distressing that this sort of thing can go on and that the Social Security Administration seems powerless to stop it. If withholding of fees for non-attorneys is to be renewed by Congress, action should be taken to address this sort of situation.

SSI Monthly Stats

Social Security's Office of Policy has issued its monthly statistical package for Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The number of people on SSI has gone up by 139,062 or 2% in the last year. All of this increase is in disability recipients. The number of people drawing SSI on account of age decreased slightly over the last year.

News Conference On Transferring Cases -- And More About Night Court

I had posted earlier about Social Security disability cases awaiting hearings being transferred from Charlotte to Seattle. My post was in relation to plans to hold hearings beginning as late as 8:00 p.m. on the East Coast.

The Charlotte Observer now has an article up about this transfer of 300 cases. The article was prompted by a news conference held by Representative Sue Myrick, a Republican. With the election coming, it looks like everyone in Congress wants to get on the right side of this issue, or at least appear to be on the right side.

Here is a little excerpt from the article suggesting that night court may become common, possibly in places other than North Carolina:

Officials said Monday's announcement could represent a permanent solution. Nancy Griswold, a Social Security Administration deputy chief administrative law judge, also said working with an office on the west coast essentially extends Charlotte's operating hours. There is a three-hour time difference between Seattle and Charlotte.

"Blood And Destruction" Blamed on Social Security And Congress

Congresswoman Kathy Castor's bill to impose time limits for holding hearings on Social Security disability claims has generated a good deal of media interest. Here are some excerpts from a story in the St. Petersburg Times:

The tens of thousands of people stuck in the national backlog for Social Security disability benefits might disagree, but the agency's top official argues progress is being made in ending the crisis.

The progress is hard to see in the Tampa Bay area, however, where the caseload is among the highest in the nation and an office sits empty awaiting the hiring of a much-needed judge.

The most recent figures indicate that 761,042 people are waiting across the country for hearings to address their claims. In the Tampa hearing office, the number is 14,524, the highest in the state.

The situation prompted Rep. Kathy Castor, a Tampa democrat, to propose legislation this week to break the backlog. Castor's bill would require that a hearing be held between 60 and 75 days from the date it is requested, and that a final verdict be given no more than 15 days after the hearing. ...

"Hiring new judges is a step in the right direction, but you still have to hire the staff in order to help them," said Robert Gutierrez, a South Florida lawyer who has been representing disability clients for 16 years. ...

Linda Fullerton, co-founder of a national grass roots organization called the Social Security Disability Coalition, is not impressed.

Fullerton, who lives in Rochester, N.Y., said she waited for a year and a half to get her benefits. When the wait devastated her finances, she got angry enough to start a cyberspace group that now numbers 3,000 members, she said.

"There is blood and destruction on the hands of both the Social Security Administration and Congress," she said in an e-mail to the Times. "Both have been systematically killing and devastating the lives of the most vulnerable citizens of this nation for decades."