Labor-Management Partnerships Coming

Alyssa Rosenberg at Fedblog quotes the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) as saying that "We're very close" to a Presidential order requiring labor-management partnerships at federal agencies. These had been instituted in the Clinton Administration but disbanded in the Bush Administration. Restarting the partnerships has been a major goal of federal employee unions.

Reginald Wells Receives Award

From Alyssa Rosenberg at Fedblog, writing about the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration awards dinner last night:

Reginald F. Wells, deputy commissioner for human resources of the Social Security Administration, received the David O. Cooke Award for Leadership in the Public Service. The award, which recognizes career achievement in federal service, was presented by Office of Personnel Management director John Berry and by Myra Howze Shiplett, a recognized leader in human resources management issues, who remarked on Wells' many contributions in the human capital arena.

Another Decomposing Mom Story

From the New York Times:

A South Florida woman pleaded guilty to collecting her dead mother’s federal benefits for six years after her death, all the while the mother’s decomposing body remained in the house the two women shared. ...

Ms. Jordan was arrested in March after the authorities responded to complaints by her neighbors of an overwhelming stench emanating from garbage on her property and the presence of numerous feral cats.

With Ms. Jordan’s consent, the police entered the dilapidated house and discovered it was cluttered with garbage. After repeated inquiries by detectives about her mother’s whereabouts, Ms. Jordan admitted that her mother, Timmie Jordan, had died some time ago. She then directed the officers to a bedroom where they found the mother’s decomposed body clad in a nightgown and covered in a sheet.

Detective Rich Snell said Ms. Jordan told him she did not have the money to bury her mother, “so she left her in bed.”

New Teleservice Center Coming

From a press release issued by Social Security:

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade. The Jackson TSC will employ about 175 people once it is fully operational. ...

Social Security currently has 35 TSCs operating in locations all across the country. rking closely with the General Services Administration to facilitate the process for opening the new TSC. The process provides for open competition and normally takes 18 to 24 months to complete.

Update: Jackson is in Tennessee's 8th Congressional District. That District is represented by John Tanner, the Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. Tanner seems quite pleased by the announcement.

Associate Commissioner For Disability Programs Job Open

Social Security is advertising the position of Associate Commissioner For Disability Programs. According to the announcement the occupant of this position:

... is the senior executive responsible for the development and promulgation of Agency policy and guidelines in the administration of its disability programs including medical, evaluation, disability process, and administrative appeals process policy. Additionally, the incumbent is responsible for analyzing legislative and regulatory specifications and budgetary impacts of legislation on programs administered by SSA.

Glenn Sklar, pictured above, had this job. I understand that Sklar is now the Assistant Deputy Commissioner to the Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Quality Performance.

Fee Cap To $6,000 Today

Effective today the fee cap for representing Social Security claimants under the fee agreement process goes to $6,000. Social Security has just issued staff instructions on handling this increase.

The Most Important Facts About Social Security Disability Benefits

Courtesy of the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) newsletter

Swine Flu And Social Security

From a press release issued by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union that represents most Social Security employees:

The Social Security Administration has taken no action to close two offices in Wisconsin despite several of its employees being exposed to the H1N1 flu virus. “This has become a matter of public safety and SSA needs to act,” stated Loni Schultz, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 1346, which represents employees in several SSA offices in the Wisconsin area. “We have an employee who was diagnosed with swine flu on June 16th. This employee had been to multiple offices prior to, and on the day of being diagnosed, including the Milwaukee DT Reuss Building and the Waukesha, Wisconsin SSA office. There now are four employees at the Waukesha, Wisconsin office with suspected cases. It is appalling that SSA has taken no action to close or sanitize these offices, or notify the public of this exposure.” ...

According to a GAO report released this week, SSA is one of three government agencies that have no operational pandemic plans in place.