Happy Thanksgiving!

No Early Dismissal For Social Security

An e-mail to Social Security employees:

November 25, 2009

MESSAGE TO ALL SSA EMPLOYEES:

SUBJECT: THANKSGIVING 2009

Late yesterday, the Office of Personnel Management issued a memorandum authorizing agency heads, as a mark of gratitude for the service provided by their employees, to provide an early dismissal on November 25 to the extent that doing so does not interfere with agency operations.

While we are, of course, truly grateful for the service you provide each day, it is critical that we continue to make that service available to the American public. Due to the nature of our operations, we cannot implement an early closing in a fair and equitable manner without disrupting critical and necessary agency operations. For these reasons, the Social Security Administration will not offer an early dismissal today.

Again, thank you for your continued commitment to our mission and the welfare of all of those who depend on us.

Reginald F. Wells

Deputy Commissioner

for Human Resources

Poll

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Poll On Individual Experience With The Federal Government

Gallup has a poll out on "the individual experience with federal agencies." The Social Security Administration was chosen as the federal agency that has the biggest impact on American lives personally and by a wide margin. Social Security was in the second quartile of agencies in terms of how satisfied people were with their interactions with the agency, ranking behind agencies such as Fish and Wildlife, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, the Smithsonian, the State Department and VA Hospitals.

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

Should Social Security automatically find a person disabled if that person has been found 100% disabled by VA (assuming that person meets non-disability requirements for Social Security disability benefits)?

Yes (73)	42%
No (99)	58%

Total Votes: 172

A Technical Question

Would it be possible for a hearing office at Social Security to enter a decision in Social Security's computer system as having been made when no decision has actually been issued? Could that computer entry cause payment of benefits? Is it conceivable that a hearing office could delay issuing a written decision -- either an allowance or a denial -- for months after entry of a notation in Social Security's computer system that a decision had been made? Who would be responsible if such a thing happened? Who would know about it?

Addendum: How can I receive a fee check (not direct deposit) on November 23 on an Administrative Law Judge decision that bears the date on its face of November 17 unless that decision was implemented without an electronic signature?

Reaction To Delaware Story

The News Journal of Delaware has a story up on the reaction of local politicians to the newpapers' series of stories on the Social Security disability program. Needless to say, they are not pleased.

Dangerous Spam Campaign

From the University of Alabama at Birmingham:

A new spam campaign using false e-mails made to look like messages from the Social Security Administration is capable of stealing Social Security numbers and downloading malware onto victims’ home computers, says Gary Warner, director of computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

The campaign was discovered Nov. 23 by Warner and his team in the UAB Spam Data Mine. ...

The spam messages tell users that there are errors with their Social Security statement then asks them to link to false pages made to look like the Social Security Administration Web site. Warner says the false pages ask users to enter their Social Security numbers before prompting them to download their fake statement.

“The reality is that the download is actually a virus capable of stealing personal information, including bank passwords, from home computers,” Warner says. “So once you have completed the login and download, the cyber criminals not only have your Social Security number, they also have infected your computer with serious malware that enables them to steal information and raid your bank and other accounts.”