Fee Bill Passes In Congress

H.R. 4532, which makes permanent withholding of fees for certain non-attorney representatives of Social Security claimants and withholding of fees in Supplemental Security Income (SSI) cases, has been passed by both houses of Congress. It should be signed by the President in the near future.

Complaints About ALJs To Be Tracked

Under the Privacy Act, federal agencies must post a notice in the Federal Register before creating a new system of records concerning the public. This is from a notice posted by Social Security in the Federal Register today:

At present, we do not have a good mechanism to track complaints about ALJs f[Administrative Law Judges] from initiation to resolution. This weakness makes it difficult for us to identify and resolve service delivery issues, and also impairs customer service. This system of records will help us improve service to the public by creating a centrally managed, electronic method to collect, monitor, and retrieve information concerning complaints about ALJs.

Would these records, properly redacted, be available under the Freedom of Information Act?

Justices Seemed Sympathetic To Government In Ratliff

From the National Law Journal:

A majority of the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic on Monday to the Obama administration's arguments that attorney fee awards under a key fee shifting statute belong to the clients, not the attorneys who earn them, and the awards can be offset to pay debts owed to the government.

In Astrue v. Ratliff, Assistant to the Solicitor General Anthony Yang and James Leach of Rapid City, S.D., sparred over what each claimed was the "plain meaning" of the Equal Access to Justice Act. The act awards attorney fees and expenses to "a prevailing party other than the United States" in any civil action against the government unless the court finds the government's position was "substantially justified" or an award would be unjust.

The government is urging the high court to overturn a ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (pdf) which, counter to most courts that have ruled on the issue, held that the fee award belongs to the prevailing party's attorney and cannot be used to offset the client's government debts.

Here is the transcript of the oral argument if you wish to read it.

Social Security Killed My Wife

From WTHI in Terre Haute, IN:

A local man claims the Social Security Administration killed his wife. ...

[T]he Freeman's got on their computer to check their back account online only to find Nancy's disability check was reclaimed by Social Security.

Then, they noticed hundreds of dollars in overdraft fees from the bank. They called the both bank and Social Security office who told them they reclaimed the check because Nancy Freeman is deceased. ...

According to Social Security, Nancy's been deceased since December 2009 ...

This is not even unusual. I now have two Social Security disability clients who are awaiting hearings on their cases who have been wrongly declared dead by Social Security in recent months. Does Social Security keep any stats on how many of these cases there are?

Social Security And Privacy

Take a look at Cooper v. FAA. It turns out that Social Security has been turning over to the Federal Aviation Administration medical records it has received in connection with Social Security disability claims so that the FAA can cancel pilot licenses and criminally prosecute those who are allegedly guilty of fraud in connection with their pilot license.

What do you think? Is this a good idea?

Two Federal Register Items Today

Social Security posted two final rules in the Federal Register today. One states that "for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) purposes, we do not consider any combat-related military pay as income when we determine whether spouses and children of members of the uniformed services are eligible for SSI." The other will "allow a representative payee who will no longer be serving in that capacity to transfer accumulated benefit payments and interest directly to a beneficiary if we determine that it would be in the best interest of the beneficiary."

Annual Statistical Supplement Issued

Social Security has released its Annual Statistical Supplement for 2009. It is a vast compendium of statistical information about Social Security.

Incomprehensible

From the Boston Herald:

Thousands of disabled Bay Staters in dire need of federal aid are facing longer delays after a Patrick administration decision to furlough more than 80 percent of the workers handling their claims, officials and advocates say.

The move sets up a battle between the state and the federal government, with the nation’s top Social Security honcho calling Gov. Deval Patrick decision “incomprehensible” and saying he cannot rule out legal action.

“I can’t conceive of how anyone would think this would make any sense,” U.S. Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue told the Herald. “Massachusetts isn’t saving money. I just think it’s incomprehensible.”

Astrue said the Patrick administration told him that 228 of 272 employees in the state’s two Disability Determination Services Offices, which process thousands of disability applications a year, are to be furloughed. So far, 14 DDS managers have been furloughed. Astrue questioned the logic in furloughing the workers when the office is federally funded.