New Addresses For Service Of Process

When you sue someone you must serve them with a copy of the complaint as well as a summons, which is a document telling the person being sued that they have been sued and had better defend themselves. Social Security gets sued by thousands of disability claimants each year. The agency's Office of General Counsel (OGC) has previously published a list of where they want these summons and complaints sent. Different OGC offices serve different areas of the country. Social Security will publish in the Federal Register tomorrow a new, changed list of where they want these documents sent.

The First Recipient Of Social Security Retirement Benefits

Ernest Ackerman, a Cleveland streetcar motorman, received the first Social Security retirement payment in March 1937.

Astrue Wins Award

From a press release:

Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue is the recipient of the Alzheimer's Association's 2010 Humanitarian Award. The award is given each year to a public official who has made a significant contribution to help those who are struggling with Alzheimer's disease. This year, the award will be given to Commissioner Astrue in recognition of his exceptional leadership in creating the Compassionate Allowances Initiative and the decision to include early-onset Alzheimer's disease and other dementias in that initiative.

How Does This Happen?

I recently received a printout of the cases I have pending with the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). The oldest request for hearing date for a case that has not yet been scheduled (and for which there is no other explanation for it taking so long) is February 18, 2009, about thirteen months ago. The newest request for hearing date for which a hearing has been scheduled (and for which there is no other explanation for the rapid scheduling) is February 4, 2010. The one where the hearing was just requested a month ago has been scheduled for May 7, 2010.

I am happy that the oldest case is less than 13 months old. Not long ago, my oldest case would have been well over two years old. I still have to ask, how does it happen that one claimant is still waiting for a hearing to be scheduled after thirteen months while another gets a hearing scheduled within a month after a request for a hearing?

Compassionate Allowance Cases To Be Given Priority

A recent issuance in Social Security's Program Operations Manual Series (POMS) gives some details on processing of compassionate allowance cases. One important detail is that these cases are to be given priority at all levels or review.

Fee Payment Stats

Social Security has released updated statistics on payments of fees to attorneys and others entitled to direct payment of fees for representing Social Security claimants:

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-10	32,227	$111,440,046.23
Feb-10	29,914	$105,708,101.59

Union Contract Negotiations News

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) union represents most Social Security employees. Since last summer, AFGE and Social Security have been in negotiations over a new contract. I just discovered that AFGE is posting regular updates on the status of the negotiations on its website. Interesting reading.

Sander Levin Gets Ways And Means Chairmanship

Representative Sander Levin has been named as the new Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. Wait, I said that wrong. One always says "the powerful Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee." Ways and Means has jurisdiction over Social Security. Take a look at some old comments I made about Levin's performance at a Social Security Subcommittee hearing.