Social Security Ends Gender No-Match Letters

From Metro Weekly:

The National Center for Transgender Equality announced this evening:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has confirmed that it has ended the practice of allowing gender to be matched in its Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). This will result in the immediate cessation of SSA sending notifications that alert employers when the gender marker on an employee's W-2 does not match Social Security records.

Asked about the decision, White House spokesman Shin Inouye told Metro Weekly, "The White House welcomes this move by Social Security Administration."

A Freedom of Information Act request from NCTE showed that 711,488 gender no-match letters were sent in 2010 alone.

NCTE executive director Mara Keisling said in a news release about the development, "Ending this practice, which has endangered transgender people and our jobs, has been a priority for NCTE and we are pleased that the SSA has updated its policy."

Senate Bill Would Give SSA $208 Million More

From a press release issued by the Senate Appropriations Committee concerning the subcommittee markup of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill that covers Social Security:

Social Security Administration--The bill includes $11.6 billion, an increase of $208 million over the fiscal year 2011 level, for the SSA’s administrative expenses. This increase includes $139.5 million for program integrity activities and $68.8 million in base administrative expenses. As SSA faces sustained record levels of core workloads, the increase for base administrative expenses will allow SSA to provide targeted increases to parts of the agency facing the highest demand for services while maintaining the goal of eliminating the disability hearings backlog by the end of 2013.

The House Appropriations Committee has twice delayed taking up its version of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill.

Quiz Answer

Question: How long is the extended period of eligibility for Disability Insurance Benefits?

Answers:

• 9 months
• 12 months
• 36 months
• 60 months

Correct Answer: 36 months

Quiz

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8,000 Jobs To Be Eliminated In Next Two Years?

From NorthJersey.com (emphasis added):

The Social Security Administration (SSA) field office at 201 Rock Road in Glen Rock [New Jersey] will be closed permanently as of Friday, Sept. 23.

SSA area director Dean Frank told the Glen Rock Gazette that the local operation will be absorbed by the agency's Hackensack field office at 22 Sussex St. He said local employees are being transferred to the Hackensack location....

The office closure is aligned with ongoing cost consolidation efforts in response to recent funding cutbacks by Congress and the heightened need to reduce operating costs. Frank said the Glen Rock closure will save the agency an estimated $3 million over a 10-year period. ...

According to an SSA representative to the American Federation of Government Employees [a union which represents most Social Security employees], the budget action [planned by Republicans in Congress] could result in additional office closings, layoffs and furloughs in fiscal 2012, with up to 8,000 jobs eliminated in the next two years.

The Embarrassment Continues

From The Oregonian last October:

A federal magistrate on Wednesday ordered Social Security lawyer Daniel A. Bernath to undergo anger management counseling after an altercation with a judge on a downtown Portland elevator last spring.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul J. Papak found Bernath guilty of disorderly conduct for the March 31 dust-up with Dan R. Hyatt, a judge in Social Security's disability hearing office.

Papak dressed Bernath down for his behavior -- such as lampooning Hyatt on his web site as a Ku Klux Klansman and behaving like a pre-schooler fighting for a swing -- and said officers of the court are expected to treat judges with respect.

"This trial," said Papak, "is an embarrassment, in my mind."

The tiff on the lift climaxed a three-year war of words between Bernath, of Tigard, who represents clients in disability cases, and Hyatt, one of the judges who hears those claims at the Portland hearing office. Their squabbles -- which include dueling bar complaints, claims of slander and a $10 million lawsuit -- were chronicled in a July story in The Oregonian.

Bernath has not given up. See the video below.

Social Security Subcommittee Hearing Scheduled

     The Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittees on Social Security and Human Resources have scheduled a hearing for September 23 at 9:00 on Social Security's work incentives.

     I wish they would take a serious look at ending Ticket to Work and dramatically simplifying the existing work incentives. I also wish they would be realistic about what can be achieved. Anyone who thinks that there is any possible policy that would cause a significant percent of Social Security disability recipients to return to work has no feel for who is receiving Social Security disability benefits.

New Hearing Office In Georgia

     I asked recently when the next Social Security hearing office would open. It's about to happen in Augusta, GA. That new office is to have 10 Administrative Law Judges and 50 other employees. 

     I should have asked when the next one will open after the end of this fiscal year. The increased appropriations that have allowed new offices to open over the last couple of years have dried up. Instead of trying to improve service, Social Security is now trying to avoid furloughing employees. While service may improve in a few spots, service will unquestionably deteriorate across the country -- and I'm not just talking about the wait time to get a hearing.