What Do You Think?

     I think the following post on this blog is from a ringer:

I work for the agency and happen to be in a position to personally observe field office operations in multiple offices. Yes, there are some very hard working employees, but there are many more slackers. The constant use of cell phones for personal calls (even taking calls while in an interview) and texting, and the excessive surfing of the internet is incredible. I have pretty much lost sympathy for the agency. I don't think a furlough of many of the employees would be noticeable, that is how little they produce. The early closings of offices is a joke as now many employees see it as an opportunity to leave early, not to work. The hours of 7:00 to 9:00 in the morning are woefully wasted unless there is training. Most days it is just used for excessive chatting and visiting. And this is just in the field. I know several employees who were detailed to CO where they saw employees there routinely take 2 hour lunches on SSA time. As for most field office managers, well, they are vastly overpaid as they do not spend most of their time managing, but "networking" on the phone and politicking.

     I know that Social Security employees have a variety of experiences and viewpoints but this one does not ring true to me. There are not that many Social Security employees who would have the opportunity to visit multiple field offices. For the most part, employees would be on their best behavior when such people were around since they would be management. How well would visiting personnel get to know what was going on in the field offices? How many people get detailed to work in Social Security's central offices? I wouldn't think there would be many even at the regional office level. I know that Social Security employees are no more perfect than any other large group of people but this seems way over the top. What do you think of this post?

FICA Reductions Extended For Two Months

     The reductions in the FICA tax  that have been in effect since the beginning of this year have been extended for another two months. The FICA tax goes into Social Security's trust funds. The Treasury is making up the difference for the Social Security trust funds.

Pathetic

From the New York Daily News:

Frank Lucas, who once ran a billion-dollar business smuggling heroin before going straight, could go to jail for bilking the U.S. government out of $17,300.

Now 81 and ailing, Lucas was charged with theft by deception after he allegedly told the U.S. Treasury he lost a Social Security check with funds earmarked for his 15-year-old son and asked for a duplicate, prosecutors said.

Withholding ALJ Assignment Information

     Let me give a brief comment on Social Security's plan to withhold the identity of the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) to whom an appeal is assigned until the day of the hearing. As a general matter it does not matter much to me. I do not prepare cases any different depending upon which ALJ the case is assigned to. Any differences in the way I present a case are minor. I can easily adjust on the day of the hearing since I know all of the local ALJs. Many others who practice Social Security law feel different.

     The idea that this will prevent "judge shopping" is, for the most part, ridiculous. The only way that an attorney can "judge shop" at Social Security is to decline to do a video hearing with a particular ALJ if it is known that the ALJ will not schedule an in person hearing. That is only a small percentage of cases. 

     What I am hearing from my colleagues is that many will refuse to do any video hearings with out of area ALJs under this policy since they would have no way of knowing anything about the ALJ in advance of the hearing. I may do this myself since the danger with having to deal with an out of town ALJ with serious peculiarities with no advance warning is all too real.

     My guess is that attorneys refusing to do hearings with the national hearing offices will become an even greater problem for Social Security under the new policy. Instead of trying to do one thing after another to keep the national hearing offices going, perhaps Social Security should revisit the entire idea of the national hearing offices. Was it really a good idea to create them?

Bad News On Appropriations

     Reportedly, Congressional leaders are close to agreement on an appropriations bill that will cover most federal agencies, including Social Security. The House Appropriations Committee has released a summary of the bill which says that "The bill funds SSA at $10.6 billion to administer SSA [Social Security Administration] activities, which is $74 million above FY [Fiscal Year] 2011 and $865 million below the President’s request." This is less than what had been in prior versions of the bill. The summary does not address the question of how much money will be earmarked to program integrity activities.

Update: I have now found a copy of the bill (the information important to Social Security begins at page 146 of the PDF).The actual base amount for Social Security is $10,555,494,000. On top of this, the agency gets $274 million for continuing disability reviews, which is down from $756 million as originally planned. The bill includes this larguage, which I do not understand:

That reimbursement to the trust funds under this heading for expenditures for official time for employees of the Social Security Administration pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 7131, and for facilities or support services for labor organizations pursuant to policies, regulations, or procedures referred to in section 7135(b) of such title shall be made by the Secretary of the Treasury, with interest, from amounts in the general fund not otherwise appropriated, as soon as possible after such expenditures are made.

Wall Street Journal Article

     Damian Paletta has an article in the "Politics" section of the Wall Street Journal today. The article deals with two issues that have been discussed in this blog in the past:

• The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) will do a study of Social Security's disability programs. This study will "focus" on Administrative Law Judges (ALJs). Harold Krent, dean of Chicago-Kent College of Law is to be the lead researcher. According to the article "A top Social Security Administration official had a conference call with roughly 300 managers Wednesday to express concern about the issue of outlier judges [mostly those who approve too many claims] and said he was hopeful the new study could provide ways to address the problem, a person familiar with the call said."
• Social Security will stop notifying claimants and their attorneys of the identity of the ALJ to hear a case. This is to be a secret until the day of the hearing.

Commissioner On Shutdown Threat

Message:
From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2011 05:32 PM
Subject: COMMISSIONER'S BROADCAST--12/14/11

A Message To All SSA Employees

Subject: Important Message

While Congress continues to consider an omnibus appropriations bill along with extensions to the payroll tax cut and Unemployment Insurance benefits, there is no guarantee that it will finish its work before our current appropriation expires on Friday at midnight.  The President has urged all Members of Congress to complete the work they were elected to do and has made clear that there is no excuse for Congress to leave on vacation before its work is complete.  The President has also made clear that he does not want a government shutdown.   Given the realities of the calendar, however, prudent management requires that we plan for an orderly shutdown should Congress fail to complete its work or fail to pass another short-term continuing resolution that would give it more time to take up these important matters.

Both the President and I know that the uncertainty of the current situation puts federal employees in a difficult position, and we are very much aware that a shutdown would impose hardships on many employees as well as the groups and individuals our agency serves.  As we approach the expiration of the current appropriation, we will provide you with updated information as soon as it becomes available.  For now, I want to provide you with information on how the potential funding lapse–should it occur–would affect our employees.

If funding lapses, we would not be permitted to incur further financial obligations for activities funded by annual appropriations, except those related to the orderly suspension of operations or performance of excepted activities.  Such a funding lapse would mean that some employees would be furloughed and prohibited from working.  Our contingency planning for the potential funding lapse includes determining which agency functions and employees are excepted from a furlough.  Should it become necessary to implement our contingency plans, you will receive informal notice from your manager no later than Friday, December 16 and formal notice no later than Monday, December 19 regarding the designation of your position and furlough status.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) website, www.opm.gov/furlough2011, addresses some of the questions that I know must be on your mind.  As needed, OPM will provide additional pertinent information for federal employees as the week progresses.  We will also do our very best to provide clear information about the status of events as the week progresses.

Thanks to your hard work and dedication, we provide critical services to the American public.  Your contributions touch lives in so many significant ways, and I want you to know how deeply I appreciate your dedication and your expertise.

We will be in touch again soon.

    Michael J. Astrue
    Commissioner

I've Got A Secret

     I am hearing that beginning next Monday, Social Security will no longer notify a claimant or their attorney of the identity of the Administrative Law Judge who will hear the case until the day of the hearing.