0.3% COLA Coming?

     A reporter figures that Social Security's Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA) for this year will be 0.3%. I'd say that the margin of error on this prediction is no more than a tenth of one percent.

Spraying For Bed Bugs Leads To Problems In Cleveland Field Office

     From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has asked the General Services Administration to investigate an incident in which some Social Security Administration employees who work in downtown Cleveland said they became ill after their office was sprayed for a bed bug infestation. 

Furniture from that office later was donated to Catholic Charities. ...

The spraying took place in February at the Social Security Administration office on the seventh floor of the Celebrezze building. After the spraying, workers complained of a chemical smell when they returned to their office. 

A worker told Fox8 that she suffered from vomiting, dizziness and tremors in her arms and legs. 

Brown's letter cites a recently released investigation by the Ohio Department to Agriculture that suggests pesticides intended for outdoor use only were used in the office.

Congressional Hearing Scheduled To Allow Republicans To Claim Social Security Is Bankrupt

     From a press release:

House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Sam Johnson (R-TX) announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on “Understanding Social Security’s Solvency Challenge.” The hearing will focus on the difference between the Social Security solvency projections of the Congressional Budget Office and the Social Security Board of Trustees, the causes of the difference, and what this means for Social Security’s long-term solvency. The hearing will take place on Wednesday, September 21, 2016 in B-318 Rayburn House Office Building, beginning at 10:00 AM.

Comgressional Hearing On Maximizing Social Security

     The Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing yesterday on Maximizing Your Social Security Benefits: What You Need to Know. A group of wealthy Senators were wondering why everyone doesn't wait until age 70 to claim their Social Security retirement benefits. Since there's a delayed retirement credit to encourage people to wait, the Senators figure it must be lack of information keeping people from waiting. There definitely is a lack of information. It's a longstanding frustration for me that most people think that Social Security is simple. No, it isn't. No program that pays benefits in many different categories to tens of millions of people could possibly be simple. Even when you try to tell people about the rules that affect them personally, their eyes start glazing over almost immediately. However, the real reason that people claim benefits earlier than some wealthy people think they should is economic necessity. Most people aren't wealthy like these Senators. They don't have the resources to survive more than a few months after retirement without Social Security. 

     Not that it matters to many people but the math on the delayed retirement credit isn't as wonderful as it's cracked up to be. You get 8% more a year for each year that you delay taking Social Security benefits but that's not compounded and it has to be stacked against the facts that you don't get paid Social Security for the years you waited and that you may die before any theoretical breakeven point or even before drawing Social Security retirement benefits at all. Even if you survive long enough, is it irrational to want to take the money when you're still young enough to be able to do something with it? Life is short. Eating dessert first may not always be a bad idea.

Re-Recon Back?

     I got this recently. Is this a sign of the new re-recon? If it is, I don't expect it to amount to much. This sort of thing doesn't seem like a priority. Even if it were, the staffing isn't there to do much.

     By the way, notice that "DDS Case Number." It wasn't the claimant's Social Security number. Is this a sign that Social Security itself will start moving away from the use of the Social Security number as much as possible?

Social Security Employee Refuses To "Certify Sin"

     From the Washington Post:

A short video about lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual diversity may bring an abrupt end to a federal employee’s 14-year career with the Social Security Administration. David Hall, who works in information technology at the agency’s office in Champaign, Ill., refused to watch the 17-minute video on several occasions.  

Hall told the News-Gazette that the mandate to watch the video first came in April, when the national office sent out an email memo regarding LGBT diversity and inclusivity training. ...

For Hall, that premise was too sinful. The 42-year-old, who identifies as Christian, said he does not believe God would have wanted him to watch the video. Signing a statement he had watched such a video, moreover, was equal to endorsing “an abomination,” he told WCIA. “I’m not going to certify sin.” ... 

On two occasions in June, Hall’s boss told him to watch the video. When Hall declined, he was reprimanded. He later received a two-day suspension, in August, without pay. ... 

Hall is willing to lose his job — he admits it is likely, in fact — and he sees his stance as a call to other Christians. ...

Major Social Security Staff Losses In Many States

ALJs Are Supposed To Schedule 45-50 Hearings A Month

An e-mail from Social Security's Chief Administrative Law Judge Debra Bice:

Jack and I have spoken with many of you over the last few months and know that you share ODAR’s commitment to public service by providing claimants with timely and policy compliant dispositions. You also have shared some of the challenges you face in doing so. We are aware of the challenges you have been facing, even more so now with the hiring freeze. We are working on many initiatives to help support you, such as new regulations, pre-hearing conferences and case summaries of large files.

Given the current environment, you have asked how many cases we expect every judge to schedule each month. Looking at current data, a majority of you are scheduling an average of 45-50 hearings a month and completing the work in a legally sufficient and policy compliant manner. I know that it takes dedication to manage your docket effectively and I thank each of you. I am asking EVERY judge to schedule hearings generally in the range of an average of 45-50 hearings per month. If you feel comfortable handling more cases and can maintain legal sufficiency and policy compliance in your dispositions, please continue to do, and we thank you. If are not yet scheduling an average of 45-50 cases a month, please try to increase your dockets to do so. This may mean adding a day of hearings every month or an additional hearing to each hearing day. We will continue to evaluate our scheduling expectations for all judges in the future.

For those of you who elect to telework, I am going to advise our HOCALJs that, for the October 2016 to March 2017 telework period, an average of 45-50 scheduled hearings a month generally should be considered “reasonably attainable.” I am also going to discuss again with our HOCALJs the need to consider all extenuating circumstances in considering your telework requests.

This is a crisis time for us. Even with all the headwinds in our face, the public we serve is asking us to do the most we can. I am so proud of all of you. If all judges generally can schedule an average of 45-50 hearings a month or more, hold those hearings absent good cause, and move the cases out of ALJ controlled status timely, we can make headway in reducing the wait time for a decision. I speak for your national leaders, your RCALJs and certainly your HOCALJs. All of us, ALL OF US, are appreciative of all you do. I know sometimes our messages do not always reflect that appreciation, but make no mistake - it is unwavering. Judge Allen and I are proud to be your judicial colleagues.