He Felt He Was Getting The Run-Around

     From the Patriot-News:

A Harrisburg [PA] man is accused of threatening to go into the Social Security office in Harrisburg and start shooting, Capitol police say.

Rodney Deavers, 46, of Harrisburg, was charged Feb. 11 with making terroristic threats and harassment. He was released on $10,000 bail.

Deavers is accused of threatening to go into the Social Security office on Walnut Street "and start shooting," said Troy Thompson, spokesman for Capitol police. ...

Deavers told police he was upset with how his claim for disability/workman's compensation was progressing and felt he was "being given the run-around," Thompson said.

Updated List For Service Of Process On SSA

     Social Security's Office of General Counsel is updating its list of where you must serve process when you sue the agency.

ALJ Sues Over LGBT Diversity Training

     From the Washington Post:

Citing his First Amendment rights and religious protections under the Civil Rights Act, a Social Security Administration judge in Texas who refused to watch an LGBT diversity training video is suing his superiors to avoid being fired, saying he was subject to a “religiously hostile work environment.”

Judge Gary Suttles said in a complaint filed Thursday in federal court in Texas that the Social Security Administration, or SSA, should be barred from taking any disciplinary action against him at least until his religious discrimination claims are heard by a federal employment panel. ...

Though his complaint describes a “sterling work record,” Suttles was criticized and investigated by the SSA in 2015 after he scoffed at a Gulf War veteran’s post-traumatic stress disorder during a disability benefits hearing. Suttles questioned whether the veteran, a 44-year-old who served as a fueler on an aircraft carrier, had experienced true trauma during the war. ...

     Suttles has a 15% reversal rate, meaning he turns down 85% of the claimants whose cases he hears. That's an extraordinarily low number. By any standard, Suttles is an extreme outlier.

Hiring Freeze Update

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Tuesday, February 21, 2017 10:14 AM
Subject: Update on the Presidential Executive Order Freezing Federal Hiring
Importance: High

A Message To All SSA Employees

Subject: Update on the Presidential Executive Order Freezing Federal Hiring

On January 25, I informed you of the President’s memorandum freezing Federal hiring. During this time, we will use certain, limited flexibilities provided to us by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) that include career ladder promotions or reassignments and details to fill positions that ensure the continuation of essential services and benefit payments.  We will also continue to ensure that our public safety and national security responsibilities are met. 

Keep in mind, this pause is temporary while OPM develops broader plans for the Federal workforce over the next few months.  I will continue to do my part to keep you informed and I sincerely appreciate your dedication to our work and the public we serve.   

Nancy A. Berryhill

Acting Commissioner

A Dire Warning

     From a writeup about a recent press conference about the future of Social Security:

Witold Skwierczynski, of the American Federation of Government Employees, came to the press conference with a dire warning:  Expect customer SSA service to retirees to get worst in the coming years.  Staffing in field offices has been cut by 2,900 (10 percent) since 2010 while work increased 12 percent, he noted, expecting the agency’s workload to go up 32 percent through 2025 due to the retiring baby boomer generation.  

 Skwierczynski expects Trump’s recent Continuing Resolution to freeze the hiring of federal employees to further increase waiting times at SSA field offices and for 800 number callers.

“President Trump is a hotel man.  If he ran his hotels like SSA he would have another bankruptcy.  None of his customers would tolerate a 3 to 4 hour wait for room service.  However, SSA customers wait hours, days, weeks, months and years for SSA to process their business.  That's not acceptable,” says Skwierczynski.

How Do You Beat This Efficiency?

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Income Inequality Takes Toll On Trust Funds

     Rachel West and Rebecca Vallas of the Center for American Progress write about the serious effects of income inequality on the Social Security trust funds. Because of the $127,200 cap on wages covered by the FICA tax, rising income inequality a greater and greater portion of income is escaping FICA. It's not like those with incomes over $127,200 a year are struggling. That's the group receiving the vast majority of income gains. If, instead of a flat cap, the FICA cap had been set since 1983 so that 90% of wages are covered, the Social Security trust funds would be $1.3 trillion higher now.

Senate Votes To Allow Mentally Ill Claimants With Rep Payees To Buy Guns

     The Senate has now joined the House of Representatives in voting to block regulations adopted during the Obama Administration that would have prevented some individuals with representative payees drawing disability benefits from Social Security from buying firearms. 

     Great work by all those in the Obama Administration who slow walked these regulations. The GOP couldn't have blocked these regs without your help. Oh, I know, you rushed it from Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) to Final Regulation. I'm talking about all the time this was being ever so slowly considered before the NPRM was published.