Onlike AC Appeals

     An announcement from the Social Security Administration:

We are pleased to announce a new online process for filing a Request for Review of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) hearing decision or dismissal (i520). 

The new online i520 process accepts both medical (disability) and non-medical (non-disability) appeals of an ALJ hearing decision or dismissal. 

There are many benefits to using the new i520. 

• Requests for review at the Appeals Council can be filed online. 
• The online appeals application is simple, convenient, and secure; it guides claimants and their appointed representatives through every step of the process, including uploading any necessary documentation. 
•  The HA-520 and documents are automatically routed to the correct branch in the Office of Appellate Operations, which improves the appeals process. 

 While the preferred method for filing a Request for Review is the new online i520 process, we will continue to accept requests by mail or fax. Please be sure not to submit multiple review requests by filing online and also by mail or fax, as it could delay processing. Additionally, please note that this new online process cannot be used to request an extension of time to file a civil action, Federal court review, or an ALJ decision in a case remanded by a Federal court. 

We encourage you to share this information with your colleagues.

Why Does It Take So Long To Get A Hearing?

     Senator Cory Booker wants to know why it takes so long to get a Social Security hearing. When I started practicing Social Security law in 1979 it took about three months to get a hearing. It's now taking about a year and a half for my clients. It's over a year almost everywhere and around two years in some places. Why? The answer I give my clients is that Social Security isn't given enough money to hire the personnel it would take to do it faster. There are things Social Security could do even with its current staffing such as taking its foot off the the brake pedal on senior attorney decisions but anything that would be perceived as helping claimants is out on the question in the current political environment.

Who Knew? Limit On Social Security Card Replacement

     I've still got the yellowed Social Security card I got when my mother took me to the local Social Security office at age 16 to get a Social Security number. In those days you didn't get a Social Security number or card at birth; only when you needed to get one to take a job.  It's a good thing I've not been in the habit of losing my Social Security card because Forbes reports that there's a cap on the number of times you can get a new card without jumping through a lot of hoops.

SSA Implements Trump Ordered Attacks On Unions

     From Joe Davidson at the Washington Post:

Enforcing President Trump’s crusade against federal labor organizations, his lieutenants at two large agencies have opened new fronts against government unions. 

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) wants to evict all union offices from agency facilities, while the Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to “revise” 21 points in its union contract. ... 

Referring to executive orders issued by Trump, a June 5 letter from Social Security to AFGE gives “notice of the Agency’s decision to implement all three Orders effective July 9, 2018,” even as it couches the decision as a proposal. 

That letter provides a list of 21 contract items Social Security wants to change, including office space, employee rights, child care, elder care, equal opportunity, leave, training, health, safety, performance, discipline, grievance procedures, promotions — almost anything anyone can imagine. ...

House Committee To Consider Social Security Appropriation

     A subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider a large appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2019 today. That FY begins on October 1, 2018. This bill includes the Social Security Administration's Limitation on Administrative Expenditures (LAE), which is, in effect, the appropriation for Social Security. Here's some highlights of the chairman's "mark" (beginning at page 142). That's the subcommittee's starting point:

• LAE $12,422,045,000
• "$100,000,000 shall remain available through September 24, 2020, for activities to address the disability hearings backlog within the Office of Hearings Operations" but any of this not expended by the end of FY 2019 (September 30, 2019) must be spent on IT and telecommunications. This all comes out of the LAE.
• "[N]ot more than $1,683,000,000 to remain available through March 31, 2020, is for the costs associated with continuing disability reviews ... or the cost of co-operative disability investigation units, and for the cost associated with the prosecution of fraud in the programs and operations of the Social Security Administration by Special Assistant United States Attorneys ..." Again, this comes out of the LAE.

     The LAE proposed is slightly higher than the $12.393 billion proposed by President Trump but still only marginally higher than the figure for the current FY of $12.236 billion. It probably won't be enough to even keep up with inflation. It's less than what Social Security was given in FY 2017, $12.482 billion.

Social Security To Address Workplace And Domestic Violence

     From a notice published by the Social Security Administration in today's Federal Register:

... In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. § 552a) , we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a new system of records entitled, Social Security Administration Violence Evaluation and Reporting System (SSAvers) (60-039). On April 18, 2012, President Obama issued the memorandum, Establishing Policies for Addressing Domestic Violence in the Federal Workforce, which directed the Office of Personnel Management to issue guidance to all departments and agencies to create policy that addressed domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Because of this guidance, we developed the Workplace and Domestic Violence policy and program. 

We established SSAvers as part of this policy and program to record, review, investigate, and respond to allegations of workplace and domestic violence affecting our employees and contractors. ...

SSAvers will capture and house information regarding alleged incidents of workplace and domestic violence filed by SSA employees and SSA contractors, and will allow SSA’s Crisis Advisory Team (CAT) to review and respond to the reported allegations. Due to the investigatory nature of information that we will maintain in this system of records, we propose this rule to add SSAvers to the list of SSA systems that are exempt from specific provisions of the Privacy Act pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2). ...

Two Social Security Rulings Rescinded

     From a notice published by Social Security in the Federal Register (footnote omitted):

   ... In accordance with 20 CFR 402.35(b)(1), we give notice that we are rescinding the following SSRs [Social Security Rulings]: 

• SSR 96-3p: Titles II and XVI: Considering Allegations of Pain and Other Symptoms in Determining Whether a Medically Determinable Impairment is Severe.
• SSR 96-4p: Titles II and XVI: Symptoms, Medically Determinable Physical and Mental Impairments, and Exertional and Nonexertional Limitations.

These SSRs are unnecessarily duplicative of SSR 16-3p Titles II and XVI: Evaluation of Symptoms in Disability Claims, which was applicable on March 28, 2016 , published in the Federal Register on March 16, 2016, 81 FR 14166. SSR 16-3p, a more comprehensive statement of our policy on symptoms, explains how we evaluate the extent to which alleged symptoms limit an adult’s ability to perform work-related activities and a child’s ability to function effectively in an age-appropriate manner. ...

Social Security Employee Arrested

     From the Daily Herald of suburban Chicago:

A Montgomery woman has been indicted on charges that she pocketed at least $680,000 while working as a claims specialist for the Social Security Administration.

Officials said Ann Aroste, 42, faces five counts of wire fraud and five counts of aggravated identity theft in connection with five instances between August 2013 and May 2018, according to an indictment filed in federal court Thursday.

According to the indictment, Aroste began working for the Social Security Administration in April 2008 as a claims specialist processing and approving applications for social security benefits. Authorities said Aroste used her position to approve fraudulent applications for survivor benefits for people she falsely claimed had been married to deceased workers. Those five fraudulent claims resulted in at least $680,000 being paid by the U.S. Treasury Department to bank accounts Aroste controlled, officials said.

Officials said Aroste was arrested Monday morning and pleaded not guilty at an arraignment hearing later Monday afternoon.

Each count of wire fraud can carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and each count of aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory two- year prison sentence after a conviction.

     I assume the Montgomery where this woman lives is in Illinois.