Will Decline In OT Be Reversed Due To Extra Covid-19 Funding?

     This was obtained from Social Security by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) and published in its newsletter, which is not available online to non-members. Click on the image to view full size.

      By the way, isn't it time to update the heading for this report? ODAR has been out of business for some time now.

What’s New? ALJ Union And SSA At Odds

     From Government Executive:

Officials with the union representing administrative law judges said the Social Security Administration is trying to implement an unfinished collective bargaining agreement, despite the fact that several elements of the contract remain pending before an independent impasses panel. 

The Association of Administrative Law Judges and Social Security reached agreement on 20 of 29 articles for their union contract last year. The other nine articles remain unresolved, and have been sent to the Federal Service Impasses Panel for adjudication in the coming weeks, although the union has objected to that, citing constitutional concerns about how panel members are appointed.  

In early March, Social Security Administration Chief Spokesman Eddie Taylor formally called on the administrative law judges union to ratify the portions of the contract not before the impasses panel by May 4, arguing that the remaining unresolved issues don’t need to be ratified since they will be imposed by the panel. ... 

Thus far, the union has rejected calls to ratify the contract, arguing that the 60-day ratification window should not begin until the impasses panel issues its decision. AALJ President Melissa McIntosh said it would be inappropriate to continue to push for early ratification of a partial contract while the agency responds to the novel coronavirus outbreak. 

“I think it’s really unseemly that they continue to pursue this during a pandemic,” she said. “They really need to be focused on making sure the American public receives essential services and that hearings go off as planned, rather than continuing its effort to eliminate the judges’ union. I really am stunned that they’re persisting with this.” ...

     The general rule in negotiation is that nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon. Is there some exception to that rule that applies here?

SSAB Urges That SSI Recipients Receive Covid-19 Relief Payments Automatically

     From a press release:

Today, the Social Security Advisory Board (“Board”) sent a letter to Commissioner of Social Security, Andrew Saul, urging action related to relief payments to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients and restoring representative payee monitoring.

The Board urged the Commissioner, under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Pub. L. 116-136), to work with the Department of the Treasury to ensure that those who receive SSI payments also receive relief payments automatically and quickly, without filing any forms. ...

     Honestly, unless your goal is to harass SSI recipients, I don't know why you want to make them go to the trouble of filing any kind of tax return. Social Security has all the info in its databases needed to make these payments. Forcing SSI recipients to file tax returns makes more work, not just for them but also for the IRS and Social Security, which will both be receiving phone calls about this.  Of course, one guiding principle of the Trump Administration is what some have referred to as "performative cruelty", that is cruelty for the sake of cruelty conspicuously aimed at disfavored groups. Poor people are certainly disfavored by this Administration. If you’re poor, it must be because you’re lazy or because God doesn’t love you. In any case, if you’re poor, you can’t be a Republican and that’s good enough reason for you to be punished.

     Update: More pressure on this issue, now from AARP:

...  When contacted by AARP for clarification about the requirement for low-income SSI and VA beneficiaries to file a tax return to receive a stimulus payment, an IRS official would only say that “guidance is still in the process.” In addition, SSA announced on April 3 that it is working with the IRS to clarify the requirements for SSI beneficiaries: “We are working closely with Treasury to address outstanding questions about our SSI recipients in an attempt to make the issuance of economic impact payments as quick and efficient as possible.” SSA added that economic impact payments won't count as income for SSI recipients, and the payments will be excluded from resource calculations for 12 months.

As it did with Social Security beneficiaries, AARP is urging the IRS to reverse course and make automatic stimulus payments to SSI and VA beneficiaries without the burden of filing any additional paperwork such as a tax return. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, free tax services for low-income filers such as the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program have been forced to suspend operations. ...

Decline In Earnings Prior To Disability Claims

     This is from DI & SSI Program Participants: Characteristics & Employment, 2015, which Social Security recently released.

Click on image to view full size

     Note that disability usually does not arise like a thunderclap just before a claim is filed with Social Security. There is often a period of declining work activity that extends back several years. Illness sneaks up on people. They think they'll get better and often they do but sometimes their health just keeps declining as they age. People are not eager to file Social Security disability claims. They try to put it off as long as possible. By the time they file a claim, they're often at the end of their rope physically, mentally and financially.

What Do You Think?

     From Syracuse.com:

Joe Huppman didn’t hesitate to answer the urgent plea last month for retired doctors and nurses to help New York fight the coronavirus pandemic in hospitals stretched thin by a surge in patients.  

Huppman, 64, of Camillus, volunteered to return to the Syracuse VA Medical Center where he worked as a nurse for 17 years until retiring in 2017. He’s now on standby to help if needed. 

If he’s called to duty, Huppman and other retired medical personnel like him will be asked to make a financial sacrifice: The Social Security Administration will cut their benefits if they work too many hours, a penalty for exceeding annual earnings limits.

Huppman and others who started collecting Social Security before their full retirement age of 65 will have $1 deducted from their benefit payments for every $2 they earn above the earnings limit of $18,240 this year. 

Huppman shared his concerns with U.S. Rep. John Katko, who wants to change the law as the coronavirus takes its toll on the U.S. and stretches hospitals and first responders to historic limits. ...

NOSSCR Opposes Mandatory Telephone Hearings

     From a letter from the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives (NOSSCR) to Social Security’s Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) and the Chief Administrative Law Judge (CALJ):

Some of our members have been told that SSA [Social Security Administration] plans to change its policy of making telephone hearings voluntary, perhaps as soon as April 27. This is not acceptable to NOSSCR and we urge you to clarify as soon as possible that telephone hearings remain optional. Claimants who want to wait for in-person hearings (or video hearings, if they have not submitted an HA-55 opt-out form) should be permitted to do so.

     In case it's not clear to you, let me spell out the subtext. NOSSCR is concerned that ALJ hearings will become mandatory not just for the current emergency but from now on; that the agency will use this emergency to  achieve an unrelated goal.

Social Security Loses A Lot In Federal Court

     The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) compiles a yearly report on the attorney fees paid by federal agencies under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) to those who sue them or are sued by them when the court determines that the agency's actions were not "substantially justified." 

     The Fiscal Year 2019 report has come out. It shows that the Social Security Administration paid out a total of $45,842,213.45 in 8,223 cases, an average of $5,574.88 per case. To give a comparison, the agency that paid out the second most dollars was the Department of Commerce with $6,068,000.00 in just three cases. In terms of numbers, the Department of Homeland Security was second at 46 cases. Overall, Social Security accounted for 99% of the number of EAJA awards and 78% of the dollar amount of all EAJA awards.

OK, Now Let’s Take Care Of SSI Recipients; Also Don’t Change Your Mind Again

     From the Washington Post:

The Treasury announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment. 

The announcement is a reversal from earlier in the week when the Internal Revenue Service said everyone would need to file some sort of tax return in order to qualify for the payments. Democrats and some Republicans criticized the IRS for requiring so many extra hurdles for this vulnerable population to get aid when the government already has their information on file....