Is This A Win For The ALJ Union? Seriously, I'm Not Sure

     From Government Executive:

The Federal Labor Relations Authority on Thursday announced that it would stay implementation of a new union contract set to be imposed between the Social Security Administration and the Association of Administrative Law Judges, reversing a previous ruling allowing it to proceed.

The judges union is one of several labor groups challenging the constitutionality of how members of the Federal Service Impasses Panel, which settles intractable disputes that come up during collective bargaining negotiations, are appointed.

In March, the FLRA denied a request from the judges’ union to block the Federal Service Impasses Panel from issuing an imminent decision imposing a new collective bargaining agreement between the union and the Social Security Administration, finding that the request did not fall under the narrow circumstances under which the FLRA can halt the impasses panel’s proceedings. ...

In April, the impasses panel issued a mostly pro-management decision, prompting the union to file a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking to declare the panel’s decisions null and void. The union argued that because the impasses panel’s decisions cannot be directly appealed and panel members are supervised only by the president, they are principal officers and must receive Senate confirmation.

Although the Social Security Administration has said it would delay implementation of the new union contract due to the lawsuit, on Thursday the FLRA issued a new decision formally staying the panel’s decision from taking effect. In its ruling, the agency said the lawsuit constitutes a new “differentiating circumstance” necessitating this action. ...

Is This A Half Step Forward?

     From Emergency Message EM-20022 issued yesterday:

The purpose of this EM is to provide the Field Office (FO) and Payment Center (PC), and the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) with temporary supplemental instructions for documenting appointment of a representative while the COVID-19 case processing procedures are in place. ...

To appoint a representative, our regulations require the claimant submit a dated and signed written notice. GN 03910.040 and GN 03940.003 require that the signatures on the notice of appointment and fee agreement be in pen-and-ink to provide a measure of protection of the claimant’s privacy and data integrity. ...

If the claimant’s signature on a notice of appointment (for example, Form SSA-1696) does not meet the standards listed in GN 03910.040 (e.g., signature appears to be electronic or a digitized image of a handwritten signature), follow the instructions below – ... 

Contact the claimant to confirm his or her signature, after verifying identity, and intent to sign following these steps: ...

Confirm that the claimant signed the appointment with intent to sign it using the following script:

• “We have received an appointment form with your electronic signature and need to ask you a few simple questions to confirm you signed it. Did you sign this form?”
• “And you understood that by electronically signing this form, you agreed [insert name of Appointed Representative on the SSA-1696] will now represent you on your claim with SSA, and [he/she] and [his/her] employees can obtain information about your claim from SSA?”...

75% Absentee Rate At Reopened IRS

     From the Washington Post (emphasis added):

The Internal Revenue Service had barely begun bringing its lowest-paid workers back to the office in late April when someone in the Philadelphia call center came down with a fever, forcing the third-floor staff to head home.

Within two days, an employee in the processing center in Kansas City, Mo., who routes paper checks for deposit was sick with coronavirus symptoms, too. Then the husband of a woman in accounts management in the Covington, Ky., office tested positive, leading managers to presume that she was infected.

The three service centers, among 10 campuses nationwide where the IRS is trying to reinstate 11,000 employees, had to partially close for a week for deep cleaning. ...

The tax behemoth that touches virtually every American has made the government’s most aggressive effort so far to recall its workforce. But like other federal agencies following President Trump’s order to reopen the country, the IRS is struggling to ensure the safety of its employees as it tries to chip away at a crushing backlog and serve the public. ...

As of Monday, about 3,000 customer-service and clerical workers had volunteered to return to the office, an absentee rate of almost 75 percent. ...

Three Listings Extended

     Social Security has extended without change the Listings for Low Birth Weight and Failure to Thrive, Endocrine Disorders, and Cancer (Malignant Neoplastic Diseases). Each of the Listings has an expiration date. They must be extended or modified by that date.

Who Gets Your Vote?

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Some Tentative Musings About The Future For Benficiaries

     Alicia H. Munnell, the director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, has penned a piece for Marketwatch on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Social Security. She's not definite. It's not possible to be at this point. She suggests that even though there will be no near term effect upon Social Security's ability to pay benefits, the economic effects of Covid-19 may hasten the day that something will have to be done about the Social Security trust funds. She also believes it is possible there will be no cost of living adjustment in Social Security benefits this year because the economic crisis has stopped inflation. In the long run, Munnell thinks that there may be some effect upon future Social Security payments to those whose earnings are reduced or absent now due to Covid-19. Low income workers may be the ones most affected.

What A Mess

     Can Social Security start holding in person hearings prior to the release of a vaccine for Covid-19? Many disability claimants are immunocompromised because of medication they're taking. Even if everything else is reopening, it may be inadvisable for them to attend a hearing. And it's not just the claimants. Some of the Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) who hold the hearings are immunocompromised as are some of the attorneys, vocational experts and hearing reporters who attend the hearings. Many others are at additional risk from Covid-19 because of their age. I really want to get back to in person hearings but can they be held with reasonable safety for all the participants?

Still No Update To Fee Payments Stats

     I pointed out a few months ago that Social Security was late in posting updates on the amount of fees paid to attorneys and others representing claimants before the agency.

     They still haven't posted an update. The last one posted was for November 2019. I don't know why but it looks like a decision was made to stop posting the numbers. Is a report still being compiled internally?