Is Wet Ink Requirement Just Pointless Red Tape?

      From a press release:

 United Spinal Association recently filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia for the alleged unlawful "wet ink" signature requirements imposed on persons with disabilities in connection with applications for certain disability benefits of the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The complaint, which requests judicial review and declaratory and injunctive relief, states that the wet ink signature requirements, "unlawfully, irrationally and unnecessarily interfere with persons with disabilities' ability to pursue their rights to federal disability benefits—making an already cumbersome application process for persons with disabilities even more difficult."

"The SSA has chosen to selectively comply with or ignore the laws related to electronic signatures and documents and the right to representation. It has created and reinforced unnecessary barriers for those who legitimately need and seek assistance from third parties in obtaining disability benefits," said James Weisman, United Spinal's president and CEO. ...

Biden Plan For Social Security Disability

      From Joe Biden's plan for people with disabilities:

PROTECT AND STRENGTHEN ECONOMIC SECURITY FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

The Trump Administration has systematically attacked the Social Security disability programs—from proposing monitoring people with disabilities through social media in order to cancel their benefits, including their health care, to tightening eligibility through a proposal to  redefine the number of hours in a work week so some applicants do not receive benefits. The National Council on Disability found that “people with disabilities live in poverty at more than twice the rate of people without disabilities.” To protect the economic security of people with disabilities and increase employment opportunities, Biden will take a holistic approach to Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicaid, and other programs to support people with disabilities. He will: 

• Increase the benefit level for people receiving SSI. Biden will set a federal benefit rate of at least 100% of the poverty level. 
• Eliminate the five-month waiting period for SSDI and two-year waiting period for Medicare. Biden will work to pass legislation to ensure working people who develop a condition or disability are able to get their Social Security support as well as their Medicare benefits as soon as they qualify. 
• Eliminate the “benefit cliff” for SSDI. Earnings limits under SSDI can discourage people with disabilities from engaging in employment or internship opportunities when they depend on SSDI funds. Biden will increase this limit and phase out this benefit gradually so people with disabilities don’t have to choose between employment and health care. 
• Reform the SSI program so that it doesn’t limit beneficiaries’ freedom to marry, save, or live where they choose. Biden will work with Congress and the disability community to eliminate the SSI marriage penalty and “in-kind support and maintenance” provision and raise the asset limits associated with SSI that have not been increased since 1984. 
• Expand access to tax-advantaged savings accounts, ABLE accounts, which provide people with disabilities a way to pay for “qualified disability-related expenses, such as education, housing and transportation.” Biden will work to pass the ABLE Age Adjustment Act, which will make ABLE accounts available to 6 million additional adults with disabilities, including 1 million veterans. 
• Reverse damage done to Social Security rules by the Trump Administration. President Trump announced that he wants to change the Social Security rules for people who get disability benefits, including SSI and SSDI. His proposed change would require many to re-verify their disability every two years, a tough enough process to get through once, targeting adults with disabilities who are close to retirement, children with disabilities, and people with certain medical conditions including cancer and behavioral disorders. If approved by the Trump Administration, Biden will rescind this harmful proposal.
• Strengthen the Social Security Administration. Ensuring that Social Security benefits are easy to access and that field offices and teleservice centers are fully funded is key to our bedrock commitment to seniors and people with disabilities. Cutting Social Security services will only hurt the most vulnerable in our communities. Biden will provide sufficient resources for staffing needs to meet the needs of beneficiaries today and into the future.

ALJ Ordered CEs?

      In North Carolina, where I practice, Disability Determination Services, has recently resumed in-person consultative examinations (CEs) yet I've been told by an Administrative Law Judge that they are still under orders not to order CEs. Is that accurate?

Does This Even Mean Anything?

      From a final rule that Social Security is publishing tomorrow:

This final rule explains our process for issuing guidance documents under Executive Order (E.O.) 13891, “Promoting the Rule of Law Through Improved Agency Guidance Documents.” We will follow this process when we issue future guidance documents ...

The documents that we issue include Program Operations Manual System (POMS) instructions; the Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual; Social Security Rulings (SSR); and Acquiescence Rulings. Most of the documents that we issue do not qualify as guidance documents under E.O. 13891; however, some may. We will use the process in this final rule for the documents we issue, as appropriate. 

 As required by E.O. 13891, this final rule includes:

• A requirement that each guidance document clearly state that it does not bind the public, except as authorized by law or as incorporated into a contract.
• Procedures for the public to petition for withdrawal or modification of a particular guidance document, including a designation of the official to whom the public should direct petitions.
• Specific requirements for a guidance document that qualifies as “significant,” unless an exemption applies. ... 

    I don't know what this means. I doubt that Social Security knows either. In fact, I doubt that anyone does. It seems mostly intended to gum up the works at other purely regulatory agencies like the EPA. I expect that Social Security will decide that nothing or almost nothing they issue is really a "Guidance Document." This policy will probably be rescinded if Biden is elected President.

     By the way, note that Social Security didn't even include Emergency Messages on the list of possible "Guidance Documents." At the moment, Social Security is keeping almost all of the Emergency Messages a secret even though they're more likely to contain guidance than anything else they issue.

Endless Labor-Management Disputes At SSA

      From Federal News Network:

At least one of the unions representing employees at the Social Security Administration said it’s still in the dark about the agency’s plans to reopen its offices to the public and the workforce.

The American Federation of Government Employees filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Federal Labor Relations Authority on Monday, which charges SSA with failing to bargain over the agency’s reopening plans and for withholding information from the union. ...

Though the agency’s field and local offices are still closed, members of the public can call and schedule an appointment to handle “dire need” situations.

And as Federal News Network previously reported, SSA managers had called small numbers of employees back to the field and local offices to help with those “dire need” situations. ...

But the union doesn’t know how many of its members are returning to SSA offices — either on a regular basis or occasionally throughout the week — nor does it know what the conditions are like when employees arrive back to their local facilities.

“We don’t know if the areas have been cleaned and sanitized,” de Juliis said. “We have no idea if the people who are working there are allowed to work credit hours or overtime.”

AFGE later submitted a demand to bargain over SSA’s reopening plans on July 10. It also requested information on the number of employees who have returned to their field offices, the offices where employees are working and details on the work they’re performing. The union also sought details on the number of SSA employees who have returned to their offices and since contracted coronavirus. ...

“Your request fails to meet particularized need,” Jim Julian, SSA’s associate administrator for labor management and employee relations, wrote in an Aug. 7 response to AFGE. “The union did not articulate with any specificity how the information is necessary or how it will help you in fulfilling your representational responsibilities under the [labor-management relations] statute. According to the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the union must come forward with an explanation offering more than mere conclusions. The union cannot use an information request as a general audit approach.”

SSA did not respond to multiple requests for further comment. ...

To the union’s knowledge, the vast majority of SSA employees are continuing to telework. The agency has not called employees back to their offices en masse, nor has it provided a date for when all or some of the workforce might return.

But the gradual reentry of SSA employees has concerned AFGE. The union worries the slow recall of employees is by design, even though the relative silence on reopening means their members can continue teleworking.

     You can say that it's unlikely that Social Security would recall many of its employees to the office prior to a Covid-19 vaccine so the union shouldn't be so worried but why wouldn't Social Security management just tell union officials that it doesn't plan to force agency employees back to the office until there's a vaccine? Is it unreasonable for Social Security employees to expect to be told what the plan is?

More Time To Qualify For Stimulus Checks

      From CNN:

The Internal Revenue Service is giving some Social Security recipients more time to register for the $500 per child they may be due as part of their full stimulus payment.  

Those eligible will have until September 30 to enter their information online. They can expect the payments to be issued by mid-October, the IRS said Friday.

Reg Proposed On Waiver Of Some Overpayments During Pandemic

 

     Yesterday, the Social Security Administration has asked for Office of Management and Budget approval to publish an interim final rule on "Waiver of recovery of certain overpayments accruing during the COVID-19 pandemic period." The text of the proposal is not available to the public at this time.

     Update: Also yesterday, the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee issued a press release calling on Social Security to give relief to Social Security recipients overpaid during the pandemic.

Deaths And Bankruptcies While Awaiting Action On Disability Claims

      From a press release:

... Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John B Larson (D-CT) responded to new findings from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study they commissioned which found that thousands of American die or go bankrupt waiting to receive their disability benefits each year. ...

The study, “Social Security Disability: Information on Wait Times, Bankruptcies, and Deaths among Applicants Who Appealed Benefit Denials,” looked at people who appealed an initial denial of their application for Social Security or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits. It found:

• More than 100,000 people died without receiving a final decision on their appeal for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 9 million who filed an appeal from Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 to FY 2019.
• Approximately 50,000 people filed for bankruptcy while appealing for Social Security or SSI disability benefits, out of approximately 3.6 million who filed an appeal from FY 2014 to FY 2019.
• From FY 2008 to FY 2019, most disability applicants who appealed an initial denial waited more than a year for a final decision. Median wait times reached a peak of 839 days – more than 2 years – for claims filed in FY 2015.  ...