Unions Unanimous In Wanting Saul Gone

      From a press release:  

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) joined together today calling for the ouster of Social Security Administration Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioner David Black. The joint effort comes on the heels of last month’s overwhelming votes of no confidence in the SSA leaders by the members of AFGE Council 220, National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals,and IFPTE Judicial Council 1, the Association of Administrative Law Judges (JC1/AALJ). ...

Strange Bedfellow

      The Cato Institute, a right wing "think tank which has pushed a plan to privatize Social Security, has joined in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in the case of Carr v. U.S. arguing that Social Security claimants should be able to raise the issue of the constitutionality of the appointments of ALJs even though they had not raised the issue before the agency.

As Expected

      From CNN:

On Joe Biden's first day as President, his White House will issue a memo to halt or delay midnight regulations and actions taken by the Trump administration that will not have taken effect by Inauguration Day, Biden transition spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters on Wednesday. ...

     This would include the new musculoskeletal listings at Social Security. However, if Andrew Saul tries to stay in office, it would be possible, in theory, for him to refuse to stay the regulation.

SCOTUS Schedules Oral Arguments In Appointments Clause Cases

      The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Carr v. Saul and Davis v. Saul for March 3. The issue presented by these cases is "Whether a claimant seeking disability benefits under the Social Security Act forfeits an appointments-clause challenge to the appointment of an administrative law judge by failing to present that challenge during administrative proceedings."

Happy New Year

 

Happy New Year!

 

And It Didn't Get Trump Re-Elected!

      From Stars and Stripes:

Members of the armed forces and federal employees have 12 months instead of four to pay back Social Security taxes that haven't been collected since September, officials said this week.

The so-called payroll tax deferral, which was put in place by the Trump administration for the last four months of 2020 to help workers during the coronavirus pandemic, meant that many working Americans — including service members and federal employees — had an extra 6.2% of money in each paycheck.

But starting with the first pay period of 2021, the extra money has to be paid back. And, on top of that, Social Security taxes will be collected again.

Initially, the money was supposed to be repaid by April 30 in equal amounts, which would have meant a dip in paychecks of 12.4%.

But this week, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service announced the period to collect the deferred tax has been extended until Dec. 31, 2021, meaning the money will be deducted in even amounts over 26 pay periods instead of eight. ...

     This is just the Department of Defense. Are other federal agencies doing the same? 

     By the way, like the overwhelming majority of private employers, my law firm never stopped collecting FICA.

Ramping Up The Heat On Saul

      From Joe Davidson's column at the Washington Post:

The Social Security Administration’s internal watchdog has bit it, again, for shortchanging beneficiaries, this time as employee and advocacy groups are pushing for the removal of its political appointees.

A report from the agency’s inspector general’s office is replete with complaints about the agency failing to make people whole. ...

Just as money is a problem for those who didn’t get Social Security checks, money is one reason the agency can’t get the checks out on time, according to Web Phillips, an analyst and consultant with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Social Security has too much to do for its staff and resources, said Phillips, who worked there for three decades. “This is being driven by the availability of resources,” he said. “It’s not that there are bad people who don’t care. It’s just that they have to triage the work that they’ve got.” ...

The inspector general’s reproach was issued just two days after two federal employee unions, the Association of Administrative Law Judges and the National Council of SSA Field Operations Locals (Council 220), declared no confidence in President Trump’s Social Security appointees. That same week, Social Security Works said Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul and Deputy Commissioners David Black and Mark Warshawsky should be removed “immediately.” Council 22 also urged their removal. ...

Time and again, the inspector general’s report said “we found no evidence,” or similar wording, to describe Social Security’s repeated failures to appropriately address the problems of underpayments ...

Rep. John B. Larson, chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee, called the report’s finding “alarming.” ...

“Underpayments are just as important as overpayments,” said Larson (D-Conn.), “and SSA leaders need to pay as much attention to preventing and correcting underpayments as they do to overpayments.” Next month, his panel will examine reasons for the errors and ways to fix them.

Speaking as “the Republican leader on Social Security,” Rep. Tom Reed (N.Y.) promised to hold SSA accountable. “It’s not fair that in some cases the SSA pays people less than they’ve earned, and the SSA needs to do better,” said Reed, the subcommittee’s ranking minority-party member. ...

“SSA’s misplaced focus on overpayments rather than on all improper payments (including underpayments),” [Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works] wrote by email, “is the result of decades of Republican leadership that’s focused on preventing people from getting the benefits they’ve earned.” ...