You Can Do Your Business With Social Security By Video -- If You Can Get Through To Them By Phone.

     You can now schedule a video conference with Social Security to discuss your business with the agency. The big catch is that you have to call Social Security to schedule the video conference. As you may have heard or experienced, that's hard to do.

Milwaukee Field Office Closed For Republican Convention

     A television station in Milwaukee reports that "The Social Security Administration field office in downtown Milwaukee will be temporarily closed to the public during the Republican National Convention – Monday, July 15 through Friday, July 19."

Extension Of eSignature

     From what must be a press release:

... SSA recently released the eSignature/Upload Documents initiative nationwide. This end-to-end secure service allows customers to electronically submit some frequently used forms, such as appeal requests (SSA-501 and SSA-561) and waiver of overpayment recovery (SSA-632). Customers can also submit evidence, including the VA Disability Rating Verification, medical and school records, bank statements, tax forms and many more.

Social Security employees initiate the request by sending an email to customers with the required form. In turn, customers review the request, electronically complete, then sign the form (if a signature is required) and submit directly to SSA. ...

    I guess they must be going nationwide for what had earlier just been an experiment in the Boston region. Why does this have to be initiated by a Social Security employee?

Online Accounts Changing

     From a press release:

Today the Social Security Administration announced that customers who created an online account (e.g., my Social Security account) before September 18, 2021, will soon be required to transition to a Login.gov account to continue access to their online services. Over five million of these account holders have already transitioned to Login.gov.

The agency is making the changes to simplify the sign-in experience and align with federal authentication standards while providing safe and secure access to online services. ...

This Has Only Limited Relevance To Social Security But It's Wild

 

    From a press release:

Richard Louis Crosby III, 37, of Mason, Ohio, pleaded guilty to three counts of Social Security number fraud. His plea agreement includes a sentence recommendation of 37 months in prison.

At various times throughout his scheme, Crosby used identifying information belonging to his elderly father, his girlfriend, a deceased man and others. He falsely told at least one law firm that he was a University of Michigan football player and an ex-Marine. ...

In both June and November 2021, Crosby was indicted and charged in Hamilton County with crimes related to stealing client funds. After his indictments, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio entered an order disbarring Crosby.

In May 2022, Crosby was arrested in both of his Hamilton County cases. He was sentenced to probation in both cases in June 2023.

According to his federal plea agreement, while Crosby’s local cases were pending, he created an email account using “richardcwilliamsesq.” Crosby used the email address and the alias Richard Williams to communicate with a law firm in Washington D.C. in June 2021. The firm briefly employed “Williams.”

In June 2022 – at which point Crosby had been disbarred in Ohio and arrested on the Hamilton County charges – Crosby used his alias to apply online for an attorney position with a law firm in California. The firm offered Crosby a position as an associate attorney with a salary of $150,000. The defendant was employed under his alias for approximately three months and used a firm email address with his alias name.

In September 2022, Crosby used his alias to apply for an attorney position with a law firm based in Miami, Florida. Crosby met with a recruiter via Zoom, and represented himself as Richard Williams, a licensed attorney admitted to the bar in New York and D.C.

Crosby then met with one of the firm’s hiring managers in Florida and was ultimately offered employment in October 2022. His starting salary was $185,000 per year with a $5,000 signing bonus. Crosby used his girlfriend’s Social Security number, passport number and banking information to complete his onboarding paperwork at the law firm. ...

In July 2023, Crosby interviewed with the founding partner of a different California law firm. He also falsely claimed to work at the law firm of Kirkland and Ellis. After the founding partner asked Crosby to verify with whom he worked with at Kirkland and Ellis, Crosby withdrew his interest in the job.

A few days later, Crosby again used the alias to attempt to obtain employment. He interviewed over Zoom with senior management of a law firm located in Coral Gables, Florida. Crosby doctored a “screen shot” of the name Richard Coleman Williams Jr. in the online D.C. bar membership directory to attach with his resume.

The firm offered Crosby a starting salary of $195,000 per year with a $10,000 signing bonus, but eventually determined Crosby was using a false identity and did not hire him.

In August 2023, the defendant applied for a job at another law firm. The firm, located in Michigan, sent Crosby a letter offering a salary of $145,000 per year and a $10,000 signing bonus. When his credential information had discrepancies, the firm terminated their working relationship before issuing Crosby’s first paycheck.

In September 2023, one month prior to his arrest on federal charges, Crosby used a different alias to apply for a job at another law firm in California. He claimed that he was a University of Michigan football player and an ex-Marine.  Crosby was hired as an attorney at a salary of $250,000 per year. He used the Social Security number of a deceased man from North Carolina in his tax paperwork to the firm. ...

    This has the feel of a guy suffering from bouts of mania associated with bipolar disorder.

New Policy For Reopening Due To New Five Year Past Relevant Work Standard

     From Emergency Message EM-24023: 

Beginning June 22, 2024, adjudicators will reopen a prior final agency determination or decision based on the PRW CoP [Past Relevant Work Change Of Policy] if the application of the PRW rule at the time of the prior determination or decision would have resulted in a more favorable determination or decision. 

All of the following conditions must be met to reopen based on the PRW CoP: 

• The claimant or SSA/Disability Determination Services (DDS) (or both) questioned the determination or decision in writing within one year of the date of the notice of the initial level determination on the prior claim. 
• The questioning occurred after, or was pending as of, June 22, 2024. 
• The prior claim was denied at step four or five. 
• The denial depended on a finding that the person had PRW that was last done more than 5 years earlier, transferrable skills from PRW that was last done more than 5 years earlier (without continuity of skills to PRW within 5 years of the prior determination, see DI 25005.015C), or PRW that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days. 
• A revised determination or decision applying the current rules (PRW rule) would be more favorable to the claimant than the prior final determination or decision that would be reopened. ... 

What do we mean by questioning the prior final agency determination or decision in writing?

We consider the claimant or SSA/DDS to have questioned the prior final determination or decision in writing if one or more of the following conditions exist: 

•  The claimant files a written request to reopen the prior final determination or decision. 
• The claimant files a new claim alleging disability began in the period adjudicated in the prior final determination or decision (implied request for reopening). 
• The claimant files a new claim and the adjudicator, on the adjudicator’s own initiative, finds the reopening conditions above are met.
• SSA or the DDS questions the prior final determination or decision meeting the reopening conditions above. ...

    I don't see anything in Social Security's statutes or regulations requiring that reopening must be requested within one year of a prior determination. The standard is four years for Title II and two years for SSI. This dramatically limits the effect.

Bill To Cut Social Security Funding Advances

     From Government Executive:

The House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to advance appropriations legislation that would cut the Social Security Administration’s administrative budget by $450 million next fiscal year. ...

During Wednesday’s committee markup, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., who will retire at the end of this year, filed an amendment restoring the $450 million in cuts, which would bring SSA’s funding flat with its current annual appropriation of $14.2 billion. He warned that, if enacted, the GOP’s proposed cuts would further exacerbate the agency’s customer service crisis. ...

Rep. Robert Aderlholt, R-Ala., who chairs the subcommittee responsible for the bill, defended the cuts, claiming that they would only affect headquarters staff and not any field offices.

“Despite what you may have heard, no field offices will be closed because of this bill,” Aderholt said. “The 4% cut to SSA would come from the $3 billion that Social Security has budgeted for its Baltimore and Washington, D.C., offices, where 61% of the workforce is fully remote. SSA’s mission is customer-facing and it serves America’s most vulnerable population and this egregious use of telework is insulting to them.”

But Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Aderholt’s assurances ring hollow.

“Now, the chairman says that no field offices will close,” he said. “Why does he say that? Because he directs, in the bill, that ‘no field offices will be closed.’ Poof, magic! He didn’t ask SSA whether that would be, he just directed it in the bill . . . The population keeps going up, and the senior population certainly keeps going up, and your assertion that somehow the expenditures to service those rising numbers is static is incorrect. Your math doesn’t work.”

Ruppersberger’s amendment failed by a 31-23 vote.

Legionella Found At Social Security Headquarters

       From Federal Times:

Elevated levels of Legionella bacteria were recently detected in water fixtures during routine testing at the Social Security Administration’s headquarters building in Woodlawn, Maryland, officials said. 

A spokesperson for Social Security said in a statement to Federal Times on Tuesday that after a broad sweep of water fixtures, some came back with elevated levels, which is not unusual given testing experts have told the General Services Administration that roughly half of the water samples they take come back positive. 

Upon retesting, only “a small subset” of water sources in the main campus building indicated elevated levels, according to the official. Impacted fixtures have been removed, and the spokesman said employees have been notified. Officials also said they’ve flushed the system, which helps disrupt any film that have developed over water sources and stops the growth of any naturally present Legionella. …