Post by ruonthelist on Jun 7, 2013 14:44:57 GMT -5
This post was on the Offers thread. I don't want to clutter up that thread with this off-topic historical digression, so I started a new thread.
I was not around the last time there was a lawsuit regarding the hiring process. But I do know that the lawsuit delayed hiring for years. Do you, or anyone, know if they hired from those that were put through during the suit-inducing hiring process? What I am fishing for is: if the new hiring process is deemed a failure/illegal in any way/etc would those who made it through still be eligible to be hired?
Just curious if I need to stop checking my email every day to see if I made it to the next round...I do understand everything is pure speculation at this point.
Hello - a little information from the distant past: I was around when the Azell (I might have the spelling wrong) lawsuit happened. In fact, I had just gotten on the register & then it "froze" for about 7 years (for everyone except certain vets). It was a long time ago, so forgive me if I don't recall all the details. But, one of the things I do remember is that there was at least one small hiring during that 7 year period using people on the Register. SSA applied for and received an "exception" (I don't know if it was called that; but, it worked out to the same thing). SSA said it was in dire need of ALJs. As I recall, the application for exception was to the court and then SSA went to OPM for a cert and did a small hire. I distinctly recall that because one of the arguments against SSA being allowed to do that was then they would have no incentive to settle the lawsuit. As best I can recall, it only happened once.
While past results are no promise for future earnings, I do believe that if everything gets tied up and/or frozen, there would still be a way for SSA to do a small hiring and/or hirings from the current/existing register.
Lady W.
That sums up the complicated history pretty well. For those interested in a little more detail:
The Azdell case was filed in 1997, challenging the scoring formula that OPM had instituted in 1996. The MSPB Chief ALJ issued an initial decision in 1999, and further hiring was stayed. The stay remained in effect through the next several years of litigation. By statute, 10-point eligible veterans were still able to take the exam, but no one else could get on the register while the stay was in effect.
MSPB issued a decision in October 2000, affirming the CALJ’s decision. The remedies ordered included recalculating scores for applicants on the register, and giving priority consideration in future hiring to members of the Azdell class who had been, based on the Board’s decision, improperly denied consideration in post-1996 hiring. In July 2001 MSPB denied OPM’s motion for reconsideration of its October 2000 decision.
The state of play in summer of 2001 was that there was a final MSPB decision that OPM was directed to implement. SSA, which needed to catch up after several years of not being able to hire ALJs, requested a large certificate for an unprecedentedly large class.
Before interviews for this certificate started, OPM released the results of the recalculation that MSPB had ordered. The number of Azdell class members that OPM had identified as eligible for priority consideration was smaller than expected, and the Azdell class challenged OPM’s methodology. This threatened to re-impose the stay and prevent further hiring.
At this point all of the parties to the litigation agreed to permit a waiver of the stay in order to let SSA hire from the certificate that had been generated. Interviews were held in September and training was held in DC in Oct-Nov. That class had over 120 new ALJs. The logistics of that group (of which I was one) were formidable, and SSA has never since held that big a class.
The Azdell case was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The decision (Meeker v. MSPB) issued on Feb 20, 2003, reversed the MSPB’s ruling. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in Feb 2004.
With the Azdell/Meeker litigation finally resolved, the stay was gone and so in 2004 SSA began hiring several classes of ALJs per year. However, they had to be hired from the pre-existing register which (except for a handful of 10-point vets) had been frozen in the late nineties.
From 2004 on it wasn’t the litigation stay that prevented refreshing the register, but OPM’s refusal to do its job. With every year, and every SSA hiring cycle, the register got smaller and staler. Finally, under congressional pressure, OPM instituted its new examination in May 2007. I watched the live stream of the Ways & Means subcommittee hearing in early May and the OPM Director caught a lot of heat from the committee members. She promised that the new examination would be out within a few days, and it was.
During all of the years that the Azdell stay was in effect OPM couldn’t examine new applicants (again, other than 10-pt vets). However, they could have spent that time preparing the new examination to be rolled out when the case was resolved. Indeed, they claimed to be doing so. I know judges who were detailed to DC during that period to consult with OPM on the makeup of the new exam. And yet, when the case was resolved and there was no longer any legal impediment to reopening the exam, they waited more than three years and, left to their own discretion, would have waited longer.
Just curious if I need to stop checking my email every day to see if I made it to the next round...I do understand everything is pure speculation at this point.
While past results are no promise for future earnings, I do believe that if everything gets tied up and/or frozen, there would still be a way for SSA to do a small hiring and/or hirings from the current/existing register.
Lady W.
That sums up the complicated history pretty well. For those interested in a little more detail:
The Azdell case was filed in 1997, challenging the scoring formula that OPM had instituted in 1996. The MSPB Chief ALJ issued an initial decision in 1999, and further hiring was stayed. The stay remained in effect through the next several years of litigation. By statute, 10-point eligible veterans were still able to take the exam, but no one else could get on the register while the stay was in effect.
MSPB issued a decision in October 2000, affirming the CALJ’s decision. The remedies ordered included recalculating scores for applicants on the register, and giving priority consideration in future hiring to members of the Azdell class who had been, based on the Board’s decision, improperly denied consideration in post-1996 hiring. In July 2001 MSPB denied OPM’s motion for reconsideration of its October 2000 decision.
The state of play in summer of 2001 was that there was a final MSPB decision that OPM was directed to implement. SSA, which needed to catch up after several years of not being able to hire ALJs, requested a large certificate for an unprecedentedly large class.
Before interviews for this certificate started, OPM released the results of the recalculation that MSPB had ordered. The number of Azdell class members that OPM had identified as eligible for priority consideration was smaller than expected, and the Azdell class challenged OPM’s methodology. This threatened to re-impose the stay and prevent further hiring.
At this point all of the parties to the litigation agreed to permit a waiver of the stay in order to let SSA hire from the certificate that had been generated. Interviews were held in September and training was held in DC in Oct-Nov. That class had over 120 new ALJs. The logistics of that group (of which I was one) were formidable, and SSA has never since held that big a class.
The Azdell case was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The decision (Meeker v. MSPB) issued on Feb 20, 2003, reversed the MSPB’s ruling. The Supreme Court denied certiorari in Feb 2004.
With the Azdell/Meeker litigation finally resolved, the stay was gone and so in 2004 SSA began hiring several classes of ALJs per year. However, they had to be hired from the pre-existing register which (except for a handful of 10-point vets) had been frozen in the late nineties.
From 2004 on it wasn’t the litigation stay that prevented refreshing the register, but OPM’s refusal to do its job. With every year, and every SSA hiring cycle, the register got smaller and staler. Finally, under congressional pressure, OPM instituted its new examination in May 2007. I watched the live stream of the Ways & Means subcommittee hearing in early May and the OPM Director caught a lot of heat from the committee members. She promised that the new examination would be out within a few days, and it was.
During all of the years that the Azdell stay was in effect OPM couldn’t examine new applicants (again, other than 10-pt vets). However, they could have spent that time preparing the new examination to be rolled out when the case was resolved. Indeed, they claimed to be doing so. I know judges who were detailed to DC during that period to consult with OPM on the makeup of the new exam. And yet, when the case was resolved and there was no longer any legal impediment to reopening the exam, they waited more than three years and, left to their own discretion, would have waited longer.
