|
Post by moopigsdad on Jul 28, 2013 14:56:25 GMT -5
As an aside, I left a phone number I needed at work and went by this morn to get it. There were 3 aljs there plugging away on a sunday morning. one of which I know has already maxed his 24 credit hours so for him at least thisis a donation of time. No comment on these judges' efficiency. Just facts to be consideredby those expecting a "stress free" easy gov job . It tells me that some people may have a hard time meeting goals within time limits. Also, it may mean some people make choices in how things are done, some ALJs may want to devote more time to their cases and make more quality decisions rather than short-change claimants. I can't speak to which of these is the reason why those ALJs are there today.
|
|
|
Post by ruonthelist on Jul 29, 2013 7:19:13 GMT -5
As an aside, I left a phone number I needed at work and went by this morn to get it. There were 3 aljs there plugging away on a sunday morning. one of which I know has already maxed his 24 credit hours so for him at least this is a donation of time. Not necessarily. The pay period ended Saturday, 7/27. If he carried over 24 hours he can earn more hours starting Sunday. Now if he doesn't use the hours that he earned on Sunday before the current pay period ends on 8/10, THEN it would be a donation of time. Hypothetically, suppose that this ALJ wants to take next week off. He carried over 24 hours as of Saturday. He earns 8 hours on Sunday. Then all he has to do is earn 8 more hours between now and Friday (he can actually earn 12 1/2 in that time). Then next week, the second week in the pay period, he takes a week vacation without using any annual leave.
|
|
|
Post by crab on Jul 29, 2013 8:11:18 GMT -5
Great to know you can earn credit hours on weekends and not just Monday - Friday. It amazing how much more work you can get done in a closed quiet office sometimes.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 8:43:33 GMT -5
As an aside, I left a phone number I needed at work and went by this morn to get it. There were 3 aljs there plugging away on a sunday morning. one of which I know has already maxed his 24 credit hours so for him at least this is a donation of time. Not necessarily. The pay period ended Saturday, 7/27. If he carried over 24 hours he can earn more hours starting Sunday. Now if he doesn't use the hours that he earned on Sunday before the current pay period ends on 8/10, THEN it would be a donation of time. Hypothetically, suppose that this ALJ wants to take next week off. He carried over 24 hours as of Saturday. He earns 8 hours on Sunday. Then all he has to do is earn 8 more hours between now and Friday (he can actually earn 12 1/2 in that time). Then next week, the second week in the pay period, he takes a week vacation without using any annual leave. True. But I gotta say I don't know any aljs that can just decide to take a week off only a couple weeks or even a month in advance. Unlike the other odar staff that can take leave without any repercussions, an alj taking unanticipated or quckly planned leave causes a lot of problems. Hearings are scheduled months in advance and if a judge decides this week that he or she is just gonna take a week off two weeks from now all the hearings must be resched, ve maybe me, hearing reporter and clmt must be notified. Most judges I know plan their vacations at least more than 3 months in advance and try and use their credit hours only on nonhearing days. Another consideration is the fact that aljs get no production expectation break for time off. if I take a week off in a month it goes into the monthly activity report that I was unavailable for 40 hours that month and my productivity is adjusted to account for it. Judges though just have the 500 to 700 and region breaks that down into monthly slices for them. Irregardless of why, if you don't hit that monthly number you are expected to make it up. One aljin our office took 10 days off in june, put in for it 6 months in advance. when he got back from the cruise everyone in the office and region knew he was taking, he had a not so nice email from region asking why he didn't hit his number and reminding him he had to make up the shortfall. Also, for those that are planning to take off every other friday for travel back to the family...here is another thing to chew on. Most hearing offices have more judges than hearing rooms. So thereis a roster or batting order on which judges get hearings on which days. Most judges like their hearingsin the middle of the week and nonhearing days on mondays and fridays. But someone has to have their hearings on those days. As with most thingsin gov employ, this is usually decided by service comp date. If you are the newest judge, get ready to have friday hearings that will make it hard for youto take off to go home. Oh, and I've seen some write of how aljs can work from home one day a week, no one in my office does. Obviously it can't be a hearing day (which likely includes mondays and fridays for new aljs) and, unless the alj flexiplace agreement Iis diff than the afge agreement, you can't work from home until you have been in the job for 2 full years.
|
|
|
Post by papresqr on Jul 29, 2013 9:05:51 GMT -5
Oh, and I've seen some write of how aljs can work from home one day a week, no one in my office does. Obviously it can't be a hearing day (which likely includes mondays and fridays for new aljs) and, unless the alj flexiplace agreement Iis diff than the afge agreement, you can't work from home until you have been in the job for 2 full years. I believe it's one year for ALJs. Somebody can correct me if I'm wrong. And quite a few in my office do work from home. I'm not sure if they all do or if they do it every week or not, but I frequently see them with their laptops uploading or downloading.
|
|
|
Post by westernalj on Jul 29, 2013 9:10:05 GMT -5
Sunday is credit time? Not comp time?
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 9:19:17 GMT -5
Sunday is credit time? Not comp time? Don't think aljs can get comp. they can't get ot and usually u can't get comp if can't get ot as it is a choice. But I may be wrong.
|
|
|
Post by ruonthelist on Jul 29, 2013 9:22:10 GMT -5
True. But I gotta say I don't know any aljs that can just decide to take a week off only a couple weeks or even a month in advance. Unlike the other odar staff that can take leave without any repercussions, an alj taking unanticipated or quckly planned leave causes a lot of problems. Hearings are scheduled months in advance and if a judge decides this week that he or she is just gonna take a week off two weeks from now all the hearings must be resched, ve maybe me, hearing reporter and clmt must be notified. Most judges I know plan their vacations at least more than 3 months in advance and try and use their credit hours only on nonhearing days. I'm sorry if I gave the impression that I was talking about taking a week off on short notice. I have never heard of an ALJ trying to do that and the idea frankly didn't occur to me when I was writing my earlier post. What I was talking about was a vacation scheduled in advance, and how it could be done using credit hours as an alternative to annual leave. When I was new with very little annual leave on the books I used the process I described to schedule week long family vacations using credit hours, but I scheduled the trip with the HOCALJ and the case schedulers 3-4 months in advance, just as I would if I were using annual leave for the same vacation. And my productivity didn't suffer, both because I scheduled my vacations far enough in advance to avoid hearing schedule disruptions and because I was working the same net hours. Credit hours, like comp time, is merely a shifting of work hours, not a reduction in them. Now that I have a substantial leave balance and am earning 6 hours per p/p, I don't make as much use of credit hours as I used to. However, I think that it is a good idea for new ALJs to learn what the rules are and adapt the rules to their individual situation.
|
|
|
Post by moopigsdad on Jul 29, 2013 9:24:34 GMT -5
Not necessarily. The pay period ended Saturday, 7/27. If he carried over 24 hours he can earn more hours starting Sunday. Now if he doesn't use the hours that he earned on Sunday before the current pay period ends on 8/10, THEN it would be a donation of time. Hypothetically, suppose that this ALJ wants to take next week off. He carried over 24 hours as of Saturday. He earns 8 hours on Sunday. Then all he has to do is earn 8 more hours between now and Friday (he can actually earn 12 1/2 in that time). Then next week, the second week in the pay period, he takes a week vacation without using any annual leave. True. But I gotta say I don't know any aljs that can just decide to take a week off only a couple weeks or even a month in advance. Unlike the other odar staff that can take leave without any repercussions, an alj taking unanticipated or quckly planned leave causes a lot of problems. Hearings are scheduled months in advance and if a judge decides this week that he or she is just gonna take a week off two weeks from now all the hearings must be resched, ve maybe me, hearing reporter and clmt must be notified. Most judges I know plan their vacations at least more than 3 months in advance and try and use their credit hours only on nonhearing days. Another consideration is the fact that aljs get no production expectation break for time off. if I take a week off in a month it goes into the monthly activity report that I was unavailable for 40 hours that month and my productivity is adjusted to account for it. Judges though just have the 500 to 700 and region breaks that down into monthly slices for them. Irregardless of why, if you don't hit that monthly number you are expected to make it up. One aljin our office took 10 days off in june, put in for it 6 months in advance. when he got back from the cruise everyone in the office and region knew he was taking, he had a not so nice email from region asking why he didn't hit his number and reminding him he had to make up the shortfall. Also, for those that are planning to take off every other friday for travel back to the family...here is another thing to chew on. Most hearing offices have more judges than hearing rooms. So thereis a roster or batting order on which judges get hearings on which days. Most judges like their hearingsin the middle of the week and nonhearing days on mondays and fridays. But someone has to have their hearings on those days. As with most thingsin gov employ, this is usually decided by service comp date. If you are the newest judge, get ready to have friday hearings that will make it hard for youto take off to go home. Oh, and I've seen some write of how aljs can work from home one day a week, no one in my office does. Obviously it can't be a hearing day (which likely includes mondays and fridays for new aljs) and, unless the alj flexiplace agreement Iis diff than the afge agreement, you can't work from home until you have been in the job for 2 full years. Funky, aren't you just be a bubble burster for all the possible new ALJs coming into the system? Thanks for the information funky. It gives those of us not in the system, a heads-up on what to expect, if lucky enough to become ALJs.
|
|
|
Post by crab on Jul 29, 2013 9:29:02 GMT -5
SCD in the ODAR office Funky or SCD in federal service? Could make a big difference. I assume it's the former or you'd have a bunch of newbies with gobs of federal service hopping the line of established ALJs (which might make them crabby...).
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 9:47:59 GMT -5
You're welcome mpd. better to have bubbles bursted before you move 2k miles from family and think you are gonna be able to take off every friday and have three day weekends with the kids.
Crab, in most thingsits scd in fed service (ie choosing offices etc) but not sure on alj issues resolved by scd like hearing day order. probably depends on the hocalj.
|
|
|
Post by hopefalj on Jul 29, 2013 9:53:56 GMT -5
On the bright side, they restrict your number of monthly hearings for the first year so that you don't handle a full docket for quite some time. This is true even for insiders.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 10:23:33 GMT -5
On the bright side, they restrict your number of monthly hearings for the first year so that you don't handle a full docket for quite some time. This is true even for insiders. That's true, though I read somewhere (maybe on here) they compressed the period you have to get up to speed. I know they did for writers. I think I read new aljs do nothing till after traing then are expected to do 25% first month after, 50% second, 75% third and be at full performance 4th month. is that right?
|
|
|
Post by bartleby on Jul 29, 2013 11:20:46 GMT -5
On the other side, new ALJ's have to write a bunch of their decisions when they first start, so it's not like you have free time to sit around. When we reported to our ODAR as ALJ's, there were five of us, we drew cards for offices, even though we had anywhere from 15 years ODAR experience to no ODAR or Fed experience. Most of you will be going to an office where you are the only FNG. You will get the lousiest office and oldest furniture and probably worse hearing room schedule. Judges never get Comp time or overtime, only credit hours, which can be lost if not used. Further, when the Government shuts down, you are considered essential and will be expected to show up, sign in, and hold hearings, while doing the staff work as they won't be there. Funky, the first two weeks, you are reviewing files for hearings when you get back and there is about 160 hours of IVT training you watch on your office desktop, while attending training by the staff. I got out of the office for 4 hours to go sign apartment leases, etc..
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 11:37:02 GMT -5
On the other side, new ALJ's have to write a bunch of their decisions when they first start, so it's not like you have free time to sit around. When we reported to our ODAR as ALJ's, there were five of us, we drew cards for offices, even though we had anywhere from 15 years ODAR experience to no ODAR or Fed experience. Most of you will be going to an office where you are the only FNG. You will get the lousiest office and oldest furniture and probably worse hearing room schedule. Judges never get Comp time or overtime, only credit hours, which can be lost if not used. Further, when the Government shuts down, you are considered essential and will be expected to show up, sign in, and hold hearings, while doing the staff work as they won't be there. Funky, the first two weeks, you are reviewing files for hearings when you get back and there is about 160 hours of IVT training you watch on your office desktop, while attending training by the staff. I got out of the office for 4 hours to go sign apartment leases, etc.. That's what I thought. didn't mean you do "nothing" in the first weeks before training, just no hearings. The thing on seniority is dead on. when I was hired as an aa I was one of 5 new hires. 5 new offices had been added to the building, some with great windows, some bigger than others. we drew cards too. then once we picked our offices from these new additions one of the existing aa complained that the offices should have been offered by scd. the new offices went to those with higer scdsincluding all the new desks, chairs and comps. all five of us got the tiny offices with no windows. Same thing when I made saa. we had 3, one went into management, 2 became aljs. I had the lowest scd of those promoted to saa. the other two got judge size offices with windows looking across to the park. I got out of the tiny tomb office into one 8 square feet larger, a slit of a window that over looks a drainage ditch and shares a wall with the public restroom in the lobby. Scd is everything when it comes to creature comforts.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 12:56:02 GMT -5
Cool. I knew they had dropped the time some on writers and seen some post that they had done the same or were thinking of doing so for judge. glad to see its still 9 months. thanks
|
|
|
Post by hopefalj on Jul 29, 2013 12:58:24 GMT -5
That's true, though I read somewhere (maybe on here) they compressed the period you have to get up to speed. I know they did for writers. I think I read new aljs do nothing till after traing then are expected to do 25% first month after, 50% second, 75% third and be at full performance 4th month. is that right? No. That's not right. Each new judge, insider or outsider, gets a 9 month learning curve. OCALJ is currently revamping the mentor guide, so that may change in the future, but since 2011 new ALJ's get 9 months. Does that begin post- training? I can't remember. I just know of HODs-turned-ALJs that tried doing full dockets within the first couple of months of getting back from FC and were expressly told to slow it down.
|
|
|
Post by funkyodar on Jul 29, 2013 13:03:54 GMT -5
There is an alj faq2 thread on here that answers a lot of the questions. great job board.
They lay out a 6 month post training ladder up as to hearings held expectations for new alj. Says that has been in effect sine june 2012.
|
|
|
Post by cougarfan on Jul 29, 2013 13:10:23 GMT -5
ALJ's are eligible for flexiplace after the year anniversary.
|
|
|
Post by mcb on Aug 3, 2013 3:51:37 GMT -5
The following is from a longer post that is over on p. 5 of the Negativity thread, (see link below) which you might want to check out because there is additional information on how to maximize your use of credit hours which can be very important to a parent at an ODAR far from home (especially if their spouse and children remain back home). Also a caveat, when I was hired as an ALJ in 2010, 5 National Hearing Centers had opened between 2007 to 2010, 14 new ODARs and 1 satellite office opened in 2010 and 8 new ODARs and 1 satellite office opened up in 2011, so there was quite a bit of ALJ movement to the new offices by current ALJs wishing to get closer to home, which also freed up positions at the ODARs they left. (see page 3 and Appendix D of the second link below) FYI, the ODAR I was originally assigned to in 2010 was a new ODAR and the ODAR I was reassigned to in 2011 was also a new ODAR. So even though I was #8 on the transfer list, because they needed to fill 9 ALJ positions, I was offered a position. Today, there are 5 ALJs on the transfer list to my current ODAR, and all the ALJ positions are filled, so if I was a new hire today, I might be spending quite a long time at an ODAR far from home before receiving a reassignment offer back home. ------------------------------------------------------------------- My first year as an ALJ, I found out that my wife was pregnant - with our first, and so far only, child - six days after accepting the assignment 2300 miles from home. Prior to this life changing event, we had already decided that she would remain home and work while I would request a reassigment back home, since we knew a new ODAR, 30 miles from home, would be opening sometime in 2011. After the 90 day wait period, I requested reassignment to the ODAR close to home and two other ODARs, 70 and 100 miles from home. Less than four months after my start date, I received a reassignment offer to the new ODAR, 30 miles from home, but would remain at the ODAR 2300 miles from home till the new ODAR opened, which finally happened in August 2011, 10+ months after my start date. ... My first 10+ months as an ALj, I rented an apartment 2300 miles from home, worked.a 6:30 AM to 5:30 PM schedule nearly everyday so I could collect as many credit hours (CHs) as possible (you can earn 2.5 CHs each day M-F). I also spent at least one 8-hour weekend day in the office, and two 8-hour weekend days, when the Saturday was the last day of a pay period and Sunday was the first day of a pay period (currently under the CBA you cannot earn more than 8 CHs on a weekend in the middle of a pay period, but can on the weekend in which Saturday is the last day of a pay period and Sunday is the first day of the next pay period). Under this scenario I was able to fly home for a week about every six weeks during my wife's pregnancy, and by using 48 credit hours, accrued annual leave and sick days to care for a family member, was able to spend four weeks at home when my son was born. Between his birth in April 2011 and the end of July 2011, I continued to collect CHs and flew home for a week every six weeks, until I reported for my new assignemnt in August 2011. Since August. 2011, I've never worked a weekend at my new ODAR, though I might work 3 or 4 CHs earlier in the week so I can take Firday afternoon off or accumulate 8 CHs over a two week period so I can take a Friday off, which is really nice if the following Monday is a federal holiday. Hopefully, this gives you some idea abot the flexability of this job and different ways to approach it, dependiing on your circumstances/situation. aljdiscussion.proboards.com/post/42982oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-12-11-11147.pdf
|
|