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Post by funkyodar on Oct 1, 2013 6:04:37 GMT -5
Wonder how many ALJs are in Santa Fe? Two from our office went. One from mine went. |
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Post by moopigsdad on Oct 1, 2013 7:51:42 GMT -5
The things that bites about this shutdown is who can be determined to be "essential" and who is not. It is another political game that allows some people to be deemed "essential" and others not. Quite frankly, the way Congress is acting along with the President should mean all of them should be deemed "non-essential" and they should be furloughed and left without pay. Maybe, if faced with this prospect, they might be able to come to a consensus and re-open the federal government by passing the budget resolution. However, I don't see this happening too quickly, especially with the looming federal borrowing limit to be reached in mid-October. It is likely to be a long shutdown until someone decides to blink. Sad to say for all!
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Post by bartleby on Oct 1, 2013 7:56:02 GMT -5
It looks like we have about 165 Judges here for the conference. We had about 35 Judges here yesterday for the LAR training (union rep training). There is still some confusion as to the status of the Judges training and whether they are to report back to work after training or wait for recall. We have had conflicting e-mails from management. I truly did not think it would come down to a shut down. I have heard SSA is only furloughing about 29,000 people out of close to 70,000. Those numbers are not exact, but there are a lot of "essentials".
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Post by trekker on Oct 1, 2013 9:50:03 GMT -5
As an aside, I had to call ODAR this morning to confirm that my withdrawal of a hearing request was granted. (The hearing was scheduled for today and I had not heard that the hearing request was withdrawn/dismissed.) I got through to a live individual faster than I ever have.
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Post by eyre44 on Oct 1, 2013 10:00:16 GMT -5
As an aside, I had to call ODAR this morning to confirm that my withdrawal of a hearing request was granted. (The hearing was scheduled for today and I had not heard that the hearing request was withdrawn/dismissed.) I got through to a live individual faster than I ever have. Well they are fully staffed for four hours today. Tomorrow the offices will have three staff members total for the foreseeable future. So the longer this goes on, the more likely it will become that service is disrupted. |
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Post by mcb on Oct 1, 2013 10:21:59 GMT -5
It looks like we have about 165 Judges here for the conference. We had about 35 Judges here yesterday for the LAR training (union rep training). ... I have heard SSA is only furloughing about 29,000 people out of close to 70,000. Those numbers are not exact, but there are a lot of "essentials".Not So much at the ODAR.  Thanks for the conference info. I had been told that 300 ALJs were scheduled to attend. |
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Post by aljustice on Oct 1, 2013 13:38:47 GMT -5
Wonder how many ALJs are in Santa Fe? Two from our office went. Is there a reason you asked about Santa Fe in particular? |
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Post by bartleby on Oct 1, 2013 14:33:06 GMT -5
Latest count is about 175 attendees, counting one that passed out already due to the elevation of the conference and the thinner air, or so we have been told.
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Post by redryder on Oct 1, 2013 15:13:44 GMT -5
Going back to the original question as to why be an ALJ, and private atty's question about public service. I think I was pushed into testing for the job because colleagues told me they thought I would make a good judge. I won't bore you with why they thought that. If you have had the same prods, what are these people seeing that tells them you have the requisite judicial temperment? No doubt some come to the job to escape other jobs, and a myriad of other reasons. I cannot really say I have seen any who come in answer to a call to public service. But what I have observed is that the best judges are those who buy into their agency's mission. These are the judges who consider all of the stakeholders in claim, who keep abreast of the changes in the law, and who read all of the evidence as well as listen to the testimony in hearings. They are consistently productive, and seldom complain about any obstacles they face in the job. They figure a way to work around, with or through the obstacle. And by so doing, they show a commitment to public service, regardless of their motivations for pursing the job initially.
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Post by lildavey on Oct 1, 2013 16:07:57 GMT -5
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Post by mcb on Oct 1, 2013 16:31:26 GMT -5
Wonder how many ALJs are in Santa Fe? Two from our office went. Is there a reason you asked about Santa Fe in particular? The AALJ (ALJ union) conference is being held there from 10/1 to 10/3. |
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Post by extang on Oct 2, 2013 9:53:49 GMT -5
Re:
" if the vast majority of ALJs can make the goal of 500 to 700 dispositions a year, then any good hard working dedicated Attorney/ ALJ should be able to produce those numbers."
Good work there, Tigerlaw, insulting all the ALJs who don't make the arbitrary, never explained or justified numbers that as far as I know Cristaudo simply pulled out of some bodily orifice.
But hey, I've only been doing this job for almost 20 years, and you're still trying to make it on the register, so I have to defer to your undoubtedly superior expertise.
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Post by sealaw90 on Oct 2, 2013 10:14:18 GMT -5
Re: " if the vast majority of ALJs can make the goal of 500 to 700 dispositions a year, then any good hard working dedicated Attorney/ ALJ should be able to produce those numbers." Good work there, Tigerlaw, insulting all the ALJs who don't make the arbitrary, never explained or justified numbers that as far as I know Cristaudo simply pulled out of some bodily orifice. But hey, I've only been doing this job for almost 20 years, and you're still trying to make it on the register, so I have to defer to your undoubtedly superior expertise. Whoa, I don't think Tiger was trying to insult ALJsS who don't dispose of the "stated number" of cases. As ALJ wannabees, we are very interested in hearing from every current ALJ on the aspects of the job that are good, bad, or just plain ugly. Then our ideas of 'Why be an ALJ' may be more realistic. If you have a story to tell us, please do, or point us to your post on the other threads that deal with the issue of the stated goals concerning case disposition. |
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Post by moopigsdad on Oct 2, 2013 10:31:00 GMT -5
Let's try to avoid name calling and arguments on the Board, if we can. I don't think tigerlaw meant to slight anyone with his post extang (I agree with you, sealaw90). I don't think anyone is suggesting that applicants for the position know more than those in the position already. If anything, those of us trying for the position would appreciate input from those already there extang. I understand there is probably good and bad as with most any job. Please know I appreciate your advice about the position extang, whether the good, the bad or the ugly.
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Post by redryder on Oct 2, 2013 14:13:03 GMT -5
Dear Tigerlaw: I am an ODAR ALJ. And, thank you for your kind words.
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Post by bartleby on Oct 2, 2013 14:31:29 GMT -5
We just had a District Judge speak at the conference and one of the areas always brought up on appeal is that the ALJ had the duty to develop the record and failed to do so. I doubt if anyone doing 500-700 is adequately developing the record. The old way was to review the case several months prior to hearing and at that time order additional testing, examinations, additional medical evidence that was not in the record and order medical experts. The new way is to look at the record the day before the hearing, have the hearing, and then put the case into post to order additional medical. Most Judges never put anything into post for further development. Some will put stuff into post to allow the rep to obtain an additional record. That does not allow for a full and fair hearing. This job can be done right or it can be slammed through to meet the numbers. We must each decide our own level of comfort and integrity.
I am also not so sure it is a majority of the Judges making these numbers. If you subtract 100 or so HOCALJ's out of the number as they routinely receive 150-200 dismissals a year that other Judges don't get, I think you will find the numbers much lower than advertised.
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Post by eyre44 on Oct 2, 2013 16:28:38 GMT -5
I doubt if anyone doing 500-700 is adequately developing the record. That's a pretty broad generalization there. All the Judges in my office develop the record when it is needed after the hearing, and all did at least 500 cases this year. 500 cases can be done in some offices, it can't be done in others. Please don't paint us all with the same brush. |
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Post by cougarfan on Oct 2, 2013 16:41:47 GMT -5
I doubt if anyone doing 500-700 is adequately developing the record. That's a pretty broad generalization there. All the Judges in my office develop the record when it is needed after the hearing, and all did at least 500 cases this year. 500 cases can be done in some offices, it can't be done in others. Please don't paint us all with the same brush. I won't speak for all ALJs and I don't know what all ALJs, or even most, do in terms of the numbers. As for me, I look ahead at hearings 2-3 months ahead to see if there needs to be a CE and I order it if I think it's needed (admittedly a cursory review) and I do put files in Post, and have ordered CEs post hearing and I topped 500. Just my experience, a different perspective perhaps. |
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Post by philliesfan on Oct 2, 2013 17:16:47 GMT -5
Not all ODAR offices give all the dismissals to the HOCALJ. My office doesn't. They are rotated. The question about development, is when do you have enough medical evidence to give the claimant a fair decision. It depends on the case. The judges in my office develop the record. We generally do not find doing 500 cases a year that big a burden. I give the reps who come before me all the opportunity they need to develop the record and I will order a CE if I think it will add something useful to the record, but a lot of times, depending on who does the CE, it doesn't.
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Post by workdrone on Oct 2, 2013 18:45:21 GMT -5
Not all ODAR offices give all the dismissals to the HOCALJ. My office doesn't. They are rotated. The question about development, is when do you have enough medical evidence to give the claimant a fair decision. It depends on the case. The judges in my office develop the record. We generally do not find doing 500 cases a year that big a burden. I give the reps who come before me all the opportunity they need to develop the record and I will order a CE if I think it will add something useful to the record, but a lot of times, depending on who does the CE, it doesn't. Touche. This has been my experience as well. 500 a year is not unreasonable, but it gets progressively harder from there. |
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