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Post by chessparent on Apr 1, 2014 12:26:17 GMT -5
And the St Louis office has a pretty nice onsite cafeteria, which is a perk most locations do not have. Always thinking of food...
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NHCs
Apr 1, 2014 13:57:18 GMT -5
Gaidin likes this
Post by mamaru on Apr 1, 2014 13:57:18 GMT -5
The cafeteria is closing soon to be replaced by food trucks (probably armored) two days a week. Don't go there for the convenience/cuisine.
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NHCs
Apr 1, 2014 14:07:03 GMT -5
Post by eyre44 on Apr 1, 2014 14:07:03 GMT -5
My understanding about NHC's is a little different. I heard that some judges miss the human element. Admittedly not all. Also, I have never been to one but someone who had told me that it had the feel of a factory not a hearing office. I guess that's all of ODAR to some extent but it struck this person as more so than usual. Not trying to be a contrarian but I am not sure that everyone would be happy at an NHC. On the flip side, I know NHC judges who really like the way these offices are set up workflow wise. Each ALJ is assigned two attorneys, who they usually get to hire (hence the management part of that job), and who act as their clerks. They do prehearing reviews, write decisions, contact reps etc, which is more assistance then many ALJs get in a regular hearing office. So while the perks of the NHC job may be diminishing I think that part of the job remains a positive.
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NHCs
Apr 1, 2014 14:10:56 GMT -5
Post by chessparent on Apr 1, 2014 14:10:56 GMT -5
The cafeteria is closing soon to be replaced by food trucks (probably armored) two days a week. Don't go there for the convenience/cuisine. Bummer.
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Post by moopigsdad on Apr 1, 2014 15:06:20 GMT -5
The cafeteria is closing soon to be replaced by food trucks (probably armored) two days a week. Don't go there for the convenience/cuisine. On the flip side, it is my understanding they are going to drive the two food trucks right inside the building to avoid any issues of workers standing outside in the dangerous neighborhood. (April Fool!)
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Post by funkyodar on Apr 1, 2014 15:12:42 GMT -5
The cafeteria is closing soon to be replaced by food trucks (probably armored) two days a week. Don't go there for the convenience/cuisine. Certainly don't go for the pizza. While a spirited debate is warranted between Chicago style deep dish and NY style, it's without question St Louis style is an abomination. Not bad bbq, not Kansas City, but pretty darn good.
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Post by mamaru on Apr 1, 2014 15:18:55 GMT -5
Yes, it undoubtedly was the provel covered pizza that put the Oasis out of business - the "imports" at the NHC, NCAC, and training center were not willing to eat it.
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NHCs
Apr 3, 2014 6:34:55 GMT -5
Post by skippy on Apr 3, 2014 6:34:55 GMT -5
My understanding about NHC's is a little different. I heard that some judges miss the human element. Admittedly not all. Also, I have never been to one but someone who had told me that it had the feel of a factory not a hearing office. I guess that's all of ODAR to some extent but it struck this person as more so than usual. Not trying to be a contrarian but I am not sure that everyone would be happy at an NHC. Oh I agree. I'd be miserable, no doubt. But for many its the best gig going. All determined by your personality and what you want out of the job. If its a relatively popular locale, the most control possible and to make the maximum salary you can, its the job for you. But if you like the idea of some in person hearings, socializing with staff and living in a less urban environ is more important than salary maximization (and you actually like the idea that you have no supervisory responsibility) an nhc gig probably isn't for you. Would someone please explain what the difference in pay is for the NHC ALJs versus those in a regular office?
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Post by mamaru on Apr 3, 2014 7:41:52 GMT -5
There's conflicting information on the HOCALJ pay bump for NHC judges on the Board. A friend who went there about a year ago got the ten percent. He's nearing retirement and that was a huge factor in his decision, to increase his "top three" was an incentive. Has that changed recently?
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NHCs
Apr 4, 2014 14:29:42 GMT -5
Post by Propmaster on Apr 4, 2014 14:29:42 GMT -5
Funky, big hurdle, they don't get to work at home at all.. That sucks. Although, if you are newly hired into an NHC, you're not working from home the first year anyway. Given the increased staff control and dedicated attorney writers, it doesn't sound too terrible. It just seems like an odd way to be introduced to ODAR if you're an outsider. Don't overestimate the "management" part of the job. I would think of it more as "supervision." NHC ALJs can give performance ratings and assign workload, but my understanding is they are given very little in the way of actual management 'power,' such as proposing performance plans, initiating conduct discipline, etc., unless someone else 'signs off' on it first. In fact, my understanding is that the performance ratings assigned are within a pre-approved 'zone of choice,' not the entire spectrum of management potential. When NHC opened, the AALJ protested (sued? grieved? I don't recall) that the token management functions were merely to exclude union protections from applying to the ALJs assigned there, and that those ALJs were not really managers. I never heard what happened to that, but obviously it never went anywhere. I tend to think they were correct, and that any supervisory power NHC ALJs have actually acquired was done so by ALJs there trying to do things and ODAR having to allow it or else look like AALJ was right.
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Post by Costcoshopper on Jan 9, 2015 14:31:44 GMT -5
This is a crossover from the 2015 transfer list thread - we can see the list of people seeking a transfer OUT of the NHCs but is it possible to see/know about vacancies/openings to go/get IN? I ask from an outsider perspective - I imagine insiders have a mechanism to know these things? Thanks
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Post by owl on Jan 10, 2015 13:55:34 GMT -5
I'm an AA in an NHC so I can give a little info on the subject but the best source, of course, will be an ALJ who is trying to get in or actually has gotten into an NHC. First of all, NHCs are not part of the ODAR "region" in which they are physically located. Instead, they are managed by a division of OCALJ in Falls Church. Generally, your regular hearing office gets its caseload steadily resupplied automatically, of course: People are always walking into the field offices and filing claims and then ultimately appealing their denials, which get assigned to the HO that covers that FO. NHCs have no such automatic mechanism to supply them with cases. Instead, OCALJ must pull batches of cases - a few hundred from here, a few hundred from there - and feed them to the NHCs. So this is a roundabout way of saying that green-eyeshade OCALJ wizards decide how much workload each NHC shall have at any given point in time and thus the size of the ALJ complement needed to handle same (which also is interdependent on the staff and attorney levels there which is always in flux as people leave for other opportunities). So first, OCALJ is not going to fill an empty NHC ALJ office unless the workload exists (or they want to ramp it up) to justify filling it, and there are sufficient staff and attorneys in place to support an ALJ addition. Thus, I have seen ALJ offices sit empty in my NHC for long periods of time, but the flip side is that I have also seen incoming transfers that are seemingly unconnected to the "regular" transfer activity that precedes system-wide ALJ hiring (as well as those that do line up with hiring activity). The other key part is that NHC judges are managers. OCALJ can only put someone there who is already management (HOCALJ, RCALJ, other NHC ALJ, etc.) or a line ALJ that they are quite comfortable elevating to a management position. They are not constrained by the AALJ contract into taking the most senior person on the "list" who says "yes" to a transfer offer, regardless of whether that person, you know, is meeting the 500-700 disposition goal, has pending disciplinary issues or bias complaints, has a low AC agreement rate, etc. Undoubtedly it also helps if you personally know and have a good rapport with TPTB in OCALJ/ODAR or have a connection to someone who does. TL;DR: You need the proverbial two keys to turn simultaneously to launch the missile: the operations/number crunchers have to sign off on the need to fill an empty ALJ chair and the ability to handle that ALJ's output, and the right decisionmaker people have to like you. What I don't know exactly is how one formally raises one's hand to be considered for an NHC spot. I suspect, though, that OCALJ might first canvass management ALJs, then "preferred" or "insider" line ALJs who have let it informally be known they would like to be considered, and then they might look at the regular transfer list and pick and choose from the folks who have indicated they're looking to go to the hearing offices in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington. But a sitting ALJ could better confirm or correct my supposition. BTW, the revival of this thread gives me the opportunity to add a couple items to funky's OP listing NHC pros and cons, and correct a misstatement from upthread. The error is that NHC ALJs cannot telework; in fact, they most certainly can and do (in fairness this may not always have been the case but it definitely is now). The NHC "pro" (IMO) that has not been mentioned before is that regular rotation in where your cases come from gives you greater variety in the types of claimants you see and can help stave off boredom or burnout. I mean, you will still mainly be dealing with back-pain-and-depression claims all day long but I have found it really interesting and engaging to be virtually hopscotched across the country every few months to deal with claims from a different geographic and demographic makeup. A possible additional "con" from an ALJ's perspective, on the other hand, although I think it is a small one, might be that I think generally there is more attorney turnover in the NHCs because GS-12 is the ceiling here (except for, maybe, one SAA position at each). To get to GS-13 or equivalent and higher an attorney ultimately has to leave (for elsewhere in SSA, or another agency, or the private sector). So generally the NHC attorney cohort trends less experienced than in the HOs, and therefore, at least theoretically, a bit less likely on the whole to catch your mistake should you ever make one. Hope this has been a little helpful, especially to outsiders.
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Post by gary on Jan 10, 2015 14:03:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the great post owl. It sounds like there is a lot to think about regarding the NHC model and I appreciate receiving information from an insider of an NHC about them.
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NHCs
Jan 10, 2015 14:36:54 GMT -5
via mobile
Gaidin and gary like this
Post by redsox1 on Jan 10, 2015 14:36:54 GMT -5
Thanks for the info. I am an insider and I learned a lot.
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Post by Costcoshopper on Jan 10, 2015 20:57:22 GMT -5
Thanks for the insight owl. Good stuff there.
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Post by ssaer on Jan 11, 2015 13:15:11 GMT -5
What I don't know exactly is how one formally raises one's hand to be considered for an NHC spot. I suspect, though, that OCALJ might first canvass management ALJs, then "preferred" or "insider" line ALJs who have let it informally be known they would like to be considered, and then they might look at the regular transfer list and pick and choose from the folks who have indicated they're looking to go to the hearing offices in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington. But a sitting ALJ could better confirm or correct my supposition. NHC vacancies are advertised by e-mail to all current ALJs, and have been attracting increasing numbers of applicants. Although judges selected to NHCs no longer get relocation benefits or preference in transfers, the level of staff support, particularly at the attorney level, far exceeds the level of assistance provided to ALJs in hearing offices.
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Post by JudgeRatty on Jan 11, 2015 13:36:48 GMT -5
What I don't know exactly is how one formally raises one's hand to be considered for an NHC spot. I suspect, though, that OCALJ might first canvass management ALJs, then "preferred" or "insider" line ALJs who have let it informally be known they would like to be considered, and then they might look at the regular transfer list and pick and choose from the folks who have indicated they're looking to go to the hearing offices in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington. But a sitting ALJ could better confirm or correct my supposition. NHC vacancies are advertised by e-mail to all current ALJs, and have been attracting increasing numbers of applicants. Although judges selected to NHCs no longer get relocation benefits or preference in transfers, the level of staff support, particularly at the attorney level, far exceeds the level of assistance provided to ALJs in hearing offices. One of the pros of being in a NHC that I heard directly from one of our transfer ALJs (he came to use from a NHC), was that the consistency of having the same team was great. In many offices, the clerks are rotated every 6 months or so, so no one ALJ has a particular SCT (Senior Case Tech) working with them all the time. I have heard it said that this is particularly important in large offices where the chances of having one or more employees who are not top notch (including ALJs ) as these employees can be "shared" with everyone. ON the other side, the super fantastic employees are also shared with the entire team (office). With all of that said, more and more we are moving cases around the country with the electronic process, and the work should all be the same if everyone is following the eBP (electronic business process). So working with a particular person is going to be less and less frequent for some tasks, different people will have their hands on the file doing different things with it, working it up, getting it exhibited, updating records, etc. This may be a foreign concept to some as you may be used to having a secretary or paralegal and not a bunch of unknown people handling the file. Welcome to government. This is not "your" file, it is the claimant's, and we are public servants, so keep that in mind. When it comes time for the actual hearing, you have different contract reporters and may not see the same ones two days in a row. That varies as well. You do not have an assigned writer, those are rotated with no regard to preference (or should be). In a NHC, there is a consistent team or pod for the writing unit with an ALJ, senior attorney, SCT, etc., and the ALJ has management responsibility over that team. You get to bond with your team and there is more accountability since you always work with those same people. They get to know what you want, and things should run smoothly in that regard. Of course, if your team is not so hot, well, like anything you have to deal with it and encourage change. The file prep is still handled by different people as you are getting files from different places, so there are still many hands involved. This all comes from the perspective of an ALJ who loved the NHC model and only transferred for family reasons.
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Post by gary on Jan 11, 2015 13:56:05 GMT -5
Bob, I'll take one for the team and go to the Chicago NHC.
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NHCs
Feb 21, 2015 5:10:02 GMT -5
Post by dcatty76 on Feb 21, 2015 5:10:02 GMT -5
If initially placed elsewhere as a newbie ALJ, how hard is it to obtain a position at the Falls Church NHC? Do positions at this location come up often? Any insights would be appreciated.
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Post by ssaer on Mar 7, 2015 23:00:21 GMT -5
There will be some ALJ and attorney openings in the Baltimore NHC -- a great place to work -- in the very near future.
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