SSA's Chief Judge on ALJ Hiring and Transfers
Jan 6, 2015 10:02:15 GMT -5
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Post by ssaer on Jan 6, 2015 10:02:15 GMT -5
The following is excerpted from a recent message to ODAR employees from Chief Judge Bice:
ALJ Hiring:
We are aggressively hiring judges in order to increase our adjudicative capacity. We hired 71 judges in FY 2014 and have just completed offers to 47 judges who will report the end of January. Our plans are to hire 250 judges this fiscal year. We are also front-loading staff in anticipation of these ALJ hires. I want to be up-front with you--we will continue to centralize our writing resources in NCACs and RCACs so that we can provide writing assistance wherever it is needed. Thanks to our senior attorneys who are providing mentoring and reviewing so that these new writers can produce quality decisional drafts as soon as possible. However, we have provided staffing ceilings to the regions so that hiring of legal assistants can be done in the local hearing offices where they are needed.
Reassignment Policies for ALJs:
Article 20 of the AALJ/IFPTE national agreement establishes a uniform policy for the voluntary, non-reimbursable reassignment of Judges.
ODAR maintains a register organized by hearing and satellite office by ALJ name, request date, and appointment date. To be eligible for reassignment, a Judge must have completed 90 days of continuous service with ODAR. A Judge may request up to five hearing or satellite offices for reassignment.
ODAR will send a reassignment offer inquiry email when we determine a vacancy exists. A Judge must respond within five working days of receipt. If a Judge does not respond within that timeframe, the lack of reply will be deemed a waiver of reassignment. A declination or non-reply will not affect a Judge’s position on the register for that office. A Judge will be removed from the register for a period of one year for that office if he or she responds favorably to the inquiry and subsequently declines an offer.
Once an offer is made, a Judge has three working days to respond. Generally, a Judge that accepts reassignment must report to the new office within 45 days of acceptance, or as otherwise mutually agreed by the parties. A judge may again request reassignment after a period of two years from the effective date of the acceptance.
ALJ Hiring:
We are aggressively hiring judges in order to increase our adjudicative capacity. We hired 71 judges in FY 2014 and have just completed offers to 47 judges who will report the end of January. Our plans are to hire 250 judges this fiscal year. We are also front-loading staff in anticipation of these ALJ hires. I want to be up-front with you--we will continue to centralize our writing resources in NCACs and RCACs so that we can provide writing assistance wherever it is needed. Thanks to our senior attorneys who are providing mentoring and reviewing so that these new writers can produce quality decisional drafts as soon as possible. However, we have provided staffing ceilings to the regions so that hiring of legal assistants can be done in the local hearing offices where they are needed.
Reassignment Policies for ALJs:
Article 20 of the AALJ/IFPTE national agreement establishes a uniform policy for the voluntary, non-reimbursable reassignment of Judges.
ODAR maintains a register organized by hearing and satellite office by ALJ name, request date, and appointment date. To be eligible for reassignment, a Judge must have completed 90 days of continuous service with ODAR. A Judge may request up to five hearing or satellite offices for reassignment.
ODAR will send a reassignment offer inquiry email when we determine a vacancy exists. A Judge must respond within five working days of receipt. If a Judge does not respond within that timeframe, the lack of reply will be deemed a waiver of reassignment. A declination or non-reply will not affect a Judge’s position on the register for that office. A Judge will be removed from the register for a period of one year for that office if he or she responds favorably to the inquiry and subsequently declines an offer.
Once an offer is made, a Judge has three working days to respond. Generally, a Judge that accepts reassignment must report to the new office within 45 days of acceptance, or as otherwise mutually agreed by the parties. A judge may again request reassignment after a period of two years from the effective date of the acceptance.
