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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2015 14:08:49 GMT -5
Just passing this on. From the AALJ newsletter re: recent meeting between AALJ and manangement.
... OBFS reported, that the Agency plans to hire 250 ALJs in FY 2015 and the same number in the next couple of fiscal years. We have netted only 17 ALJs so far this year because attrition has been greater than anticipated; there has been a net increase of 100 staff in the hearing offices. There were 1472 ALJs as of May, with a target of 1600 by the end of FY15 and a goal of 1900 in FY18. The Agency has hiring authority for a 4:1 ratio of staff to ALJ, with a goal of 4.5:1. Overtime has been authorized for Saturday decision writing and case pulling.
32. How many judges have retired so far this calendar year?
Forty six have retired so far; 14 more retirements are currently pending.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2015 14:14:30 GMT -5
Oh, and this....
15. Schedule of next classes of hires for the remainder of the fiscal year: what dates EOD and what dates for training? How long is the current affirmed list valid? When will the next affirmed list requests be sent out in anticipation for the hiring of the new class?
6/29/15 EOD with training to start July 20
08/10/15 EOD with training to start 8/31.
09/07/15 EOD with training to start 9/28.
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Post by gary on Jul 7, 2015 14:25:46 GMT -5
Thanks for passing the info along robg.
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Post by mamaru on Jul 7, 2015 16:48:05 GMT -5
So what is everyone thinking about this?
New certs for the September hire, which is supposed to be bigger than the August? From the dates we have seen, it will happen before the people who have won appeals have completed DC testing.
Obviously there are a few folks with brand new NOR's, thanks to successful appeals of DC scores, but will there be enough of them (and 10 pointers with new NORs) to supplement the register? If they wait until August to close out the remaining certs and get new ones will there be time to interview them if they make new certs? Seems like OPM would have a hard time knowing how many "reachables" to put on a new cert for a city unless all pending certs are closed.
Will they focus on hiring for new or barely touched locations that still may have some favorites who haven't been reached?
Will they be forced by the pressure to hire to take another look at people who have been skipped? (Rumor is they have said they will not go back up the lists.)
Let those WAGuesses fly!
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Post by privateatty on Jul 7, 2015 19:19:17 GMT -5
They didn't hire the numbers they could have because they got flummoxed by OPM's new paradigm of cert/city. Oh, and had OMHA had a few more cities on their list, the numbers would have been a half dozen lower.
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Post by Gaidin on Jul 7, 2015 22:17:43 GMT -5
So what is everyone thinking about this? New certs for the September hire, which is supposed to be bigger than the August? From the dates we have seen, it will happen before the people who have won appeals have completed DC testing. The people who are winning appeals and proceeding to DC will be lucky if they get scores back in time to get on the first certs of the new year.Obviously there are a few folks with brand new NOR's, thanks to successful appeals of DC scores, but will there be enough of them (and 10 pointers with new NORs) to supplement the register? If they wait until August to close out the remaining certs and get new ones will there be time to interview them if they make new certs? Seems like OPM would have a hard time knowing how many "reachables" to put on a new cert for a city unless all pending certs are closed. I think they make the August hires in the next week or so and they issue new certs shortly thereafter. I honestly wouldn't be terribly surprised if they haven't already pulled the September certs and are waiting until after August hiring to send them out. If so the folks who are just now getting scores aren't going to be on them. Will they focus on hiring for new or barely touched locations that still may have some favorites who haven't been reached? I think to do this they would have to know a lot more about people's GALs than they have demonstrated so far. Will they be forced by the pressure to hire to take another look at people who have been skipped? (Rumor is they have said they will not go back up the lists.) Whether they hire anyone they have considered previously or not unless they three strike someone they must consider them on future certs.
This rumor doesn't actually make sense if you really think about it. There are not enough warm bodies on the register right now for them to be that picky. Maybe as the new folks come on they can get picky but if I were ODAR I certainly wouldn't go counting any chickens that the magical candidates are hidden behind door number 3. Its a crap shoot at best that any one of us gets hired but the fact is some of us are getting hired. Maybe they liked Susie and Johnny more than Gaidin and Mama but that doesn't mean they don't like us more than whatever is left. I think about it like asking people to prom you might not get to take your first choice because somebody already asked them but its getting pretty close to the dance and your mom already rented a limo and a tux so you have to ask somebody. Let those WAGuesses fly! Until I stop showing up on certs I will believe its still possibility. If you have a wide open GAL you have to realize that eventually your number will get pulled for Middlesboro or Tupelo or Cincinnati. The turn over at those offices is just to high and the hiring demands to great. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 7:33:25 GMT -5
Why is there such turnover in Cincinnati, anyway? It's not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things (at least in my limited experience).
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Post by beenlurking on Jul 8, 2015 7:53:42 GMT -5
I would ask the same question regarding Tupelo?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 8:16:17 GMT -5
I would ask the same question regarding Tupelo? I'm assuming the poster meant "Toledo". There are only two ALJ's on the most recent transfer list trying to get out of Tupelo, while there are five for Toledo. |
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Post by gary on Jul 8, 2015 8:47:20 GMT -5
Why is there such turnover in Cincinnati, anyway? It's not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things (at least in my limited experience). The city should adopt as its tourism slogan: "Cincinnati: Not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things." |
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Post by moopigsdad on Jul 8, 2015 8:53:44 GMT -5
I would ask the same question regarding Tupelo? If it is indeed Tupelo, it could be because Funkyodar showed up there recently as an ALJ due to a transfer into the location. Everyone knows how a "funky odor" can scatter people in different directions. LOL!!! (Sorry Funky my long time friend, I had to say that just to "jest" with you.) I sincerely would be the first in line to work with Funky or Sratty at any ODAR office. They are truly great friends. I am sure Toledo was the office that was being talked about. Sometimes, it is solely that people want to get back closer to home. Sometimes, it is the work atmosphere in the office that sends ALJs looking elsewhere to locate. There is no particular reason, why ALJs decide to locate elsewhere from an ODAR office. |
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Post by willsdad on Jul 8, 2015 9:12:29 GMT -5
I agree with the estimable Gaidin on this. I was concerned particularly about the rumor that ODAR won't take a look back at higher scorers whom they may have already passed over. I'm sitting on a NOR north of 75 (non-vet). Not a great score, but a good one, especially at this stage of the Register's life. I'm also one of those who has not received an FOAD email on the latest cert, which I take to mean that I remain viable for the August 10 hiring. Of course, I don't know whether ODAR will have to "go back up the Register" to consider me, or whether everyone else hired in my (relatively small) GAL cities up to now just outscored me. Still, I agree that it makes sense for ODAR to keep the passed over higher scorers in mind. I mean, come on! Look what those scorers have gone through to just be on the Register with a high score. Unless they bombed the ODAR interview (which presumably would lead to a "not recommended" assessment and maybe by now a failure to even show up on any more certs), I would think they'd be considered.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2015 9:16:19 GMT -5
Why is there such turnover in Cincinnati, anyway? It's not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things (at least in my limited experience). The city should adopt as its tourism slogan: "Cincinnati: Not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things." I mean, "We're Not Detroit!" is already taken. |
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Post by luckylady2 on Jul 8, 2015 11:25:14 GMT -5
I think they ARE starting to leave enough folks behind to talk about going "back up the register." There have now been 5 hires from this register - plenty to have given some of the higher scoring candidates 3 bona fide considerations. With the numbers they are planning on hiring, they probably don't want to actually 3-strike them and not have the names come back on new certs from OPM, but they CAN disregard these folks if they want to get to some people who are farther down.
Of course with the numbers they want to hire, they can always go back up the register at a later date even if they don't want to right now. So it's STILL an amazingly good time to be on the register!
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Post by Gaidin on Jul 8, 2015 12:32:27 GMT -5
I don't understand about Cincinnati either. If you look at Indianapolis as a comparable city there should be relatively similar turnover and there isn't. I mean the Bengals stink but not that bad.
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Post by mamaru on Jul 8, 2015 12:53:56 GMT -5
Could it be the turkeys coming down from the sky in Cincinnati?
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Post by sealaw90 on Jul 8, 2015 12:59:52 GMT -5
Okay folks, time to get this ship back on course. Pull those left-handed monkey wrenches out of the engine room and get a hand on the wheel. I think we need to toss the fruit bowl over the rails, y'all are mixing up apples with oranges.
OPM owns the register, not SSA. SSA cannot ask for "all candidates who scored between 55 - 68 for Tupelo." IT doesn't work that way. SSA asks for a cert for each city and they get a list of eligible folks who are on the register that day.
People fall off or are added to the register all the time. It is not a static document. I agree with Gaidan that folks testing in DC later this summer will not receive a NOR until Dec 2015 - Jan 2016.
Why am i not getting interviewed for a particular city? Sorry for being Captain obvious, but it also depends upon your GAL. There appears to be hundreds of folks who scored better than a 70, but don't have a ALJ gig. Why? Because they asked to be an ALJ in a city that has never appeared on a register for as long as we have records on this Board. Perhaps they have 1-3 cities on their GAL. The GAL you chose in 2013 is what you are stuck with. There is no guarantee of OPM allowing us to expand our GALs, nor is there any guarantee it will occur this winter/early spring. The discussion of how folks feel cheated by their own GAL and SSAs decision to not hire you right now is for another thread.
As far as folks who have had cities appear and got an email to come interview with SSA, there are myriad reasons you don't have a ALJ gig. Most likely SSA shifted priority cities for new hires and choose to not hire a newbie but let a current ALJ transfer to that city. ODAR tries to hire more than one newbie for a city and if they only have one opening and a weak HOCALJ, perhaps they would rather transfer in an existing ALJ for one slot than have a poorly trained newbie ALJ who can't meet production numbers. Or ODAR doesn't have an open office when they are ready to hire you, even though they thought they would when they requested that city's cert.
Your references tanked you. The only thing you can do is gather better references in the next 2 years so you'll be fine for the next chance to get on the register and get a SSA interview.
It's fine to throw out a few WAGs, this post has few in it too. But please try to stick to the topic and try not to think you did something wrong or you are a horrible person because you are not an ALJ yet. Stop blaming this on SSA when you are discussing an issue that is only within OPM's purview, and visa versa.
Your day has either come, it will come, or it won't. But unlike real life, your "ALJ Register Life" expires and you get to reinvent yourself for the next register!!
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Post by sealaw90 on Jul 8, 2015 13:11:32 GMT -5
Why is there such turnover in Cincinnati, anyway? It's not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things (at least in my limited experience). The city should adopt as its tourism slogan: "Cincinnati: Not a terrible city in the grand scheme of things." BTW Gary, Thanks for laugh/snort of the day. It makes me want to expand my GAL right now to include Cincy!!! |
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Post by gary on Jul 8, 2015 13:32:55 GMT -5
Could it be the turkeys coming down from the sky in Cincinnati? |
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Post by Ace Midnight on Jul 8, 2015 14:04:30 GMT -5
Okay folks, time to get this ship back on course. Pull those left-handed monkey wrenches out of the engine room and get a hand on the wheel. I think we need to toss the fruit bowl over the rails, y'all are mixing up apples with oranges. You're so weird (in my world - that's a compliment). |
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