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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 6:52:33 GMT -5
The good news this morning is that under the new AALJ contract for the next 4 years, ALJs eligible for telework may earn credits hours while teleworking, including up to 8 hours credit on weekends. Also the 8 day cap of TW days per month will not apply to Saturdays and Sundays.
The bad news, (for all newbies) is that your plans to hire on and then to transfer 90 days after hire have been removed. All ALJs hired in 2016 must complete a minimum of 450 days of continuous service (15 months) in their first assignment before being eligible to request transfer. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 7:02:31 GMT -5
"Judges hired after the signing of this Settlement Agreement (hired to start working in calendar year 2016) must complete 15 months (450 days) of continuous service with the Agency to be eligible for a voluntary reassignment; a request for reassignment will not be accepted if it is sent prior to the 451st day of continuous service. This provision applies while the current CBA remains in effect. (Note: the Agency has had great difficulty keeping judges in a number of less-desirable locations; the movement of judges out of an office after being there a short time is disruptive and unfair to claimants . Given that the Agency has a valid business reason for requesting this change, and that as judges we are concerned about insuring that claimants are provided with appropriate service, we reluctantly negotiated this provision, reducing the time the Agency wanted down to 15 months.)"
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Post by quesera on Oct 13, 2015 7:22:23 GMT -5
Do they define "continuous service?" If new hire ALJ Doe moves to crapland but has FMLA for something at month 9, does his or her FMLA/LWOP break the continuity? Or cause a delay? What about other types of leave?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 7:28:32 GMT -5
I think the intent of the language is clear "450 days" of continuous service. How that service is taken (as leave, FMLA, etc) will not IMHO be considered; i.e., you start on xx/xx/xx date, manually count 451 days from that date before you can request transfer.
Note this is just to request a transfer, not that you will be actually granted a transfer on your 451st day. Depending on your request you may still remain in situ for weeks, months, years, after your request is made. Prepare accordingly.
The great "90 day" experiment tried and failed. |
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Post by bowser on Oct 13, 2015 8:30:21 GMT -5
The great "90 day" experiment tried and failed. Great to see this done away with. And glad to see AALJ is not putting up a stink. You don't wanna go to "crapland," don't. |
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Post by bartleby on Oct 13, 2015 9:00:53 GMT -5
The Caveat I believe is that you can still qualify for Agency solicitations prior to the 450 day rule. In other words, if they send out a solicitation for Judges needed for a NHC, or a specific office, you can still apply for and accept a transfer to those offices. Some minor relief if "crapland" is unbearable. I got Toledo and was there over 450 days and truthfully, I loved it mostly, except for the weather and corner person. I think it has gotten better as corner person had no experience and has learned a lot since then. Corner person is a very nice person and was placed in a position with very little training and no prior experience, so it wasn't all her fault... Great City, great people, great food, great memories. As was said in Casablanca, "I will always have Toledo." or something like that...
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Post by phoenixrakkasan on Oct 13, 2015 9:10:47 GMT -5
No telework during first year, correct? Is this followed?
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Post by Pixie on Oct 13, 2015 9:13:08 GMT -5
No telework during first year, correct? Is this followed? Yes. |
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Post by trickbag on Oct 13, 2015 10:49:10 GMT -5
The good news this morning is that under the new AALJ contract for the next 4 years, ALJs eligible for telework may earn credits hours while teleworking, including up to 8 hours credit on weekends. Also the 8 day cap of TW days per month will not apply to Saturdays and Sundays.
The bad news, (for all newbies) is that your plans to hire on and then to transfer 90 days after hire have been removed. All ALJs hired in 2016 must complete a minimum of 450 days of continuous service (15 months) in their first assignment before being eligible to request transfer. NB it's not "for the next four years" but rather 4 years from 9/30/13...so really, the next 2 years, assuming it's ratified. |
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 10:55:37 GMT -5
and honestly, 15 months is not forever to spend somewhere especially once telework becomes available after 12 months. Also, if SSA maintains its either new or revived policy of letting candidates rank cities by preference, everyone has a better shot of ending up somewhere they are willing to spend 15+ months at.
i am sad to see the 90 day transfer policy go and i mean that generally, not just for me. But if it was causing too many headaches, which is very plausible that it was, i see 15 months as a decent compromise between 90 days and 2 years.
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Post by bowser on Oct 13, 2015 11:16:57 GMT -5
I got Toledo and was there over 450 days and truthfully, I loved it mostly, except for the weather and corner person. Man, Toledo had HUGE issues, not the least of which was the constant shuttling in/out of ALJs. I was not assigned to that office but am somewhat familiar with it. Shortcomings of the HOCALJ would not make it into my top 5 of issues that office faced. |
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Post by bartleby on Oct 13, 2015 12:50:16 GMT -5
Bowser, still putting out fires from that one my friend...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2015 14:16:28 GMT -5
I look at the demise of the 90 day period as follows: a harbinger of the SSA's entire review of the continued feasibility of a large number of ODAR offices. There are many ODARs that simply exist not because of any need, but because of a long-forgotten political favor made years/decades ago. The system is admittedly bloated with unnecessary ODARs. In this day and age where hearings can be held literally anywhere/anytime/anyplace via video and other means there is less and less economical and logistical reason to continue to carry and maintain many ODARs simply because they have always been there. I would even surmise that many of these ODARs are indeed located in what are called "craplands" because of the simple reason of a political favor. Otherwise an ODAR would never have been placed there from the outset.
As this scenario develops over time, and as SSA sees that placing and trying to keep ALJ's in crapland for even a minimum of 15 months is becoming a logistical impossibility the SSA will (and should) use that as part reason to close such offices and consolidate those and other offices into regional centers that are simply more economical to operate and maintain.
Anymore, watching the SSA continually trying to place and keep ALJs in unwanted offices is like watching "whack-a-mole".
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Post by keepsake on Oct 13, 2015 14:44:51 GMT -5
I am not an insider, but understand the claimants can object to the hearing via video, yes? So, if claimants can get their in-person hearing if they elect (open question for me as to whether this is true and/or frequency with which folks ask for or object to video hearing), doesn't this make the possible closure of many HOs problematic?
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Post by christina on Oct 13, 2015 14:47:04 GMT -5
not necessarily because these hearings could be held in a SS district office.
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Post by luckylady2 on Oct 13, 2015 14:49:12 GMT -5
Anymore, watching the SSA continually trying to place and keep ALJs in unwanted offices is like watching "whack-a-mole". I like the analogy! |
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Post by redryder on Oct 13, 2015 14:49:43 GMT -5
There may be ODAR offices where there is no need, but the likelihood of closing them is slim and none. And it is not the location. It is what to do with the staff. They are not laid off but have to be folded into another office. When the ODAR office in Covington, GA was closed, there was no problem. It located within 35 miles of Atlanta. Reassign them at no cost. But require them to move more than 75 miles and the agency has to pay for relocation. The only places that have offices close together are major metro areas like Houston, Dallas, LA, Atlanta. Out here in Crapland, there are no nearby ODARs to consolidate.
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Post by bowser on Oct 13, 2015 15:03:18 GMT -5
Yeah, a lot of claimants lie in crapland, and need to be served somehow.
I don't think the Agency has made any secret of their longterm plans to increase video capability, while retaining some number of relatively small HOs, generally co-located w/ other SS facilities. Maybe instead of being sited in cropland, some ALJs will simply have to make periodic trips there to handle video opt-outs.
I expect this to be accomplished primarily thru attrition, and as leases expire.
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Post by bartleby on Oct 13, 2015 15:41:42 GMT -5
I don't think the Covington ODAR office closed??
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Post by prescient on Oct 13, 2015 23:01:37 GMT -5
In my neck of the woods, well over 90% of claimants object to video hearings. Maybe we are outliers, but unless SSA mandates video hearings, I don't foresee office closures/consolidations.
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