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Post by Lawesome on Feb 6, 2016 12:43:53 GMT -5
I was told that with the expansion of the SAA National Adjudication Team, hearing offices might be allowed to fill the SAA spots of those picked up to be on the team. "Might" is the key word, but I've got my fingers crossed for my AA friends.
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Post by montyburns on Feb 6, 2016 13:55:39 GMT -5
I was told that with the expansion of the SAA National Adjudication Team, hearing offices might be allowed to fill the SAA spots of those picked up to be on the team. "Might" is the key word, but I've got my fingers crossed for my AA friends. I heard the exact same thing (maybe from you IRL? who knows!) If true that would mean 50 SA slots opening. OT has been suspended in my region for the time being as well, which makes me think they are getting ready to do some hiring. Rank speculation on my part, but...
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Post by redsox1 on Feb 6, 2016 16:27:12 GMT -5
I was told that with the expansion of the SAA National Adjudication Team, hearing offices might be allowed to fill the SAA spots of those picked up to be on the team. "Might" is the key word, but I've got my fingers crossed for my AA friends. I heard the exact same thing (maybe from you IRL? who knows!) If true that would mean 50 SA slots opening. OT has been suspended in my region for the time being as well, which makes me think they are getting ready to do some hiring. Rank speculation on my part, but... I have heard this too from a reliable source. However, the qualifier is that the backfill will be done by detail. ie temporary promotion of 120 days or 12 months depending on region/office. Hopefully, it's a first step for overdue promotions of some AA's.
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Post by phoenixrakkasan on Feb 6, 2016 18:10:35 GMT -5
Those of us AAs and Sr AAs who have worked outside ODAR absolutely LOVE our jobs.... OK, we love our ODAR jobs after we remind ourselves of the joys of private practice such as 60 - 70 hour weeks without OT, no paid vacation, overhead, clients who stiff us, or call 24/7, or both. Grass is always greener. It's better than many attorney jobs but its still disheartening when the paralegal specialist in the office next to you with a high school education is earning more than you without student loans because they've been here longer. The woman in the office next to me has a high school education and makes 85k a year doing my job. I have a JD and a 100k of student loan debt and make less because she's higher on the step ladder than me. I'd actually argue paralegal is one of the best jobs in the agency, best in the field at least. Without a somewhat viable if not delusional path to judge the job would be even more depressing. That Paralegal is doing her job. How long did it take that Paralegal to get that job? Most likely longer than you. The Paralegal has no upward progression, except GS. You do. You can also compete for a GS spot. Being a member of the Federal government is fortunate. Focus on yourself and establish the record that will allow you to find a higher paying job.
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Post by montyburns on Feb 6, 2016 21:11:00 GMT -5
Those of us AAs and Sr AAs who have worked outside ODAR absolutely LOVE our jobs.... OK, we love our ODAR jobs after we remind ourselves of the joys of private practice such as 60 - 70 hour weeks without OT, no paid vacation, overhead, clients who stiff us, or call 24/7, or both. Grass is always greener. It's better than many attorney jobs but its still disheartening when the paralegal specialist in the office next to you with a high school education is earning more than you without student loans because they've been here longer. The woman in the office next to me has a high school education and makes 85k a year doing my job. I have a JD and a 100k of student loan debt and make less because she's higher on the step ladder than me. I'd actually argue paralegal is one of the best jobs in the agency, best in the field at least. Without a somewhat viable if not delusional path to judge the job would be even more depressing. I hear you, but agree with phoenix. All but one of the Paralegal writers I knew had BAs (at least) and in my opinion all but one was certainly smart enough to have made it through law school. Life ain't fair, but you can't get too down just because someone lucked into a really sweet job. Frankly, assuming this Paralegal does his/her job well, then more power to them. I am saying this as someone in year 14 of my 30 year student loan repayment plan. As mentioned above, SAA is probably opening up again soon. And, if nothing else, you have a lot more options than that paralegal. You can always hang a shingle, work for another agency, work for the state, do big law, whatever. That paralegal is stuck writing for eternity, unless he/ she wants the thankless GS job.
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Post by ba on Feb 7, 2016 8:51:13 GMT -5
Exact language from the announcement:
Administrative Law Experience: Qualifying administrative law experience involves cases in which a formal procedure was initiated by a governmental administrative body and includes: •participating in settlement negotiations in advance of hearing cases; •preparing for hearing and/or participating in trial of cases; •preparing opinions; •hearing cases; •participating in or conducting arbitration, mediation, or other alternative dispute resolution process approved by the administrative body; or •participating in appeals related to the types of cases above.
Obviously, AA/DWs say they participate in preparing opinions to get their seven years experience. Even though technically, they prepare "decisions" not "opinions"
Any word on whether doing judicial clerkships counts? I very much prepared "opinions" involving ongoing litigation. Spent two years clerking at the federal district court level after law school. Many of the opinions involved judicial review of social security ALJ decisions in fact. Bar license was required. It would be funny to me to not be able to count that experience but on the other hand count DW experience. It counts.
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Post by Pixie on Feb 7, 2016 8:54:58 GMT -5
In prior announcements I remember that law clerks were specifically excluded from qualifying experience, probably because OPM had not a clue as to the actual duties. I don't see the exclusion this time around.
In your post you stated, "It would be funny to me to not be able to count that experience [law clerk] but on the other hand count DW experience." I can tell from that comment that your dealings with OPM have been minimal. Pixie.
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Post by ba on Feb 7, 2016 9:39:33 GMT -5
In prior announcements I remember that law clerks were specifically excluded from qualifying experience, probably because OPM had not a clue as to the actual duties. I don't see the exclusion this time around. In your post you stated, "It would be funny to me to not be able to count that experience [law clerk] but on the other hand count DW experience." I can tell from that comment that your dealings with OPM have been minimal. Pixie. To back up Pix, although she never needs it, don't underestimate the backwards thinking that can occur in government bureaucracy. But, yes, judicial clerkships count.
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Post by Pixie on Feb 7, 2016 10:03:30 GMT -5
Yes, without the specific exclusion this time around, I would think the duty of preparing opinions would include a law clerk as qualifying experience. Pixie.
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Post by maquereau on Feb 7, 2016 10:20:15 GMT -5
Lonely Writer's point about paralegals is well taken. In the offices where I've worked, MOST of the "paralegals" do not have college degrees and are not paralegals in any traditional sense of the word. MOST of them have simply been ODAR clerks who, having spent 15 years out on the floor, are thought to somehow merit a promotion to a writer position. There is no testing to see that they have the skills to be a writer; I have never seen any writing samples from them. By some unknown method of divination, management is able to determine that these folks have, through the performance of a job requiring a different skill set, somehow acquired the ability to perform the analysis and exposition and have developed rhetorical skills that will enable them to draft legal opinions.
I've been calling BS on this feature of ODAR hiring/promotion for a long time now. I have seen a few really good ones, but, currently, the "paralegals" I deal with are just slowing down our mission. I spend the vast majority of my time as an ALJ editing their work. While writing is not necessarily rocket science, it is also not for everyone.
Do we want to provide great public service? Do we want our decisions to stand up to appellate scrutiny? Do we want to make our monthly goals? Then I suggest we hire attorneys who have demonstrated the ability to analyze and write at a high level - - - - SINCE WE CAN GET THEM FOR THE SAME PRICE AS A "PARALEGAL"!
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Post by alj on Feb 7, 2016 12:31:52 GMT -5
I was told that with the expansion of the SAA National Adjudication Team, hearing offices might be allowed to fill the SAA spots of those picked up to be on the team. "Might" is the key word, but I've got my fingers crossed for my AA friends. From the perspective of the hearing office, this is one of the major problems of the SAA job. We have no control over what programs OCALJ may design for the SAA. Then we lose their services doing what we need done the most--writing difficult decisions and training. Of course it is a good promotion for the AA, but potentially a bad deal for the HO. They still count as a FTE against us, but we don't have their services.
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Post by prescient on Feb 7, 2016 13:55:20 GMT -5
We've all been hoping that last week's cessation of all OT means some type of promotions soon
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Post by tripper on Feb 7, 2016 14:56:25 GMT -5
We've all been hoping that last week's cessation of all OT means some type of promotions soon What is the thought around suspension of OT meaning the start of promotions?
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Post by montyburns on Feb 7, 2016 16:25:06 GMT -5
We've all been hoping that last week's cessation of all OT means some type of promotions soon What is the thought around suspension of OT meaning the start of promotions? I theorize (hypothecate?) that they are suspending OT to stabilize the budget and do some hiring (and hopefully reinstate some limited OT when they get done hiring)
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Post by litigator52 on Feb 7, 2016 19:23:29 GMT -5
well that's bad news re cessation of OT. I just thought it was a one-time skip of weekend OT.Does anyone know on good info that ODAR OT is really cased for a longer while? Thanks,Lit52
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Post by Propmaster on Feb 8, 2016 10:08:06 GMT -5
I was told that with the expansion of the SAA National Adjudication Team, hearing offices might be allowed to fill the SAA spots of those picked up to be on the team. "Might" is the key word, but I've got my fingers crossed for my AA friends. From the perspective of the hearing office, this is one of the major problems of the SAA job. We have no control over what programs OCALJ may design for the SAA. Then we lose their services doing what we need done the most--writing difficult decisions and training. Of course it is a good promotion for the AA, but potentially a bad deal for the HO. They still count as a FTE against us, but we don't have their services. In the old days (like 5-10 years ago), hearing offices controlled the senior attorney advisors' duties within their PDs. They could screen cases, monitor development of unrepped cases, create trainings, develop in-house procedures and materials, write cases, write complicated cases, research for ALJs, and basically "other duties as assigned" by management. For whatever reason, at least in my region, the use of SAAs has been limited to writing decisions. All cases are assigned on a rotation, meaning that paralegals who used to specialize in certain types of disability decisions, for example, need to learn workers' compensation offsets and alien sponsor deeming rules. No one does training or highlights changes in law or procedure except when OCALJ orders it specifically. I was on a management team when we had freedom and then when we were told what to assign to the SAAs, and then later, SAAs became highly paid AAs. The only difference is if you do a detail. There's a saying around here - the way to get ahead is to do anything other than your job (i.e., details). The approach to using SAAs (and really to using any available human resource) is virtually 100% backward from normal management for efficiency - when you have the freedom to assign people work within their strengths and assign their weaknesses to other people for whom the weaknesses of the first person are a strength, you accomplish more work with happier people. This is not foreign to OCALJ. OAO is about to create specialized non-DIB units (or has done so) for the express purpose of increasing efficiency (Judge Bice was proud of it several newsletters ago), while ODAR continues to ensure that everyone is doing at least one thing they hate that they are also bad at.
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Post by montyburns on Feb 8, 2016 10:28:38 GMT -5
From the perspective of the hearing office, this is one of the major problems of the SAA job. We have no control over what programs OCALJ may design for the SAA. Then we lose their services doing what we need done the most--writing difficult decisions and training. Of course it is a good promotion for the AA, but potentially a bad deal for the HO. They still count as a FTE against us, but we don't have their services. I was on a management team when we had freedom and then when we were told what to assign to the SAAs, and then later, SAAs became highly paid AAs. The only difference is if you do a detail. There's a saying around here - the way to get ahead is to do anything other than your job (i.e., details). What I really don't understand is why, after doing a detail, the employee is not set loose to work in that capacity. Like with the NAT, these SAAs got browbeat by QR until, I am sure, they are all screening/developing/writing to managements satisfaction. So why not let them do that in their home offices? Instead, some of these folks are re-applying to get the NAT detail again. I just don't get it.
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Post by montyburns on Feb 8, 2016 10:31:38 GMT -5
well that's bad news re cessation of OT. I just thought it was a one-time skip of weekend OT.Does anyone know on good info that ODAR OT is really cased for a longer while? Thanks,Lit52 I doubt anyone outside of a few offices in HQ knows. Would love to find out though
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Post by Thomas fka Lance on Feb 8, 2016 16:10:52 GMT -5
The hearing offices were told OT was unlimited both on a per day basis as well as on Saturdays, not to exceed 18 OT hours per week. Reports are filed with each Regional office on a weekly basis. Thus, the amount of OT usage was not a 'surprise'. Neither was the stoppage of OT. After having a conversation with upper management, AFGE reported to its members OT would stop in February (weeks before its actual stoppage). The reason given was due to budget constraints.
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Post by tripper on Feb 8, 2016 16:34:14 GMT -5
The hearing offices were told OT was unlimited both on a per day basis as well as on Saturdays, not to exceed 18 OT hours per week. Reports are filed with each Regional office on a weekly basis. Thus, the amount of OT usage was not a 'surprise'. Neither was the stoppage of OT. After having a conversation with upper management, AFGE reported to its members OT would stop in February (weeks before its actual stoppage). The reason given was due to budget constraints. Lance, Do you know if it will resume in the near future? Thanks, Tripper
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