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Post by operationalj on Mar 24, 2023 6:50:29 GMT -5
Any details should be temporary promotions. The agency shouldn't ask you to learn and do another job for free. Now that the agency has control over ALJ hiring develop a more defined, understandable, and achievable path to ALJ or OGC. Of course almost goes without saying the job should be fully remote officially. You should be able to just move and submit an electronic HR form and your locality and state taxes adjust next pay period no questions asked. The agency has demonstrated the ability with OGC going fully remote. I think the fact that these jobs are still advertised as assigned to specific locations says something. The deed has been done but overall probably just shouldn't hire attorneys to do paralegal work. Attorneys should be representing parties. I agree with each of these recommendations and think they are all entirely reasonable. And the recent influx of details is great! There are hundreds of AAs willing and capable of taking on new duties- the Agency should be taking full advantage of this. 1) The more details the merrier! The Agency benefits because the attorneys (anyone on detail) gain so much knowledge that can be applied in all aspects of the job. Happy workers are more productive too! Were there any temp promotions with the details? If yes, awesome! If not, temp promotions should be implemented. I was happy to see OHO AAs were able to detail to OGC for a while! I tried when I was an SAA at a HO but Region approved only a week at OGC and at my own expense. I did not do it. I'd add the agency should consider widespread adoption of the NHC model (2 AAs assigned to an ALJ). I know this has been discussed in this board before, and it comes with its own issues (management ALJs, ALJs having to deal with poor AAs and vice versa), but IMHO it does result in a better final product. The AAs see the file well before hearing, give a detailed review with recommendation, which takes some of the workload off of ALJs. And then that familiarity with the file while drafting leads to a more robust draft. I'd argue that an ALJ-AA team relationship also encourages a sense of teamwork and establishes some accountability. Not to mention, may help AAs build skills useful for future ALJ positions. 2) Yep, there is already a model that can be modified/improved a bit to make it more successful for the ALJ, AA, and management. There's always the risk of a poor AA or poor ALJ- that's in any job and there are ways of rising to the occasion to make it work at least to get the job done. I bet that issue is rare tho. I infer that more ALJs prefer the NHC model since they are rarely, if ever, available to new ALJs; I don't think there is a lot of movement of ALJs in the NHC but IDK for sure. I think this would raise the bar in professionalism for everyone AAs, ALJS, and REPS. And I know you've heard this before, but more SAA positions would be welcomed. As you know, becoming a 13 opens a whole new set of opportunities. And some offices have too few (at times, none) SAAs. 3) I think the model where AAs collaborate more with ALJs as Agency attorney at hearings would be helpful in being competitive and marketable for the SAA and ALJ positions. I like how the Agency is using AAs, and I think SAAs, to help DDS. That was a smart move by SSA. |
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Post by balzac on Mar 24, 2023 8:47:38 GMT -5
I don't have much more to add about the nature of the decision writer position and how it can be improved, but as a (relatively) longtime DW myself, I am surprised at how long OHO has tolerated what is objectively a terrible attorney career path. It lulls one to sleep with the “chillness” and easy schedule and good benefits and faint possibility of becoming an ALJ, and before you know it, you’re 8 years in and no longer a real lawyer. The monotone, repetitive, one-dimensional nature of the job is almost Kafka-esque. ChatGPT could this job and probably should. Not to mention the fact that one of my colleagues doesn’t even have a bachelor’s degree and we have the same salary. And then when 50 detail opportunities pop up, they are not promotional.
On the positive side, I believe every change outlined above would be very, very welcome, in particular the ability to move more easily to GS-13 status with details.
The ability to promote and feel valued cannot be underestimated and I don’t believe OHO confers much value on attorney decision writers.
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Post by stevenq on Mar 24, 2023 10:40:46 GMT -5
I don't have much more to add about the nature of the decision writer position and how it can be improved, but as a (relatively) longtime DW myself, I am surprised at how long OHO has tolerated what is objectively a terrible attorney career path. It lulls one to sleep with the “chillness” and easy schedule and good benefits and faint possibility of becoming an ALJ, and before you know it, you’re 8 years in and no longer a real lawyer. The monotone, repetitive, one-dimensional nature of the job is almost Kafka-esque. ChatGPT could this job and probably should. Not to mention the fact that one of my colleagues doesn’t even have a bachelor’s degree and we have the same salary. And then when 50 detail opportunities pop up, they are not promotional. On the positive side, I believe every change outlined above would be very, very welcome, in particular the ability to move more easily to GS-13 status with details. The ability to promote and feel valued cannot be underestimated and I don’t believe OHO confers much value on attorney decision writers. Hate to stay negative but an SAA 13 won't help you with anything but pay. I was offered a 14 at OMHA at one point, but now they only hire internally and it had way more to do with my GS experience. Otherwise, that SAA isn't making you any more competitive for anything outside OHO. Because you still aren't practicing law or gaining any subject matter knowledge or skills relevant outside disability practice. |
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Post by balzac on Mar 24, 2023 11:18:37 GMT -5
I don't have much more to add about the nature of the decision writer position and how it can be improved, but as a (relatively) longtime DW myself, I am surprised at how long OHO has tolerated what is objectively a terrible attorney career path. It lulls one to sleep with the “chillness” and easy schedule and good benefits and faint possibility of becoming an ALJ, and before you know it, you’re 8 years in and no longer a real lawyer. The monotone, repetitive, one-dimensional nature of the job is almost Kafka-esque. ChatGPT could this job and probably should. Not to mention the fact that one of my colleagues doesn’t even have a bachelor’s degree and we have the same salary. And then when 50 detail opportunities pop up, they are not promotional. On the positive side, I believe every change outlined above would be very, very welcome, in particular the ability to move more easily to GS-13 status with details. The ability to promote and feel valued cannot be underestimated and I don’t believe OHO confers much value on attorney decision writers. Hate to stay negative but an SAA 13 won't help you with anything but pay. I was offered a 14 at OMHA at one point, but now they only hire internally and it had way more to do with my GS experience. Otherwise, that SAA isn't making you any more competitive for anything outside OHO. Because you still aren't practicing law or gaining any subject matter knowledge or skills relevant outside disability practice. For sure- I have no illusions about jumping into M&A after a decade of writing disability decisions. But I do think opening up more 13s in a widespread manner would boost morale significantly by giving more people a chance to achieve greater status in the agency (or at least the illusion of status) and by rewarding those writers who have done high quality work. |
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Post by operationalj on Mar 24, 2023 11:36:39 GMT -5
Hate to stay negative but an SAA 13 won't help you with anything but pay. I was offered a 14 at OMHA at one point, but now they only hire internally and it had way more to do with my GS experience. Otherwise, that SAA isn't making you any more competitive for anything outside OHO. Because you still aren't practicing law or gaining any subject matter knowledge or skills relevant outside disability practice. For sure- I have no illusions about jumping into M&A after a decade of writing disability decisions. But I do think opening up more 13s in a widespread manner would boost morale significantly by giving more people a chance to achieve greater status in the agency (or at least the illusion of status) and by rewarding those writers who have done high quality work. Expanding opportunities for more GS13s not only improve morale but provide a much needed change and skill-building. SAAs have a more varied and skill-building experience than an AA, most of the time. Depending on Agency needs, SAAs screen files for OTRs, develop records, negotiate with reps, obtain expert evidence (if needed), interact with staff more, and adjudicate fully favorable claims. At times, the SAAs collaborate more with ALJs and reps prior to hearings. It's a much better experience plus more pay. Any effort OHO has made to expand opportunities to GS13s are always appreciated. In addition, the public appreciates their work when a SAA helps with an OTR; it's a win for everyone! |
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Post by AAmillennial on Mar 24, 2023 11:54:53 GMT -5
For sure- I have no illusions about jumping into M&A after a decade of writing disability decisions. But I do think opening up more 13s in a widespread manner would boost morale significantly by giving more people a chance to achieve greater status in the agency (or at least the illusion of status) and by rewarding those writers who have done high quality work. Expanding opportunities for more GS13s not only improve morale but provide a much needed change and skill-building. SAAs have a more varied and skill-building experience than an AA, most of the time. Depending on Agency needs, SAAs screen files for OTRs, develop records, negotiate with reps, obtain expert evidence (if needed), interact with staff more, and adjudicate fully favorable claims. At times, the SAAs collaborate more with ALJs and reps prior to hearings. It's a much better experience plus more pay. Any effort OHO has made to expand opportunities to GS13s are always appreciated. In addition, the public appreciates their work when a SAA helps with an OTR; it's a win for everyone! 100%! At risk of beating the NHC-model to death, I'd add that NHC AAs perform most all of those SAA duties you outlined on a regular basis, except for the adjudication of FF claims. Maybe that is the basis of my previous comments and how I disagree with the idea that AAs could be replaced with ChatGPT/paralegal specialists, or that ALJs are somehow practicing law but AAs are glorified paper pushers. Clearly there is a wide range of experiences amongst AAs within the Agency, but we can all agree there needs to be significantly more opportunities for promotion. |
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bt
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Post by bt on Mar 24, 2023 12:33:49 GMT -5
Every AA in my office has done OTR review, called Reps to get more info on work activity, MER, or onset dates. Those duties are not specifically SAA duties, at least not in my office. The SAA in my office also said the Agency no longer allows them to render and sign FF decision, something SAA used to be able to do. From what I can tell, SAA is not much different from AA. I think AA should top out at 13 and not 12.
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Post by stevenq on Mar 24, 2023 13:23:35 GMT -5
Every AA in my office has done OTR review, called Reps to get more info on work activity, MER, or onset dates. Those duties are not specifically SAA duties, at least not in my office. The SAA in my office also said the Agency no longer allows them to render and sign FF decision, something SAA used to be able to do. From what I can tell, SAA is not much different from AA. I think AA should top out at 13 and not 12. Wish all you want, but determining grades of positions is OPM's province. And all these duties that have been mentioned are already in the AA PD. And it tops out at 12 because according to OPM's master list of job tasks/duties, they all add up to gs-12 points. You aren't going to see the entry level job go to 13 without basically legal practice. I'm not sure exactly what duties in the SAA position bring its point total up to 13 level, perhaps it's the training and mentoring or something. Or the adjudication of OTRs. But even in my agency and others with attorneys practicing law, some of them (those who practice in FOIA and ethics law exclusively) top out at 13 and 14 is a whole different job that has to be promoted into (i.e. 14 is not in that entry level attorney job career ladder). This 13 is really hard for an attorney position to get to OPM pointwise without actually practicing law unless you are managing people. I imagine SAA got to that level by the skin of its teeth. The real problem is federal positions on the high end of the grade ladder are largely underpaid. A GS-12 is the equivalent of what, a captain or major in the military? That's a very high level job! 15 is as high as it goes before the senior executive service, folks, and 12 is 4/5 the way to the tippy top! And all of those highest grade positions are vastly underpaid. A 14 OGC attorney makes what 14s make and are journeyman attorneys. In a firm, for most areas of practice, the job would pay around twice as much. And the SES is the worst. They top out barely in the 200s, but most are mid- maybe high 100s. I'm in a major metro area and it consistently blows my mind when I meet people who are nobody middle managers or sales people or coders or whatever for a corp, not always a big one, and they all make well into the 100s if not into the 200s. Your commish, who runs an outfit with billions moving in and out of it and 60,000 employees, makes less money than the 25 year olds just walking into the door of many larger law firms lol. It's absurd. |
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Post by AAmillennial on Mar 24, 2023 13:46:03 GMT -5
Every AA in my office has done OTR review, called Reps to get more info on work activity, MER, or onset dates. Those duties are not specifically SAA duties, at least not in my office. The SAA in my office also said the Agency no longer allows them to render and sign FF decision, something SAA used to be able to do. From what I can tell, SAA is not much different from AA. I think AA should top out at 13 and not 12. Wish all you want, but determining grades of positions is OPM's province. And all these duties that have been mentioned are already in the AA PD. And it tops out at 12 because according to OPM's master list of job tasks/duties, they all add up to gs-12 points. You aren't going to see the entry level job go to 13 without basically legal practice. I'm not sure exactly what duties in the SAA position bring its point total up to 13 level, perhaps it's the training and mentoring or something. Or the adjudication of OTRs. But even in my agency and others with attorneys practicing law, some of them (those who practice in FOIA and ethics law exclusively) top out at 13 and 14 is a whole different job that has to be promoted into (i.e. 14 is not in that entry level attorney job career ladder). This 13 is really hard for an attorney position to get to OPM pointwise without actually practicing law unless you are managing people. I imagine SAA got to that level by the skin of its teeth. The real problem is federal positions on the high end of the grade ladder are largely underpaid. A GS-12 is the equivalent of what, a captain or major in the military? That's a very high level job! 15 is as high as it goes before the senior executive service, folks, and 12 is 4/5 the way to the tippy top! And all of those highest grade positions are vastly underpaid. A 14 OGC attorney makes what 14s make and are journeyman attorneys. In a firm, for most areas of practice, the job would pay around twice as much. And the SES is the worst. They top out barely in the 200s, but most are mid- maybe high 100s. I'm in a major metro area and it consistently blows my mind when I meet people who are nobody middle managers or sales people or coders or whatever for a corp, not always a big one, and they all make well into the 100s if not into the 200s. Your commish, who runs an outfit with billions moving in and out of it and 60,000 employees, makes less money than the 25 year olds just walking into the door of many larger law firms lol. It's absurd. FWIW, Appeals Council attorneys/analysts are GS-13s, as are attorney advisors at the VA, who perform very similar jobs to those within SSA. |
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bt
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Post by bt on Mar 24, 2023 13:57:55 GMT -5
I'm not wishing for AA to suddenly become a 13 as I understand that will never happen. The point being the jobs are not that different if at all these days. Maybe they used to be, but the SAA in my office does absolutely nothing more than what the AAs do.
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Post by seaprongs on Mar 24, 2023 14:31:07 GMT -5
Wish all you want, but determining grades of positions is OPM's province. And all these duties that have been mentioned are already in the AA PD. And it tops out at 12 because according to OPM's master list of job tasks/duties, they all add up to gs-12 points. You aren't going to see the entry level job go to 13 without basically legal practice. I'm not sure exactly what duties in the SAA position bring its point total up to 13 level, perhaps it's the training and mentoring or something. Or the adjudication of OTRs. But even in my agency and others with attorneys practicing law, some of them (those who practice in FOIA and ethics law exclusively) top out at 13 and 14 is a whole different job that has to be promoted into (i.e. 14 is not in that entry level attorney job career ladder). This 13 is really hard for an attorney position to get to OPM pointwise without actually practicing law unless you are managing people. I imagine SAA got to that level by the skin of its teeth. The real problem is federal positions on the high end of the grade ladder are largely underpaid. A GS-12 is the equivalent of what, a captain or major in the military? That's a very high level job! 15 is as high as it goes before the senior executive service, folks, and 12 is 4/5 the way to the tippy top! And all of those highest grade positions are vastly underpaid. A 14 OGC attorney makes what 14s make and are journeyman attorneys. In a firm, for most areas of practice, the job would pay around twice as much. And the SES is the worst. They top out barely in the 200s, but most are mid- maybe high 100s. I'm in a major metro area and it consistently blows my mind when I meet people who are nobody middle managers or sales people or coders or whatever for a corp, not always a big one, and they all make well into the 100s if not into the 200s. Your commish, who runs an outfit with billions moving in and out of it and 60,000 employees, makes less money than the 25 year olds just walking into the door of many larger law firms lol. It's absurd. FWIW, Appeals Council attorneys/analysts are GS-13s, as are attorney advisors at the VA, who perform very similar jobs to those within SSA. One way that we could improve the AA position is by outstationing jobs. Is there any reason that a GS-13 AC analyst has to be located in the DC/Baltimore area? I'd like to see SSA identify jobs with portable workloads and consider outstationing the work. A GS-13 isn't worth uprooting my life, especially if it's in a super high cost of living area, but I'd appreciate spreading out some jobs with portable work. |
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Post by legallysufficient on Mar 24, 2023 14:31:12 GMT -5
Not true-appeals council starts them out at 11, but can promote to 13. 13 is much more attainable there than for an OHO AA.
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Post by operationalj on Mar 25, 2023 7:02:05 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone who provided ideas on how to improve the AA position! Now I/we know what to say if someone asks us how the AA position can be improved. Even if 1-2 of the recommendations came to fruition, that would be significant improvement. I can be overly optimistic, but I don't think I am on this one. But, I think TPTB understand on some level because the details increased and hiring of insiders for ALJ increased. It takes a while to turn a big ship the size of SSA but there's progress.
In the meantime, I did not want to be remiss of the obvious and that's a lot of OHO attorneys are quite disappointed with the AA job and lack of opportunities. That's loud and clear. I've been there too! If you are looking for some ideas on how to manage the AA position, keep your sanity and dignity, or merely get confirmation that you have made the right choice, keep reading. Take what you want and leave the rest.
1) If you have created a fulfilling life that sustains you outside of the AA job - you have succeeded! You have a good job that sustains you and maybe a family too. You will not miss out on life in this job; that's incredibly important. That's more than many people will ever accomplish.
2) If you are miserable, get a plan - today. It is cliché, but life really is too short! Your mental health is worth it. It is ok to start over, course correct. There's no shame in trying. Find something else. I know it's not easy, but worth trying.
3) If you are feeling meh, see if there is something you can do to break up the monotony, try something different - ask management, ask an ALJ, see if there is something you can do that brings value to them and you. Then show up 100 percent!
I did all of the above at different phases of my AA/SAA experience. On some days, I was really miserable and others super grateful for everything it offered. It is a process. It is a job. I have few regrets and ended up having a good experience in OHO and headquarters. I left OHO due to my partner's job, and I wanted to achieve some personal goals. Because of my AA/SAA experience, I was able to sustain my career while pursuing those personal goals; it really was incredible. However, personal goals have been achieved and partner's job has changed, so I'm looking to come back to the SSA. For me, I have so much invested in SSA disability law, and have grown to like it, I chose not to switch to another realm of law at this point. And, I sincerely liked most people I worked with at SSA, even my supervisors. I have seen horrible managers since I left; I never saw that at SSA, and I was at 2 HOs and headquarters.
There ya go - FWIW, hope it helps.
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Post by christina on Mar 25, 2023 16:56:38 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone who provided ideas on how to improve the AA position! Now I/we know what to say if someone asks us how the AA position can be improved. Even if 1-2 of the recommendations came to fruition, that would be significant improvement. I can be overly optimistic, but I don't think I am on this one. But, I think TPTB understand on some level because the details increased and hiring of insiders for ALJ increased. It takes a while to turn a big ship the size of SSA but there's progress. In the meantime, I did not want to be remiss of the obvious and that's a lot of OHO attorneys are quite disappointed with the AA job and lack of opportunities. That's loud and clear. I've been there too! If you are looking for some ideas on how to manage the AA position, keep your sanity and dignity, or merely get confirmation that you have made the right choice, keep reading. Take what you want and leave the rest. 1) If you have created a fulfilling life that sustains you outside of the AA job - you have succeeded! You have a good job that sustains you and maybe a family too. You will not miss out on life in this job; that's incredibly important. That's more than many people will ever accomplish. 2) If you are miserable, get a plan - today. It is cliché, but life really is too short! Your mental health is worth it. It is ok to start over, course correct. There's no shame in trying. Find something else. I know it's not easy, but worth trying. 3) If you are feeling meh, see if there is something you can do to break up the monotony, try something different - ask management, ask an ALJ, see if there is something you can do that brings value to them and you. Then show up 100 percent! I did all of the above at different phases of my AA/SAA experience. On some days, I was really miserable and others super grateful for everything it offered. It is a process. It is a job. I have few regrets and ended up having a good experience in OHO and headquarters. I left OHO due to my partner's job, and I wanted to achieve some personal goals. Because of my AA/SAA experience, I was able to sustain my career while pursuing those personal goals; it really was incredible. However, personal goals have been achieved and partner's job has changed, so I'm looking to come back to the SSA. For me, I have so much invested in SSA disability law, and have grown to like it, I chose not to switch to another realm of law at this point. And, I sincerely liked most people I worked with at SSA, even my supervisors. I have seen horrible managers since I left; I never saw that at SSA, and I was at 2 HOs and headquarters. There ya go - FWIW, hope it helps. Great post |
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Post by arkstfan on Apr 2, 2023 0:14:34 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone who provided ideas on how to improve the AA position! Now I/we know what to say if someone asks us how the AA position can be improved. Even if 1-2 of the recommendations came to fruition, that would be significant improvement. I can be overly optimistic, but I don't think I am on this one. But, I think TPTB understand on some level because the details increased and hiring of insiders for ALJ increased. It takes a while to turn a big ship the size of SSA but there's progress. In the meantime, I did not want to be remiss of the obvious and that's a lot of OHO attorneys are quite disappointed with the AA job and lack of opportunities. That's loud and clear. I've been there too! If you are looking for some ideas on how to manage the AA position, keep your sanity and dignity, or merely get confirmation that you have made the right choice, keep reading. Take what you want and leave the rest. 1) If you have created a fulfilling life that sustains you outside of the AA job - you have succeeded! You have a good job that sustains you and maybe a family too. You will not miss out on life in this job; that's incredibly important. That's more than many people will ever accomplish. 2) If you are miserable, get a plan - today. It is cliché, but life really is too short! Your mental health is worth it. It is ok to start over, course correct. There's no shame in trying. Find something else. I know it's not easy, but worth trying. 3) If you are feeling meh, see if there is something you can do to break up the monotony, try something different - ask management, ask an ALJ, see if there is something you can do that brings value to them and you. Then show up 100 percent! I did all of the above at different phases of my AA/SAA experience. On some days, I was really miserable and others super grateful for everything it offered. It is a process. It is a job. I have few regrets and ended up having a good experience in OHO and headquarters. I left OHO due to my partner's job, and I wanted to achieve some personal goals. Because of my AA/SAA experience, I was able to sustain my career while pursuing those personal goals; it really was incredible. However, personal goals have been achieved and partner's job has changed, so I'm looking to come back to the SSA. For me, I have so much invested in SSA disability law, and have grown to like it, I chose not to switch to another realm of law at this point. And, I sincerely liked most people I worked with at SSA, even my supervisors. I have seen horrible managers since I left; I never saw that at SSA, and I was at 2 HOs and headquarters. There ya go - FWIW, hope it helps. I may be wrong, but my impression is the upper levels of the agency have a radically different view of decision writers than the ALJ's have. Before so much writing was shipped out to the factories, ALJ and DW interaction was pretty frequent. Judge we've got an issue here. Writer I prefer to address this a different way than it was written. Writers were typically working with around four ALJs and good ones actually could slip in to writing style close to the personality of the judge they were writing for. Experienced senior attorneys and AA's were viewed as colleagues by many ALJs. They were the people we would walk down the hall to present perplexing issues to and often that became requests for research. They were comfortable making the trek down the hall to point out a brain fart on a case or to present a different way to skin the cat that made the decision stronger. In my experience ALJ's had high regard for the professionalism and knowledge of writers, well at least once they knew the ropes. The upper echelons seem unable to figure out the role. Sometimes it's a jack of all trades trouble shooter. Hunting down potential FFV cases, summarizing complicated cases, and others it's just throw decisions in the bucket, preferably more than they are currently churning out. In the factory system I've had churlish IM's from a writer who simply wouldn't accept that I was in a hearing and could not deal with their questions at the moment. I've had snotty and condescending emails over tacky things (List something as an impairment but didn't put that impairment in the listing section for example, want to know HOW they are supposed to use a can't sustain work-like activity for more than four hours per day RFC when I didn't ask the VE about it). My all-time favorite was one where the writer got the timelines of treatment records and timelines of eligibility between a prior decision too old to reopen and a remote DLI all goofed up. I ask a few questions, answers make me think I might have had a seizure or TIA in the hearing. I goof stuff up too often but not that bad. I open up the case look it over, sort through my notes. See the issue. Give my traditional answer from the good old days of "I think it's OK, run the play as called." Yippee the writer's factory foreman gets involved then, apparently college football idioms are not widely accepted as appropriate to conversation in some places outside the south. So that resulted in a few more emails including me apologizing for my flippant response and absolutely no apologies for my having to waste a few hours to untangle the writer's confused note taking of the timeline. I DO NOT WANT DRONES. I DO NOT WANT WHAT AMOUNTS TO A SENTIENT ChatGPT writing decisions. I do want a system of mutual professional relationship |
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Post by christina on Apr 2, 2023 15:33:02 GMT -5
Thanks to everyone who provided ideas on how to improve the AA position! Now I/we know what to say if someone asks us how the AA position can be improved. Even if 1-2 of the recommendations came to fruition, that would be significant improvement. I can be overly optimistic, but I don't think I am on this one. But, I think TPTB understand on some level because the details increased and hiring of insiders for ALJ increased. It takes a while to turn a big ship the size of SSA but there's progress. In the meantime, I did not want to be remiss of the obvious and that's a lot of OHO attorneys are quite disappointed with the AA job and lack of opportunities. That's loud and clear. I've been there too! If you are looking for some ideas on how to manage the AA position, keep your sanity and dignity, or merely get confirmation that you have made the right choice, keep reading. Take what you want and leave the rest. 1) If you have created a fulfilling life that sustains you outside of the AA job - you have succeeded! You have a good job that sustains you and maybe a family too. You will not miss out on life in this job; that's incredibly important. That's more than many people will ever accomplish. 2) If you are miserable, get a plan - today. It is cliché, but life really is too short! Your mental health is worth it. It is ok to start over, course correct. There's no shame in trying. Find something else. I know it's not easy, but worth trying. 3) If you are feeling meh, see if there is something you can do to break up the monotony, try something different - ask management, ask an ALJ, see if there is something you can do that brings value to them and you. Then show up 100 percent! I did all of the above at different phases of my AA/SAA experience. On some days, I was really miserable and others super grateful for everything it offered. It is a process. It is a job. I have few regrets and ended up having a good experience in OHO and headquarters. I left OHO due to my partner's job, and I wanted to achieve some personal goals. Because of my AA/SAA experience, I was able to sustain my career while pursuing those personal goals; it really was incredible. However, personal goals have been achieved and partner's job has changed, so I'm looking to come back to the SSA. For me, I have so much invested in SSA disability law, and have grown to like it, I chose not to switch to another realm of law at this point. And, I sincerely liked most people I worked with at SSA, even my supervisors. I have seen horrible managers since I left; I never saw that at SSA, and I was at 2 HOs and headquarters. There ya go - FWIW, hope it helps. I may be wrong, but my impression is the upper levels of the agency have a radically different view of decision writers than the ALJ's have. Before so much writing was shipped out to the factories, ALJ and DW interaction was pretty frequent. Judge we've got an issue here. Writer I prefer to address this a different way than it was written. Writers were typically working with around four ALJs and good ones actually could slip in to writing style close to the personality of the judge they were writing for. Experienced senior attorneys and AA's were viewed as colleagues by many ALJs. They were the people we would walk down the hall to present perplexing issues to and often that became requests for research. They were comfortable making the trek down the hall to point out a brain fart on a case or to present a different way to skin the cat that made the decision stronger. In my experience ALJ's had high regard for the professionalism and knowledge of writers, well at least once they knew the ropes. The upper echelons seem unable to figure out the role. Sometimes it's a jack of all trades trouble shooter. Hunting down potential FFV cases, summarizing complicated cases, and others it's just throw decisions in the bucket, preferably more than they are currently churning out. In the factory system I've had churlish IM's from a writer who simply wouldn't accept that I was in a hearing and could not deal with their questions at the moment. I've had snotty and condescending emails over tacky things (List something as an impairment but didn't put that impairment in the listing section for example, want to know HOW they are supposed to use a can't sustain work-like activity for more than four hours per day RFC when I didn't ask the VE about it). My all-time favorite was one where the writer got the timelines of treatment records and timelines of eligibility between a prior decision too old to reopen and a remote DLI all goofed up. I ask a few questions, answers make me think I might have had a seizure or TIA in the hearing. I goof stuff up too often but not that bad. I open up the case look it over, sort through my notes. See the issue. Give my traditional answer from the good old days of "I think it's OK, run the play as called." Yippee the writer's factory foreman gets involved then, apparently college football idioms are not widely accepted as appropriate to conversation in some places outside the south. So that resulted in a few more emails including me apologizing for my flippant response and absolutely no apologies for my having to waste a few hours to untangle the writer's confused note taking of the timeline. I DO NOT WANT DRONES. I DO NOT WANT WHAT AMOUNTS TO A SENTIENT ChatGPT writing decisions. I do want a system of mutual professional relationship I’ve had a bit of the flip of what u said. I’m saa. Used to have good relationships with all aljs. Some now seem to look down on me and don’t think I have anything valuable to add. I still have good rapport with most thankfully . |
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Post by operationalj on Apr 4, 2023 4:02:59 GMT -5
Not true-appeals council starts them out at 11, but can promote to 13. 13 is much more attainable there than for an OHO AA. You are right. Here's a job posting for GS11 Attorney with the AC. Opened yesterday and closes when they get 200 applicants or 4/7. If I were a GS11 (or even GS12) Attorney DW and willing to move to the DC area, looking to expand my experience, I would move quickly - good opportunity. www.usajobs.gov/job/716785700 |
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