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offers
Jun 13, 2013 8:21:14 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2013 8:21:14 GMT -5
Based upon what I have heard, and as shown in the AALJ posting in that recent June 2013 Newsletter, I believe that OCALJ knows who they are going to make offers to. The provisional selections have been made. Folks who are going to be chosen have been contacted to ensure that they are still able and willing to report to offices on short notice.
With all due respect, the formality of interviewing every person on the certificate is not something that SSA has to adhere to. There are budgetary ramifications for having to interview all these candidates, and that is how the agency is able to move forward with not interviewing every party. I wish this was not the case, as I have not received a formal SSA panel interview, and am on this certificate.
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Post by tmgesq on Jun 13, 2013 9:37:17 GMT -5
Does anyone know of anybody who has been contacted to see if they are still available ? I would think we would have heard from someone on this Board if they had!
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offers
Jun 13, 2013 9:56:08 GMT -5
Post by aljmaybe on Jun 13, 2013 9:56:08 GMT -5
The whole purpose of ODAR is to support the ALJs, but that is forgotten occasionally.. I know this is off-topic, but I saw this last sentence and just had add my two cents. I always thought that the purpose of ODAR is to adjudicate claims and provide claimants witha timely, correct and legally sufficient decisions. Granted, ALJs do play a big role in adjudicating the claims, but they are not the only piece of the puzzle and ODAR does not exist solely to support them. ODAR is, or at least should be, a team working towards that same goal. No puzzle piece is more important than another. I'm stepping down off my soapbox now.
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offers
Jun 13, 2013 10:19:25 GMT -5
Post by bartleby on Jun 13, 2013 10:19:25 GMT -5
ALJmaybe, you are correct, but ODAR can get by with fewer employees in some areas. ALJs are not one of them. Hearings must be held and ALJs hear them. The fewer ALJs, the slower the process. ODAR is here to offer claimants hearings, ALJs do hearings. It's as simple as that. I know the support staff is important, but for every ALJ, ODAR is able to hire 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 support staff. Would you deny the Justices are the most important part of the Supreme Court? We are all a team, but some parts of the puzzle are more important than others. The edge pieces of the puzzle hold it together, but the whole purpose of the puzzle is the picture in the middle. On the other hand, ODAR is not a puzzle, it is the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, functions that only ALJs and a few Senior Attorneys do. It is not the Office of Case Pulling and Evidence Exhibiting and Hearing Scheduling. Everyone is important, but without ALJs we are non-functional. Management and Congress are very sensitive to empty ALJ offices. My whole point was that I believe ALJ hiring will happen. It is a high priority. I am not knocking the importance of support staff and ALJs can't survive without them, but they can move support personnel into different positions to cover vacancies. A missing allocated ALJ is a permanent slow down on the backlog and can only be fixed by hiring a replacement. Don't try to make a big thing out of this. Don't try to stir the pot of us against them..
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offers
Jun 13, 2013 10:19:50 GMT -5
Post by noah on Jun 13, 2013 10:19:50 GMT -5
hop2it said:
"Folks who are going to be chosen have been contacted to ensure that they are still able and willing to report to offices on short notice."
What is the factual basis for this statement?
Has even one person "been contacted to ensure that they are still able and willing to report to offices on short notice."?
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offers
Jun 13, 2013 10:52:47 GMT -5
Post by hod on Jun 13, 2013 10:52:47 GMT -5
Given the leaky faucet this agency is-I very much doubt that "people have been contacted." Generally speaking, SSA plays it pretty close to the vest and while I have no doubt that there are a couple of winks and nods out there to people who have been advised that they have a "good shot", there are quite a few people on the board who are close enough to the powers that they would at least know of the pre-selections. All that is asking for is a law suit.
As far as interviews are concerned,I have no idea whether SSA needs to do an interview or not, but since there are only 25 people on the list they could easily knock those out in 2 days. No reason not to do so, and no reason not to wait until hiring is imminent. Again-it is a safety valve to prevent actions later. Even if the agency wins, it is always best to avoid the appearance of impropriety and avoid the hassle.
Since Bice was basically talking to the Management of ODAR, there was no reason to sound even slightly optimistic about hiring. Generally they upper jefes come across with the "we are fighting as much as we can-but it does not look good" kind of dialogue when they are not thinking things will go as planned.
All this means nothing-we are still in play. Things could change today or tomorrow; nevertheless eventually what will happen will happen. I am a sort of optimistic type myself-I buy lottery tickets on occasion and am actually surprised when I don't win anything). So it is more fun to think positive. But another plan is to go ahead and schedule something very important in August or September-the gods of luck may be tricked into spoiling the plans by scheduling the hires and classes. Just a thought.
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Deleted
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offers
Jun 13, 2013 13:23:00 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2013 13:23:00 GMT -5
I am just reporting what I have heard. SSA is a huge agency, and during my more than 20 years with SSA, including many at ODAR, I have learned that not everybody has the same agenda. People tell me stuff in confidence, and I was just laying out what I have heard. I hope that they do plan on hiring, and I hope that they opt to interview everybody.
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Jun 13, 2013 13:52:17 GMT -5
Post by chinook on Jun 13, 2013 13:52:17 GMT -5
SSA must interview those that they have not yet interviewed. Under federal hiring rules an agency need not conduct interviews before doing a hiring. However, if the agency interviews one person on the list of eligibles (or cert in this case) it must interview everybody on the list. As somebody said above, if they hire without interviewing everybody SSA is inviting a lawsuite.
They could be in trouble now with the rumors about it already being decided who will be hired. If I were on the cert and I didn't get hired, I would complain and possibly file an action at OPM.
I do find it interesting that you are told something in confidence then broadcast it to the world.
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Jun 13, 2013 16:58:39 GMT -5
Post by privateatty on Jun 13, 2013 16:58:39 GMT -5
SSA must interview those that they have not yet interviewed. Under federal hiring rules an agency need not conduct interviews before doing a hiring. However, if the agency interviews one person on the list of eligibles (or cert in this case) it must interview everybody on the list. As somebody said above, if they hire without interviewing everybody SSA is inviting a lawsuite. They could be in trouble now with the rumors about it already being decided who will be hired. If I were on the cert and I didn't get hired, I would complain and possibly file an action at OPM. I do find it interesting that you are told something in confidence then broadcast it to the world. I agree and disagree, chinook. You are of course dead on with your first point. However, the whole point of doing the three strike shuffle is first creating the list of those whom they want and then going through the strike/consider/strike/consider...work to get that done. I have wondered if they have a computer program that does that or do they do it with just old fashioned figgurin'?
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Jun 18, 2013 17:35:13 GMT -5
Post by nylawyer on Jun 18, 2013 17:35:13 GMT -5
privateatty- I've asked this before on this board, but never really gotten an answer. You reference the idea of SSA trying to get to the people they "want" (and you are far from the first to suggest this), so my question is- who do they want? Is it literally certain individuals (somebody's nephew or neighbor), or is there some general group of people they prefer (people who have worked at SSA, or maybe the opposite)?
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Jun 18, 2013 20:19:13 GMT -5
Post by hal3000 on Jun 18, 2013 20:19:13 GMT -5
I think it's been pretty well established on this board that at least with regard to the current cert, which is apparently on hold because of the sequester, the people they want are people with "high" scores that for several reasons they have not made an offer to as yet. There are apparently several reasons for this, e.g., a small GAL, for one thing, but there are still people on this cert with high scores that had there been a different budget situation, would have received offers by now off the current cert.
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offers
Jun 18, 2013 23:45:40 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by redwhiteblue on Jun 18, 2013 23:45:40 GMT -5
I think it's been pretty well established on this board that at least with regard to the current cert, which is apparently on hold because of the sequester, the people they want are people with "high" scores that for several reasons they have not made an offer to as yet. There are apparently several reasons for this, e.g., a small GAL, for one thing, but there are still people on this cert with high scores that had there been a different budget situation, would have received offers by now off the current cert. I don't necessarily agree. Those with the highest scores, even with limited GALs, would seemingly have been at least on a cert or two since May 2010, and if you were a preferred flier you would landed by now. If you were on three certs and not picked up then highly, highly unlikely budget or not, it will happen this cert either. I have heard that everyone on the new register will start with a clean slate and those with three strikes your out on the current register will start the game anew.
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Jun 19, 2013 6:57:37 GMT -5
Post by hal3000 on Jun 19, 2013 6:57:37 GMT -5
Except that a number of us are in highly desirable locations that were filled every time there was a cert by transfers prior to offers being made. This is all well documented on this board.
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offers
Jun 19, 2013 7:44:23 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by hod on Jun 19, 2013 7:44:23 GMT -5
I think it's been pretty well established on this board that at least with regard to the current cert, which is apparently on hold because of the sequester, the people they want are people with "high" scores that for several reasons they have not made an offer to as yet. There are apparently several reasons for this, e.g., a small GAL, for one thing, but there are still people on this cert with high scores that had there been a different budget situation, would have received offers by now off the current cert. I don't necessarily agree. Those with the highest scores, even with limited GALs, would seemingly have been at least on a cert or two since May 2010, and if you were a preferred flier you would landed by now. If you were on three certs and not picked up then highly, highly unlikely budget or not, it will happen this cert either. I have heard that everyone on the new register will start with a clean slate and those with three strikes your out on the current register will start the game anew.
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Jun 19, 2013 8:24:52 GMT -5
Post by hal3000 on Jun 19, 2013 8:24:52 GMT -5
Except that it has been well documented on this board for the entire existence of this register that many of the supposed openings were filled by transfers prior to any offers being made on any of the certs. If you have a small GAL limited to those more desirable areas, there has never been an opening for some of us despite high scores, as this board has shown.
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offers
Jun 19, 2013 9:41:45 GMT -5
Post by hherman on Jun 19, 2013 9:41:45 GMT -5
In addition to the post just made by hal3000, this is the first cert since OPM permitted us to expand our GAL last summer. So some with higher scores but previously limited GALs may now be more viable candidates with expanded GALs.
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Jun 19, 2013 10:37:52 GMT -5
Post by hal3000 on Jun 19, 2013 10:37:52 GMT -5
That's right and that's why this unexpected delay is so unfortunate.
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Jun 19, 2013 10:45:40 GMT -5
Post by zebra51 on Jun 19, 2013 10:45:40 GMT -5
Not trying to be vulturous, but, as a newbie that is hopefully on the next cert (fingers crossed/knock wood), I was wondering at what point in this offer delay OPM/SSA will just decide to push those positions that need filled to the next cert?
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Jun 19, 2013 11:03:28 GMT -5
Post by moopigsdad on Jun 19, 2013 11:03:28 GMT -5
Not trying to be vulturous, but, as a newbie that is hopefully on the next cert (fingers crossed/knock wood), I was wondering at what point in this offer delay OPM/SSA will just decide to push those positions that need filled to the next cert? Zebra51 nobody knows for sure if or when OPM/SSA will decide to postpone offers or make them to the existing register and cert. This is why there is so much comment and hand-wringing going on now by those on the existing register. The assumption would be if offers do not occur within a reasonable time, the likelihood is there will not be any until the next register. I do feel sorry for those on the existing register hoping for one more chance at an ALJ position, especially since OPM/SSA got up their hopes with creation of a small cert supposedly to hire a few more ALJs.
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Jun 19, 2013 11:20:42 GMT -5
Post by Administrator ALJ on Jun 19, 2013 11:20:42 GMT -5
Except that a number of us are in highly desirable locations that were filled every time there was a cert by transfers prior to offers being made. This is all well documented on this board. I've heard this before, the "highly desired locations" within SSA. Which locations are you referring to?
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