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Post by bartleby on Jul 4, 2014 11:25:07 GMT -5
Happy Fourth of July. Care for some fireworks??
2014-07-01-DEI-Lankford-Jordan-to-Colvin.SSA-ALJs.pdf
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Post by futuressaalj on Jul 4, 2014 11:31:04 GMT -5
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Post by hopefalj on Jul 4, 2014 11:57:30 GMT -5
They also tell SSA to take stronger disciplinary actions against judges that aren't doing their job, which include judges from all over the spectrum. I have no problem with that, but I'm guessing the AALJ will down the road.
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Post by futuressaalj on Jul 4, 2014 12:11:10 GMT -5
I would not call these orders but strong suggestions that may be dismissed as political grandstanding
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Post by anotherfed on Jul 4, 2014 13:01:21 GMT -5
Politics? Ya think?
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Post by sandiferhands (old) on Jul 4, 2014 13:12:18 GMT -5
Politics or no, I like the message. If you're a judge, you should behave like one. If you don't, you should be given an opportunity to look for other employment. If you run SSA, don't implement easy but arbitrary goals in place of insightful analysis of the quality of service from the ALJ corps. And if you run SSA, you have a responsibility to the American people to be engaged and willing to make tough calls to see that these things happen.
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Post by bartleby on Jul 4, 2014 13:46:56 GMT -5
Sandi, put your clothes back on. LOL.
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Post by anotherfed on Jul 4, 2014 14:41:11 GMT -5
Why did Sandi take off his clothes?
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Post by hopefalj on Jul 4, 2014 14:43:21 GMT -5
He's clearly on the beach, although that sand and water appear to be a little sketchy...
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Post by bartleby on Jul 4, 2014 14:44:54 GMT -5
I think too much situational beverage, but I can't be sure. It might be Mai-Tai's from the looks of the little umbrellas in the picture??
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Post by privateatty on Jul 4, 2014 16:41:45 GMT -5
If I'm a SSA ALJ and only doing 300 cases a year, this letter is a gift.
Also, I wonder how Rep. Issa thinks that these four ALJs in question are going to be removed. However, that doesn't matter as the law is taking a back seat here.
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Post by philliesfan on Jul 4, 2014 17:24:58 GMT -5
The goal of 500-700 dispositions per year probably had nothing to do with the favorable rates of these and other ALJs who have 90+% pay rates. They would do that if there was no goal. Some of them, Taylor, have been around for years. The interesting thing in all of this is that the overall pay rate at ODAR has gone down from the mid to upper 50% to the low 40%.
The other thing not discussed is that most of the people who get disability are put on benefits by the DDSs, even though the favorable rates are lower than at ODAR, based on the number of cases that they process. The elephant in the room is the fact that about the only continuing disability reviews that I see as an ALJ are age 18 redeterminations. I almost never see a medical improvement CDR. Even if I indicate a CDR in a decision, it almost never happens.
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Post by bartleby on Jul 4, 2014 17:43:59 GMT -5
Phillie, CDR's are coming rather quickly as I have heard. Problem is, is that the claimants opt to continue to receive benefits and then don't show up for hearings for 2-3 times which by then they have received a year or so of additional benefits. Part of the problem is the number of aged cases assigned each year. Management has to assign CDR's and obviously bonuses are based upon aged cases and not CDR's. The lower unit pays a greater number of cases at their level as they see clearly disabled cases, where we see the marginal cases. However, those marginal cases have been further developed and impairments often progress until that by the time we see them, they are ready to be paid. The slippery slope I see is that if we can fire or discipline judges for paying too many cases, we are starting down that hill of judicial independence. What will the magic numbers be? Between 25-75%? 35-65%? 40-70%? It is bothersome and part of the problem is the goal. If judges are not following Reg's, rules, etc., part of it may be because judges don't have enough time to do it right?? There is a relationship between quantity and quality in any endeavor.
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Post by sandiferhands (old) on Jul 4, 2014 18:57:37 GMT -5
Sandi, put your clothes back on. LOL. Great day at the beach. Situational martinis have been consumed. Going to dry off now and eat some pizza and go see a concert with my lovely wife. There may be dancing involved and it won't be pretty but at my age I really don't care.
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Post by moopigsdad on Jul 4, 2014 20:23:11 GMT -5
Politics, politics and more politics. I didn't see a whole lot of concern for the disabled in the letter, but only a concern over the amount of money being spent on approved claimants "supposedly" approved wrongly. How about those cases where claimants were denied possibly wrongfully by the lowest paying ALJs? The politics is showing because the only real concern is the amount of money being paid out.
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Post by hopefalj on Jul 5, 2014 12:40:18 GMT -5
If judges are not following Reg's, rules, etc., part of it may be because judges don't have enough time to do it right?? There is a relationship between quantity and quality in any endeavor. I can only speak to my personal experience, but this is not the case in my office.
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Post by bartleby on Jul 5, 2014 13:01:02 GMT -5
Hopefalj, this is not a question, but a statement of fact. To believe otherwise is delusional. Could you do six affirmations in one day as well as you could do one? I know that I could do a better job if I had the time to do research on occasional nuances that arise. I think the big thing with the report is the waffling management is doing with the goals, quotas, etc. You do realize that management is fully aware of the outliers and could care less as long as productivity is up, until the press or Congress gets involved and then they go, "Wait, What?". These things bring into question the credibility and integrity of management with the line judges.
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Post by cougarfan on Jul 5, 2014 16:15:25 GMT -5
Hopefalj, this is not a question, but a statement of fact. To believe otherwise is delusional. Could you do six affirmations in one day as well as you could do one? I know that I could do a better job if I had the time to do research on occasional nuances that arise. I think the big thing with the report is the waffling management is doing with the goals, quotas, etc. You do realize that management is fully aware of the outliers and could care less as long as productivity is up, until the press or Congress gets involved and then they go, "Wait, What?". These things bring into question the credibility and integrity of management with the line judges. I think there is some truth to this, obviously. On the other hand, I, unfortunately, spend the same amount of time on affirmations as I do in reversals. I know it shouldn't be that way, but my reversal instructions quite often are as detailed as affirmations. It's just the way I work. Would I schedule fewer hearings without the 500-700 goal? I don't know. I'm pretty comfortable with 50 hearings a month. I find the suggestion that the agency fire these four judges to be disturbing, and as great a threat to judicial independence as anything else. I am aware of my "pay rate" but I don't think about it when holding hearings or making decisions. I, as I assume all judges do, do my best to know the facts, know the law, and make the correct decision. I would hate to think I would come under congressional scrutiny for paying to many claims, regardless whether I'm issuing 300 decisions or 600.
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Post by hopefalj on Jul 5, 2014 19:15:00 GMT -5
Hopefalj, this is not a question, but a statement of fact. To believe otherwise is delusional. Could you do six affirmations in one day as well as you could do one? I know that I could do a better job if I had the time to do research on occasional nuances that arise. I think the big thing with the report is the waffling management is doing with the goals, quotas, etc. You do realize that management is fully aware of the outliers and could care less as long as productivity is up, until the press or Congress gets involved and then they go, "Wait, What?". These things bring into question the credibility and integrity of management with the line judges. Well, that's actually an opinion stated as fact, but that's okay. Do you actually believe that a production goal of 488 dispositions per year is going to have any meaningful qualitative effect versus a 500-per-year goal? My response had more to do with the first sentence of the quoted portion rather than the second, and it's my fault for not deleting it when I posted. In my office, failure to follow the law or poor decisional quality has nothing to do with pressure from production goals.
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Post by bartleby on Jul 5, 2014 20:08:19 GMT -5
Hopefalj, 488 versus 500 might not make a qualitative difference, but 488 versus 600 could. Requirements are now 600 for Flexiplace. I understand what you are saying and I can guarantee that all kinds of things in an office can make a difference. All I am hoping for is some kind of recognition by someone of power that the most important thing is quality. I have seen the quality of decisions deteriorate as the GS's and HOD's put more pressure on everyone doing 100 or 125% of the monthly writer goal. This does slow me down, so.. I had a writer tell me that she had been told by a GS to just make up exhibit numbers because it didn't matter..
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