Info for the Newly Hired

[Deleted]

As noted I would not bring much more to your office on day one other than the clothes you wear and your ID.  Reasons being:

The govt will provide all your office essentials, furnitures, computer, etc down to kleenex and paperclips.

Each office is different as to oversight.  Theoretically, all offices are pretty much physically the same down to the individual square footage, desk types, pens, etc.  However what you can bring in as personal items varies considerably.  I have seen full size couches, large world globes, bookcases, coffee tables,  mini fridges, heaters, fans, trees, etc in some offices.  However note, offices are periodically inspected by govt safety and there are many items that are verboten and end up being removed.  

Wait until you get there, see how the others are, what can be placed, and what is prohibited.

[funkyodar]

Just for informational purposes as I know many won't be able to choose such an accommodating hearing schedule:

Monday mornings are reserved for fee petitions, any training vods I can watch in my own time and other oddities that pop up. Monday afternoons are for prepping Tuesday hearings. I use eBB both file review notes and go ahead and tentatively fill out the ebb instructions.

Tuesday is wall to wall hearings.

Wednesday morning is ALPO and finalizing instructions on Tuesdays hearings. Wednesday afternoon is prep for Thursday hearings.

Thursday is wall to wall hearings.

Friday mornings I do ALPO and instructions for Thursday hearings. Friday afternoon is EDIT and SIGN time.

If I have the ability to earn some credit time without losing any and thus donating time, I either do so staying a bit late Monday or Wednesday (easy days for me to do so as wife and kids are home later those days) or I go in Sunday morning. I use that time to catch up on any ALPO or EDIT that I couldn't finish in the week or, if I know I will be taking leave I use it to get ahead in prep.

Again, this process has led me to meet or exceed every single metric I am rated on, to be in a position to easily meet the 500 goal, to fill like I gave every claimant a fair hearing and real contemplation. I also am able to take full advantage of my leave and earned credit.

To each their own.

Funky

[onepingonly]

Jun 19, 2016 9:24:08 GMT -5 funkyodar said:

Every single case I do goes to ALPO. And I quite like my methods.

I prep the case in eBB, hold the hearing, do my hearing noyes which include a first impression of all 5 sequential steps and have it sent to ALPO. On Wednesdays I come in and the first thing I do is pull up the cases in ALPO for the Tuesday hearings and most of the time simply transfer my initial post hearing findings into the ebb sequential one and send it on to writing. Sometimes my initial hearing findings are changed somewhat based on a note I made to check something out further, or more thought about the case. Sometimes I look and think, wow, I really could use some more info on X and maybe I should send this out for a post hearing CE before making a decision.

Occasionally my alpo gets a little large if I take time off but never beyond containment.

I understand the general consensus among judges that alpo can be a tar pit. But don't go generalizing that anybody that uses alpo in their process is doing it wrong.

I've been doing it this way since day one. I have 400 cases disposed of as of now and still have 3 months in the fiscal. I have a top 20% scheduled, held and timeliness rating and my agree rate is well above goal.

I'm short, I use alpo on every single case and am not just hitting every expected metric but apparently doing better than 80% of my fellow judges on those admittedly stupid measurements.

Find a method that works for you and do it. Refine that method till it's what you need it to be. Just don't assume your method is the only or even best way for others.

Funky

Funky, you're obviously special, and you obviously have a system that works for you. No sarcasm is meant by that statement. I don't doubt you can swim in the tar pit like Esther Williams.

Also, good reminder to avoid absolute generalizing. Still, in seven years of doing this at ODAR, you're the first ALJ I've heard say they use ALPO on purpose as a constructive component of a flourishing work process. Every single other ALJ I've met who expressed a view shudders at ALPO. So I maintain that, generally, ALPO is anathema to efficiency.

For new ALJs, especially those with no prior ODAR experience, I would still caution that ALPO is mostly a bureaucratic La Brea. My advice would be to let them try to devise a work method sans ALPO, at least initially.

My Funky friend, you're so influential on this board that I wanted to make sure that our impressionable new appointees, while being inspired by your example and intrigued at the proposition of using ALPO as a tool, are aware of the fate of the dinosaurs in Hancock Park.

Cordially,
Onepingonly

[funkyodar]

OPO,

I understand the hesitancy. When I was at middlesboro and asked for it to work that way, my sct expressed shock. I have spoken to many other judges and they suggest feelings for alpo much as you describe.

Yet, I didn't invent the process I use. Several of the excellent aljs that I worked with as a writer and senior did it this way. And, like most things I do in this job, I simply sought out the best examples I knew of and strive to emulate them.

In short, if you are using alpo as a place to stash cases because you want to put off the work...you will be enveloped by the tar soon. But, if you use it for its intended purpose, as a status to put the case while you deliberate and finalize your findings, and do that deliberation and finalization process timely, it's a system that I have found works quite nicely.

Of course, everyone has different comfort levels, different OCD tendencies and different time management processes.

Know yourself. Know the systems. Then make a real plan that works for you.

Funky

[Deleted]

Funky is correct; each their own, and again it all boils down to "time management" of which again, you will NOT receive any training.

Do what works best for you and your office.

Myself (I commute 127 miles one way): I either am in office or Teleworking; regardless logged in usually at or before 6:30 am. Week one: Mondays are either case review days or my day to do additional volunteer hearings for other ALJs.  Otherwise, I do  a minimum of 24 hearings Tues/Wed/Thur every other week.  48 hours are worked in 4 days.  Friday are off on credit.  Week two: Telework 3 days and 1 day in office (that day may again may be to pick up and cover additional hearings.)  Fridays are off on credit.  Again 48 hours are generally worked in 4 days.  If I don't do a 48 hrs/4 day week then I routinely will pick up an additional 3-6 credit hours on weekends.  I like to keep 24 credit hours in the bank at any time continuously.  I will finish above the target disposition goal for the year without problem.  It is not at all difficult to do once your find your individual stride.

[onepingonly]

Jun 19, 2016 10:04:28 GMT -5 funkyodar said:

OPO,

I understand the hesitancy. When I was at middlesboro and asked for it to work that way, my sct expressed shock. I have spoken to many other judges and they suggest feelings for alpo much as you describe.

Yet, I didn't invent the process I use. Several of the excellent aljs that I worked with as a writer and senior did it this way. And, like most things I do in this job, I simply sought out the best examples I knew of and strive to emulate them.

In short, if you are using alpo as a place to stash cases because you want to put off the work...you will be enveloped by the tar soon. But, if you use it for its intended purpose, as a status to put the case while you deliberate and finalize your findings, and do that deliberation and finalization process timely, it's a system that I have found works quite nicely.

Of course, everyone has different comfort levels, different OCD tendencies and different time management processes.

Know yourself. Know the systems. Then make a real plan that works for you.

Funky

I'm always happy to learn something new and to be disabused of a preconception. :-)

[onepingonly]

PapaJudge, good point about time management.

[Deleted]

Once one finds their stride as an ALJ, they will notice others who have similar strides around the country.  For example it is not uncommon to be sitting here on a Sunday morning (again) and smilingly noticing the familiar names popping up on LYNC of other ALJs around the country doing the same thing on their Sunday mornings.

[funkyodar]

Jun 19, 2016 10:17:07 GMT -5 onepingonly said:

Jun 19, 2016 10:04:28 GMT -5 funkyodar said:

OPO,

I understand the hesitancy. When I was at middlesboro and asked for it to work that way, my sct expressed shock. I have spoken to many other judges and they suggest feelings for alpo much as you describe.

Yet, I didn't invent the process I use. Several of the excellent aljs that I worked with as a writer and senior did it this way. And, like most things I do in this job, I simply sought out the best examples I knew of and strive to emulate them.

In short, if you are using alpo as a place to stash cases because you want to put off the work...you will be enveloped by the tar soon. But, if you use it for its intended purpose, as a status to put the case while you deliberate and finalize your findings, and do that deliberation and finalization process timely, it's a system that I have found works quite nicely.

Of course, everyone has different comfort levels, different OCD tendencies and different time management processes.

Know yourself. Know the systems. Then make a real plan that works for you.

Funky

I'm always happy to learn something new and to be disabused of a preconception. :-)

I doubt I could teach you a thing worth learning OPO.

But, I will also add that too often we ALJs fall into thinking the way we do things in our own offices works well everywhere.

My process would not work if I didn't have excellent sct staff that brings in the cases and has them in alpo for me by the next morning. I know some offices a case heard Tuesday may not be brought in till Thursday or Friday.

Also, it wouldn't work as well if I was in a region 6 office where they have whole weeks of hearings followed by a nonhearing week, like papajudge does. My days are the same every week and allows for easy implementation of the hearing day, nonhearing day with Friday as a catchall day plan.

Also, things can just be different for other reasons. I don't use ARPR at all. Our reps are so bad about submitting evidence the day before, hell the day of or at most three days before the hearing that prepping and reviewing anymore than 24 hours before the hearing is useless. If I looked at a case one week that I was hearing the next, I would not have seen 3/4 of the MER.

As you and Papa suggest, it's all about time management. A new judge should seek advice from the existing judges in their office. Be observant of how things work in your office and in your rep bar. Know that your time is extremely limited. You simply can't put off doing the prep, making a decision and moving the case. Don't let cases sit in any status past the point it really needs to be there to make your decision. If you use alpo you can easily get behind if you just put it there to delay the work. But, guess what, that can happen anywhere. I know judges that don't use alpo, but have massive case backlog in their EDIT workload.

Again, find a path that let's you do what you need to do as quickly and efficiently as possible. That path will be dictated by how your office works, your own methods of time management and what makes you most comfortable.

I think of ebb and all the cpms categories as a toolbox. You can pick and choose what parts of ebb work for you and leave the parts you don't like. Same with cpms. Of alpo is somewhere that hangs you up, don't use it. But, if you can use it and it helps you, then do it.

[ok1956]

On my iPhone so will be brief. I know of no way to move the case from scheduled status so all of my cases pass through ALPO (I will admit my first SCT was, um, less than stellar). Typically my instructions are done and pass through ALPO to UNWR. I commute one and a half hours one way on hearing days so there are times when I don't get all my instructions done before heading home. They are done first thing the next morning as a general rule. I agree that ALPO shouldn't be used to avoid making a decision but I agree with Funky that it has its uses (like when the rep scans in 500 pages of new medical the morning of his client's hearing. This job is definitely not one size fits all :-)

[onepingonly]

You're so right, Funky, that good advance prep and vigilance about moving cases out of judge-controlled statuses are key. Our office doesn't really use ARPR either, nor EDIT unless the ALJ puts it there. It sure can pile up.

[bac]

I thought getting hired was hard. Yikes! I'll follow Funky's advice in the first post and get my mind right first!

[whoa nelly]

This thread about time management and efficiency tools is SOooooo helpful!

[inpatientlurker]

So I know we will learn more about this soon enough, but in our first year as an ALJ, how much control do we have of our schedules? Are we expected to keep a more typical 8-5 schedule when we are just starting? And I understand we can't telework as part of our regular 40 hours during the first year, but are we permitted to login in remotely at all before telework starts? Also wondering when your hearing office has remote sites, do you get to decide whether to do teleconference or in-person hearings?

[funkyodar]

Jun 19, 2016 14:20:58 GMT -5 inpatientlurker said:

So I know we will learn more about this soon enough, but in our first year as an ALJ, how much control do we have of our schedules? Are we expected to keep a more typical 8-5 schedule when we are just starting? And I understand we can't telework as part of our regular 40 hours during the first year, but are we permitted to login in remotely at all before telework starts? Also wondering when your hearing office has remote sites, do you get to decide whether to do teleconference or in-person hearings?

As to your schedule, you are always going to be in control of when you do hearings. However in your first year, you are going to be on the learning curve and the number of hearings you have are going to be capped in an escalating fashion each month until finally obtaining a full load. For instance, I think your first month of actual hearings will include only about 2 a week.

In regard to work from home, you won't be doing that for your 40 or any credit time in your first year. In fact, you won't be given vpn training or I believe able to remove your computer from the office at all during the first year.

Travel is more complicated. You will not be allowed to travel for hearings for the first few months of the learning curve at all. Once you are eligible to travel, if you can or will depends on your office. Budgetary constraints have severely limited travel. Claimants that are a certain distance away from the office are offered video hearings. If they accept that, you will not be allowed to travel to them simply because you want to. It's when they decline the video hearing that things get complicated.

Some offices, like mine, have a very low video declination rate. When one does, the agency figures it's cheaper to pay that person's mileage than my mileage, possible Per diem and possible hotel. Plus, when claimant's find out they can get a mileage check they jump all over that. Thus, I never travel.

Other offices with a higher video declination rate travel judges to the remote sites. Remote sites can vary from a full hearing room or two to basically a closet at a field office just big enough for the claimant and the reporter.

In short, whether you travel is generally not up to you.

[Pixie]

I think the difference between the method used by J. Funkmeister and me is that I do my deliberations while I review the evidence before the hearing and during the hearing itself. By the time the hearing is coming to a close, I have made my decision, and most of my instructions have been written. I cover certain items at the hearing and note them in the instructions as we move along. So by the end of the hearing, my instructions are mostly written. I finalize my instructions, if necessary, immediately after the hearing. It took me a few years to become this efficient.

On making decisions, I usually form a tentative decision after reviewing the exhibits in preparation for hearing. If it appears to be a favorable decision, then the hearing will be brief, and I will cover any questions I had in review of the file. If the tentative decision is unfavorable, I prepare for a full hearing. I have found that about 1/3 of the time I change from an initial unfavorable decision to a favorable decision, depending on what is introduced at the hearing, or perhaps the claimant's testimony. The important point here is that I am always on the path to a decision.

I like to use the hearing to cover certain points with the claimant to make it easier for the attorney to write the decision without having to search through the exhibits or the testimony. As an example, I will always ask if the claimant has worked, even one day, since the Alleged Onset Date (AOD). Of course I have the earning records in front of me and will know how truthful he is. If there is a conflict, I give an opportunity to explain. I note this to the writer in my instructions as we are covering it at the hearing.

Another area that is helpful to the attorney writer is whether an impairment is severe, non-severe or non medically determinable. When the attorney is questioning his client, I make a note of every ailment the claimant mentions. Some of these I will have seen in the record when the claimant received treatment for the condition. If the condition actually causes some limitation of function, and I know that because I have already phrased the RFC (based on the medical evidence) in my notes, I note it as a severe impairment. If the claimant has been diagnosed with a condition that doesn't cause a limitation, I note that as non severe. If the claimant has not seen a doc for the alleged complaint, or if there has been no diagnosis, then it is not a medically determinable impairment. Easy resolution.

This probably seems very basic to experienced judges, but you would be surprised how many just don't fully cover all of the alleged impairments. I have laid out for the writer all of the impairments and the corresponding severity, or lack thereof. No more searching through the record and the testimony to figure out the relatively minor conditions alleged by the claimant. And I have made these notes as the hearing is progressing, thus no need for much time at the end of the hearing or the next day to write it up. When the hearing is finished, so are the instructions, mostly. Sure, I will take time after the hearing to note discrepancies in the testimony and the record, and cite to exhibits, but this is a fairly quick step.

There are other areas that need to be covered at the hearing and noted to the attorney writer, but it is a pretty day here, and I am going outside to enjoy life. The best thing you can do is ask an experienced attorney what you can do to make her life easier. Or ask several and get some good ideas.

It will take several years to become proficient and efficient in this job. One good way to start is by reading the comments and methods used by the judges on this board and incorporate what you feel will be helpful to you in your methodology. Good luck and have fun. Pixie.

[onepingonly]

Ditto what Pixie said.

In some files, the claimant may have mentioned ten or more impairments. This gets unwieldy. In such a case, heaven willing, there's a rep. You can ask the rep to identify each impairment he or she claims is severe, and for each of these, have the rep cite to the exhibit and page numbers supporting the claim.

Many excellent reps will easily pare down to the real impairments and provide cites. Some will fold. A few will be clueless. Getting this out of the way can save you and the writer a lot of time. And most reps quickly learn to quit throwing in the kitchen sink.

[Pixie]

Yes, OPO, I also use the rep to identify a doc or an exhibit to support an impairment. Most of our reps are good and can be helpful.

[inpatientlurker]

Thanks funkyodar and Pixie. As always great information for us newbies!

[weisstho]

Jun 19, 2016 9:55:38 GMT -5 onepingonly said:

Funky, you're obviously special, and you obviously have a system that works for you. No sarcasm is meant by that statement. I don't doubt you can swim in the tar pit like Esther Williams.

... or Michael Phelps . . . I like the Michael Phelps image better on Funky....