elvis
Full Member
Viva Falls Church!
Posts: 69 
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Post by elvis on Jun 9, 2016 21:26:00 GMT -5
Fear not, you are still not alone. I am also doomed. DOOOOMED I tell you. (Or it could just be that my submission of an SF-50 caused some additional paperwork for our friends in FC (sorry!), which will delay my offer confirmation email just a bit. But what fun is rational thinking like that?) are you a July person too? That could be a reason for the doom er delay No, raylan . I'm a June report/July class. Doomed. |
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Post by inpatientlurker on Jun 10, 2016 5:31:32 GMT -5
elvis are you a July person too? That could be a reason for the doom er delay No, raylan . I'm a June report/July class. Doomed. I know it seems like a silly thing to be stressed about, but I was really anxious about it, all kidding aside. I hope you get your letter today and can relax and enjoy the weekend! |
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Post by funkyodar on Jun 10, 2016 7:29:41 GMT -5
Some more practical tips.
Call your Bar and CLE commission. In my state ALJs are listed among the "judge" classification that can take judicial status and not pay any bar dues (saves me $350 a year) and our CLE commission states judges don't have to do CLE so saves me another $1200 or more a year.
Some states aren't as generous or don't include ALJs among their defined "judges."
Now, on to more good money news.
I know all of you that got the call heard Bob or the beautiful Ms. M tell you what your starting salary will be. And I know that over the last many years as you dreamed and hoped you looked at the OPM salary tables. But stop and let this sink in. You will get a very nice raise on your first, second, third, fifth and seventh anniversaries of your appointment. Makes a nice difference and leads to celebrations on the funky farm. Not too many jobs will give you that sweet little guarantee.
You can skip a level by taking a hocalj slot and some will start higher due to past fed work or the locality pay bump for your locale, but we all get to the same top out eventually. When there....well, all you have to look forward to are the COLA you hope hit at least every other year or so. Just that till retirement.
But those first seven years...every time you get that bump its like a huge celebratory reminder of how you felt when you got the call.
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Post by luckylady2 on Jun 10, 2016 22:25:09 GMT -5
On bar membership - I actually belong to several and did a little research last night. At least among mine, there's quite a bit of variety and it's a little tricky. One has a "judicial" category, one has judges as "exempt," another will put sitting judges in their "retired" category. Many do not make this apparent at first blush; a cursory reading would lead you to think you had to be active or inactive. Reading the underlying rules sometimes yields more fruit.
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Post by cowboy on Jun 11, 2016 9:35:51 GMT -5
Bar membership is something each of you will have to review for your own particular licenses and states. Several of the people in my class held an online discussion about that years ago. For instance, in Arizona, the judicial exception specifically does not include ALJs. Suspending your license may carry significant consequences if you ever desire to reinstate it. Although I got my call years ago, I still have this secret fear that they may come to my office and tell me it was all some form of government mistake. I'll keep the license and pay the fees as a back up. There are other reasons though:
Several in my class told us that though they could take the exception and suspend their license, they chose to maintain their license because they desired to continue to participate in their bar and they know their fees go to good programs for attorneys or charitable organizations that attorneys assist. Some organizations ask attorneys to donate pro bono work, but those of us in the public workforce never seemed to have the extra time, so we could donate in other ways to programs that help the legally indigent. There's were a lot of good reasons to maintain the license and staying involved, so I have no problem with my active membership.
While I have a lot of respect for Funkyodar, I'll add this perspective on the salary. I was a public employee for over 20 years prior to joining SSA and even tried hanging my shingle for a little while in which I my income was more pitiful than working for State government despite having a contract. I'm close to the pay ceiling for ALJs mostly from location pay (read: California), but I'm still getting paid almost twice as much as I did as a state employee. I find it interesting that my stress level is far less than when I was doing criminal cases. So I generally tell people that I'm getting paid twice as much and have half as much stress than before I became an ALJ. That's a pretty good deal no matter who you are. Every two weeks I celebrate a little and send a salute towards FC. I think I'll do that for the next 20+ years.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2016 15:16:41 GMT -5
You will receive your very large training binder to keep at end of training, the govt will mail it to your office for you along with all your notes.
Make sure you keep the training outline syllabus. As many state bars do not provide you your judicial cle exemption until one year from date of hire, you can submit (I did) your ALJ training syllabus to your state bar and claim about 144 hours of CLE. My bar actually called and laughed when I submitted mine with something to the effect "Congratulations Judge, you have submitted enough credits to carry over for the next 12 years. But we are only going to give you a one year carry over. After that you are exempt." Thus in effect, with your newbie training, many of you, per your state bar rules, will immediately, stop having to dish out hundreds of dollars per year for CLE.
For those whose states are more picky: also remember that in addition to your first newbie training, you are then going to get another full week of training on your first year anniversary. You can also use that to submit to your bars if necessary to satisfy the next year's cle requirements.
Once you do finish training and return to your office, depending on your office you will start holding hearings pretty quickly. Your training manual is the start of your personal "ALJ notebook" that almost all ALJs have and keep to themselves. Some ALJs like the paper, 3 ring binder format to add and organize as they want. Myself, I hate and detest paper of any kind. (Ask OK1956, she can tell you I have literally nothing but my grandkids drawings and coffee cup on my desk and nothing else).
The SSA duly recognizes us "virtual" office paper hater type personalities and provides an extremely good and easy to use app on your desktop: MS OneNote. Extremely easy to use and available to you on any govt computer where you sign in with your PIV. I simply downloaded the entire ALJ training manual from the SSA site (you will be provided the link) and sent it to my OneNote, e.g., my new ALJ notebook. WaaaLaaa! The entire training for 4 weeks is now there, in order, organized with hyperlinks etc. As I come across new items, SSRS, hearing tidbits, scripts, and even emails, in day to day work, the SSA computers also provide a "send to OneNote" link in almost all its applications. For any email, material, or other information, etc I like and want to keep, I just click the "send to oneNote" link and the information, page, email, hyperlink, document, pdf, etc is immediately placed in my electronic ALJ notebook permanently for use and access anywhere, anytime, on govt computers.
This little app is one of the best things I think the SSA has done correctly for all ALJs. I use my ALJ Notebook continuously, daily, and in every hearing. Since it is electronic, its size in not relevant. Beside training info, I have subsections dealing with VEs, objections, SSRs, hypos, DAA and CDR analyses, grids, listing, scripts, etc, in addition to more mundane matters of ALJ policies, union matters including CBA, how to use CPMS, view, ebb, etc. You set it up anyway, color of format you so desire.
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Post by dcasea on Jun 11, 2016 16:08:36 GMT -5
I'll add this perspective on the salary. I was a public employee for over 20 years prior to joining SSA and even tried hanging my shingle for a little while in which I my income was more pitiful than working for State government despite having a contract. I'm close to the pay ceiling for ALJs mostly from location pay (read: California), but I'm still getting paid almost twice as much as I did as a state employee. I find it interesting that my stress level is far less than when I was doing criminal cases. So I generally tell people that I'm getting paid twice as much and have half as much stress than before I became an ALJ. That's a pretty good deal no matter who you are. Every two weeks I celebrate a little and send a salute towards FC. I think I'll do that for the next 20+ years. This is how I feel. I've investigated various options for making a change, with my skills and my area of law - other public, BigLaw, small firm or solo, nonprofits, law prof - and the ALJ path is very attractive by comparison to any of those. Especially when I see what some of the private sector lawyers - even experienced ones - have to deal with in terms of hours, client demands, etc. Is a big BMW worth it, vs. a Toyota? Thankful that ALJ was suggested to me back in 2013. |
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Post by anotherfed on Jun 13, 2016 9:31:22 GMT -5
The SSA duly recognizes us "virtual" office paper hater type personalities and provides an extremely good and easy to use app on your desktop: MS OneNote. Extremely easy to use and available to you on any govt computer where you sign in with your PIV. I simply downloaded the entire ALJ training manual from the SSA site (you will be provided the link) and sent it to my OneNote, e.g., my new ALJ notebook. WaaaLaaa! The entire training for 4 weeks is now there, in order, organized with hyperlinks etc. As I come across new items, SSRS, hearing tidbits, scripts, and even emails, in day to day work, the SSA computers also provide a "send to OneNote" link in almost all its applications. For any email, material, or other information, etc I like and want to keep, I just click the "send to oneNote" link and the information, page, email, hyperlink, document, pdf, etc is immediately placed in my electronic ALJ notebook permanently for use and access anywhere, anytime, on govt computers. This little app is one of the best things I think the SSA has done correctly for all ALJs. I use my ALJ Notebook continuously, daily, and in every hearing. Since it is electronic, its size in not relevant. Beside training info, I have subsections dealing with VEs, objections, SSRs, hypos, DAA and CDR analyses, grids, listing, scripts, etc, in addition to more mundane matters of ALJ policies, union matters including CBA, how to use CPMS, view, ebb, etc. You set it up anyway, color of format you so desire. I, too, loved OneNote for my Bench Book. Oh, the tidbits I saved! All the physical exam tests -- with pictures! Alas, I transferred and my Bench Book remained trapped in the ether. No one was able to resurrect it. <sigh> |
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Post by raylan on Jun 13, 2016 9:50:37 GMT -5
Can anyone tell me which background check form we need to complete? I haven't received my paperwork yet and Mr. Raylan may be heading out to parts unknown and unreachable soon. I just want to make sure there isn't any obscure information I need from him.
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Post by ba on Jun 14, 2016 4:01:38 GMT -5
Can anyone tell me which background check form we need to complete? I haven't received my paperwork yet and Mr. Raylan may be heading out to parts unknown and unreachable soon. I just want to make sure there isn't any obscure information I need from him. As I recall, it is part of the on boarding online forms. HR will help you through the process after your report date. And in a year, someone contracted to investigate it will actually come talk to you about it. Yeah, government efficiency at its best... |
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Post by raylan on Jun 14, 2016 7:13:30 GMT -5
Thanks ba. I was concerned it was something I would have to return while Mr. Raylan was away. That puts my mind at ease.
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Post by marathon on Jun 14, 2016 11:19:59 GMT -5
Dress up the first day. You will be sworn in by the HOCALJ and pics may be taken. Your family is welcome and most offices will do a brunch or lunch type thing. It's really a low key affair and your more official swearing in will be at training in FC. Funky Thank you so much for the info Judge. Very much appreciated. Do you happen to know if the swearing in at FC is at the beginning or end of training? My significant other would like to attend that if it's permissible. Im guessing others might be in my boat (so to speak). |
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Post by cowboy on Jun 14, 2016 12:04:54 GMT -5
Funky was referring to the first day you arrive at the HO, before you go to training in FC. You need to be sworn in the first day. I've done it once and I was proud to welcome a new ALJ. You should dress up your first day to work.
There is a graduation ceremony at the end of training in FC (on the last day). Everyone dresses up and the group is addressed by high mucky-mucks. You get a certificate of completion or that you are now an ALJ, and there is another swearing in (sort of). It's not individual, but a group thing. Many pictures are taken. Many people bring family along.
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Post by fingerscrossed on Jun 14, 2016 12:07:11 GMT -5
Anyone been contacted yet by the relocation specialists?
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Post by anotherfed on Jun 14, 2016 12:24:41 GMT -5
Anyone been contacted yet by the relocation specialists? Do not rely on the relocation specialists. In my experience, they were next to useless. Unless you are selling a house and buying a house (since they make money in both circumstances), they do not want to waste resources on you. Any assistance they provide will be half-hearted at best.
However, I have heard from colleagues who bought and sold houses that Relocation was extremely helpful and provided great service.
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Post by fingerscrossed on Jun 14, 2016 12:41:23 GMT -5
Thanks AnotherFed, good to know. We are thinking of buying a house, but haven't decided yet and wanted to look at rentals as well as possible home purchases.
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Post by fingerscrossed on Jun 14, 2016 12:52:39 GMT -5
Is Brookfield also the same company that arranges our personal property move?
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Post by anotherfed on Jun 14, 2016 14:11:21 GMT -5
I think Brookfield does it all. I do not have a high opinion of the organization. One of the contacts I was given was a real ding-a-ling. When I told her I would not be able to talk to her the next day because I would be driving to ------, she asked "Oh, will you be needing a rental car?" Uh, I hope not.
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Post by gary on Jun 14, 2016 14:19:59 GMT -5
The only Brookfields I know are a zoo, and the town it's in.
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Post by february on Jun 14, 2016 20:41:11 GMT -5
Do the email addresses for ODAR ALJs generally follow the "firstname.lastname@ssa.gov" format?
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