Post by testtaker on Apr 9, 2008 13:47:40 GMT -5
This just in from the Office of the Inspector General: Report on Association of Administrative Law Judges' Training Conference Costs (A-12-08-28037).
www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-12-08-28037.pdf
Background
The AALJ has conducted annual training conferences since 1992 to assist Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in meeting their education needs. Each year, approximately 150 to 250 of the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review’s (ODAR) 1,100 ALJs attend the 3-day conference. Over the years, SSA has assisted the AALJ with logistics and financial support to conduct the training conference including:
• travel for presenters, management ALJs and headquarters personnel;
• fees and contract support for presenters;
• financial support for printed material, audiovisual and rental equipment;
• duty time for those who attend, present, and/or organize the conference; and
• reimbursement of attendee registration fees.
OIG's objectives:
(1) examine the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) contributions to previous Association of Administrative Law Judges’ (AALJ) training conferences,
(2) assess the support for and reasonableness of conference costs, and
(3) evaluate the nature of the training provided to determine the appropriateness of
continued SSA support.
The results of the review were:
SSA provided approximately $888,900 in financial and in-kind support to the AALJ to conduct four training conferences during CYs 2003 to 2006. Moreover, SSA paid for the entire cost of the last three conferences, leaving the AALJ with residual funds that could be applied to other union programs. We also found that SSA spent a total of $354,800 on the 2006 AALJ training conference once conference support and management travel costs were combined. In our review of the 2006 conference costs, we concluded that SSA and the AALJ could generally support the underlying conference costs. However, we identified AALJ expenses that would not normally be reimbursed by SSA, including a reception, a banquet, and entertainment. Moreover, training revenues versus other types of revenue were not clearly delineated in the AALJ’s audited financial statements, making it difficult to isolate revenue associated with training participants. ODAR management stated the conference provided useful training to ALJs, though they would prefer more control over the topics and greater attendance rotation. We believe that the level of support provided by SSA indicates that the Agency could run the entire conference in-house and have greater control over expenditures, topics, and attendance. This would also remove any risk that the Agency is improperly providing support to an employee union.
Charles Hall's comments are:
"I would say that it looks as if OIG was looking for reasons why the agency should discontinue its expenditures for these training conferences. The OIG found what it regarded as adequate reason to recommend this. The bottom line is that Social Security intends to do this training in house.
Commissioner Astrue has bitterly attacked ALJs and the AALJ. This outcome cannot be a surprise to anyone who has followed the state of labor relations at Social Security under Michael Astrue.
I expect that the AALJ will press to undo this decision if the next President is a Democrat and Michael Astrue decides not to try to hang on as Commissioner under a Democratic President."
www.socsecnews.blogspot.com/
www.ssa.gov/oig/ADOBEPDF/A-12-08-28037.pdf
Background
The AALJ has conducted annual training conferences since 1992 to assist Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) in meeting their education needs. Each year, approximately 150 to 250 of the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review’s (ODAR) 1,100 ALJs attend the 3-day conference. Over the years, SSA has assisted the AALJ with logistics and financial support to conduct the training conference including:
• travel for presenters, management ALJs and headquarters personnel;
• fees and contract support for presenters;
• financial support for printed material, audiovisual and rental equipment;
• duty time for those who attend, present, and/or organize the conference; and
• reimbursement of attendee registration fees.
OIG's objectives:
(1) examine the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) contributions to previous Association of Administrative Law Judges’ (AALJ) training conferences,
(2) assess the support for and reasonableness of conference costs, and
(3) evaluate the nature of the training provided to determine the appropriateness of
continued SSA support.
The results of the review were:
SSA provided approximately $888,900 in financial and in-kind support to the AALJ to conduct four training conferences during CYs 2003 to 2006. Moreover, SSA paid for the entire cost of the last three conferences, leaving the AALJ with residual funds that could be applied to other union programs. We also found that SSA spent a total of $354,800 on the 2006 AALJ training conference once conference support and management travel costs were combined. In our review of the 2006 conference costs, we concluded that SSA and the AALJ could generally support the underlying conference costs. However, we identified AALJ expenses that would not normally be reimbursed by SSA, including a reception, a banquet, and entertainment. Moreover, training revenues versus other types of revenue were not clearly delineated in the AALJ’s audited financial statements, making it difficult to isolate revenue associated with training participants. ODAR management stated the conference provided useful training to ALJs, though they would prefer more control over the topics and greater attendance rotation. We believe that the level of support provided by SSA indicates that the Agency could run the entire conference in-house and have greater control over expenditures, topics, and attendance. This would also remove any risk that the Agency is improperly providing support to an employee union.
Charles Hall's comments are:
"I would say that it looks as if OIG was looking for reasons why the agency should discontinue its expenditures for these training conferences. The OIG found what it regarded as adequate reason to recommend this. The bottom line is that Social Security intends to do this training in house.
Commissioner Astrue has bitterly attacked ALJs and the AALJ. This outcome cannot be a surprise to anyone who has followed the state of labor relations at Social Security under Michael Astrue.
I expect that the AALJ will press to undo this decision if the next President is a Democrat and Michael Astrue decides not to try to hang on as Commissioner under a Democratic President."
www.socsecnews.blogspot.com/
