hearing offices

[learnedhand]

I am interested in resuming the discussion of the hearing offices started on another board. There were some good comments that, hopefully, can be reiterated here, along with new information. I do remember one of the cities I listed, Paducah, being described as having a good hearing office by a couple of former aljs there. There was also mention of backlogs and office space affecting the decision for openings in offices. Anyone got any good information to share?

[judicature]

Paducah has been the starting point for new ALJ's who seek a transfer. I have heard of 2 instances where the ALJ started their career in Paducah and then sought transfer to their "home" location after the passage of 2 years. An ODAR from Paducah told me that it is a good office personnel wise.

[connector]

Paducah recently won an award (as an office) for decsion writing. 'nuff said.

[learnedhand]

I was curious about the Norfolk Virginia and Tampa Florida offices. Anyone know anything?

[cinderella]

Well, if I recall correctly, the other day when I was looking at "pending" cases for various cities trying to figure out where the backlog was worst, Tampa had a fairly high number. I don't know if that translates into whether or not they will have a vacancy or not, as I guess that depends on multiple factors, not the least of which is whether they have an empty ALJ office, and whether someone is on ALJ transfer list.

I wish we knew a couple of things: Namely, how many true openings are there and what hearing offices (read:cities) are involved?!

[sta]

Billings may have an opening FYI

[observer]

Whether an office has a "vacancy" or not is not a clear cut matter. An ALJ may retire, but whether a vacancy then exists that the agency would want to fill there depends on many things, including whether there is sufficient space, office staff, etc. to support the ALJ, whether that office has sufficient workload, whether that office is a location where the agency wants to advertise--i.e., where the candidates interested in going there will allow the agency to reach down into the register and nab someone they want. This simply isn't predictable; you'll have to wait for the agency to make its decision and request a register.

[workdrone]

Well, here's an August 2007 article about backlogged SSA offices:

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When it comes to processing disability claims through Social Security, Kansas has the worst backlog in the country, an advocacy group says.

Almost 15,000 Kansans are in limbo, waiting for a decision on whether they qualify for Social Security Disability Insurance, according to a report released Tuesday from the American Association of People with Disabilities and Allsup Inc., a company that provides assistance in helping people get Social Security and Medicare benefits.

The two organizations looked at the number of people waiting for a decision on disability insurance versus those who already receive benefits. Kansas led the list for the largest backlog per capita. The state was followed by Washington, D.C., North Dakota, Michigan and Alabama.

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Original Article

Regards,

Drone

[oldtimer]

Unfortunately, Allsup and/or the media failed to understand what they were studying, IMO. The backlog shouldn't be measured by the number of claims pending compared to the state population; instead, a better, i.e., more useful measure would simply be the average processing time for the offices in a given state. Claimants don't care how many claims are pending at ODAR compared to the state population; they want to know how long it'll likely be before their case is heard and decided.

[oldtimer]

Learned, et. al:
Don't hold your breath for Tampa; according to the transfer list posted on the AALJ Board, there are 8 judges who have requested a transfer to Tampa. So, even if there's a high pending per ALJ and vacant offices, it's not likely they'll be taking any new judges there.

[oldtimer]

Norfolk: 3 transfer requests pending; Paducah: 1 pending.

[oldtimer]

The rest of the equation, i.e., transfer requests from:

Tampa-1
Norfolk-1
Paducah-1

[cinderella]

Oldtimer- is that transfer list available anywhere?

[workdrone]

oldtimer said:

instead, a better, i.e., more useful measure would simply be the average processing time for the offices in a given state.

I think the number quoted in the article was "As of May, Kansas had an average wait of 580 days for hearing an appeal", which appears to be just the hearing and does not include the post-hearing timeframe for issuing a decision. The July 31, 2007 USA Today news article on SSA backlog said Atlanta, Georgia has a wait time to appeal of about 31 months (about 930 days), so from this measurement, Atlanta is worse off.

Ultimately, the question is what stat measurement(s) senior management is going to use as a factor in filling the new openings. And your guess is as good as mine on it.

Regards,

Drone

[workdrone]

cinderella said:

Oldtimer- is that transfer list available anywhere?

It's on the AALJ board, which password secured and only open to registered ALJ members.

Regards,

Drone

[learnedhand]

Is it always the case that the transfer list gets first choice?

[judicature]

Any numbers on transfers re Kansas, Oklahoma?

[odarite]

One wanting to transfer to Kansas City, none wanting to transfer out.

[odarite]

learnedhand said:

Is it always the case that the transfer list gets first choice?

Sorta. One round of transfers only, after that new hire. Assume the decision is to add an ALJ in cities A, B, and C. There are judges on the transfer list for those cities, so they get the offer to transfer. They come from cities D, E, and F. There are ALJs on the transfer list wanting to go to those cities, but they won't get offers and new hires will be put in those cities (assuming those cities have the workload to support replacing a judge).

[chris]

Would it be reasonable to assume that some of the offices with openings might want to wait to get the cream of the new list rather than taking a current ALJ who is unhappy where they are?