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Post by rp on Apr 6, 2020 19:32:23 GMT -5
My mileage has been quite different. On average - Out of 7 hearings I have had 5. Typical and quite similar to my regular schedule where I schedule 8 and usually have 5 - 6. Our office is calling all ahead of time and if they refuse then it will be RTS for hearing sometime in the near future - possibly prior to May 30 - with 20 days notice.
There have been some technical issues but I have found patience usually resolves the issue.
Again- My mileage. YMMV.
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Post by barkley on Apr 7, 2020 8:37:16 GMT -5
In my office, the ALJs are not longer getting requests for postponement to rule on and we are no longer asked if we want to backfill the slot. TPTB are making all those decisions. We got an email saying it was our responsibility to review our itineraries for changes.
So, let's say I go on record with one of these "mandatory" telephone hearings. The rep or claimant says they want to postpone until after we go back to in person or video. I personally agree that those are preferable. What are TPTB gonna to do me when I freely grant postponements?
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Post by nylawyer on Apr 7, 2020 8:47:24 GMT -5
In my office, the ALJs are not longer getting requests for postponement to rule on and we are no longer asked if we want to backfill the slot. TPTB are making all those decisions. We got an email saying it was our responsibility to review our itineraries for changes. So, let's say I go on record with one of these "mandatory" telephone hearings. The rep or claimant says they want to postpone until after we go back to in person or video. I personally agree that those are preferable. What are TPTB gonna to do me when I freely grant postponements? I understand not going to the ALJ for permission to postpone, since it's mandatory to permit it at this time. It would be nice if maybe an email was sent when this happens, particularly since the ALJ home page does not update schedules in real time, so if you have a hearing set for tomorrow you could easily waste the time prepping after it was postponed. As for back filling, I really wish they'd hold off on that until the tech issues are resolved.
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Post by hopefalj on Apr 7, 2020 15:11:08 GMT -5
My mileage has been quite different. On average - Out of 7 hearings I have had 5. Typical and quite similar to my regular schedule where I schedule 8 and usually have 5 - 6. Our office is calling all ahead of time and if they refuse then it will be RTS for hearing sometime in the near future - possibly prior to May 30 - with 20 days notice. There have been some technical issues but I have found patience usually resolves the issue. Again- My mileage. YMMV. Not asking for yours or implying anything, but I wonder how much variance in acceptance for an ALJ is based on a judge's affirmation/reversal rate. If I was awarding benefits at double my current rate, would I have more reps/claimants willing to accept phone hearings? Anecdotally, I feel as though my favorable rate has increased since going to phone hearings, but there's nothing scientific or data driven to suggest a cause or correlation. With respect to barkley 's issues, her office and my office must be doing things differently. We don't make decisions on postponing. If a rep or claimant want to postpone the hearing, they talk to management and request the postponement. It is then automatically postponed. They (MGMT) are calling people to find out what they want to do at the beginning of every week ahead of the following week's hearings. If a rep or claimant does not respond by noon on Thursday for the following week's hearings, then the case is automatically postponed. There are no backfills occurring during this compressed period unless a judge requests that a case be moved for unique circumstances.
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Post by smokingalj on Apr 7, 2020 17:41:00 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one.
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Post by Wynona Writer on Apr 7, 2020 17:55:15 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one. Does this not have to do with the difference between an employee and a contractor? I’m pretty sure the SCTs are required to take a lunch break per labor laws. No?
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Post by nylawyer on Apr 7, 2020 18:23:56 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one. So, assume, like today, my hearing before the allotted lunch runs two and a half hours, running not only through the lunch break but throught the time for the post lunch hearing as well. Do we now tell the 1:00 hearing that sorry, I know it's 2:00, but we are taking an hour long break?
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Post by smokingalj on Apr 7, 2020 18:26:37 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one. Does this not have to do with the difference between an employee and a contractor? I’m pretty sure the SCTs are required to take a lunch break per labor laws. No? Correct.
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Post by okthen on Apr 7, 2020 19:40:58 GMT -5
Does this not have to do with the difference between an employee and a contractor? I’m pretty sure the SCTs are required to take a lunch break per labor laws. No? Correct. The HOCALJ and/or management should then be a problem solver and find a different SCT for the lunch shift.
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Post by hopefalj on Apr 7, 2020 20:31:15 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one. I think you have that backwards. The folks being disparaged on this thread were those of us that don't allow lunch breaks. From the sound of things, none of us care whether or not a lunch is scheduled by other judges. However, those of us who don't schedule lunch because we're regularly done by 12:45-1 were (and I'm paraphrasing here) sadists that are garbage people unworthy of our fellow judges' respect. Maybe a slight overstatement. If my SCT wants a lunch break scheduled in there right now, I'm all for it so long as management reconfigures my schedule. Of course, she's perfectly fine with things the way they are. Like I said earlier in the thread, I'm lucky in that respect.
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Post by cookie on Apr 8, 2020 7:43:05 GMT -5
The lunch break part of this thread has really been eye-opening for me. When I started (after finishing the ramp up when it was never an issue), I simply told my scheduler how many cases I wanted and how long I wanted them to be (7, 45 min). I was assigned my hearing days and quite honestly did not realize I had to specify a lunch break was needed. As others have said, once scheduling gets going you’re 4-5 months out. A lunch break was not put in my schedule and I didn’t complain. If you can’t tell from my avatar choice—I’m an eater. Our office, and my life, had so much other “stuff” going on that the lunch break did not register as such a big deal. I brought snacks on hearing days and I saw VEs and VHRs do the same. We all adapted. Obviously I am now contemplating a change as I didn’t realize what a piece of garbage I had become.
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Post by Pixie on Apr 8, 2020 7:56:55 GMT -5
And our HOCALJ sent an email saying we are required to give our sct (acting vhr) a lunch break. I do, but I know other ALJ's in this thread indicated you are essentially useless if you allow one. So, assume, like today, my hearing before the allotted lunch runs two and a half hours, running not only through the lunch break but throught the time for the post lunch hearing as well. Do we now tell the 1:00 hearing that sorry, I know it's 2:00, but we are taking an hour long break? The break would be 30 minutes, not an hour. No single disability hearing should last 2 1/2 hours. If the hearing bleeds over into the lunch break, and it doesn't appear it is close to being finished, take a break and have time for lunch. Pixie
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Post by nylawyer on Apr 8, 2020 8:12:51 GMT -5
I agree it shouldn't take that long.
I also agree the hearing shouldn't start 30 minutes late because of difficulties getting everyone on the line.
I also agree that the phone connection shouldn't be lost.
In further agree that the connection shouldn't be lost three times.
I also agree that one of those times that it shouldn't be lost, it shouldn't be the claimant's rep who gets disconnected at a time when the ALJ is questioning the claimant, and that by the time anyone realized the rep wasn't on the line 15 minutes of testimony had been taken which then had to be re-done with the rep on the line.
I agree to all those things.
And yet, here we are.
(EDIT- and, to be fair and reasonable and less whiny, I also agree that there shouldn't be pandemics that force everyone to stay home, and I further agree claimant's cases should be heard as soon as possible. And I agree that it is hard to get things done on the fly; and I agree it's hard to expect anything to be done perfectly when you are dealing with what can be pretty acurately called an unprecedented event.)
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Post by jagvet on Apr 8, 2020 9:24:24 GMT -5
I am thinking of one of my occasional reps who comes in with a 2-liter bottle of water and gulps it constantly during the hearings. Very rude. I never touch food or drink in the hearing room. It goes way back in my litigation experience. A judge told me decades ago that even though cups and water were on counsel table, when an attorney stopped to take a sip, it always gave the appearance of stalling because he didn't know what to do next. I think there's some truth to that. I never had water, though, even before that. Here's why:
41 years ago I had my very first trial, a court-martial. A Trial Counsel (prosecutor) sets up the courtroom. I did, or so I thought. As I was making my opening statement, the military judge took a sip of H2O and promptly spat it out all over me. "Counsel, did you clean my water cup?" "No sir!" There was a bug in it. "The members [jury] will disregard counsel's negligence in failing to clean my cup! Proceed."
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Post by lurkerbelow on Apr 8, 2020 9:50:27 GMT -5
DW here. So long as they actually do the leg work of representing the claimant instead of imitating a piece of office foliage in the hearing room, they can gulp water and fart in their chair to their heart's content, imo. Whatever you folks want.
I've heard ALJs give diatribes on such subjects in hearing notes. I have never had to take those into consideration in the decision. I will not ever take them into decision. I wish that people who did this did not.
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Post by nylawyer on Apr 8, 2020 10:08:58 GMT -5
Eating during a hearing, absent some medical explanation, is unimaginable to me. But I need to hydrate during hearings, or I will lose my voice. More so now as I am speaking much louder so that I can be heard on the phone. As for during a "real trial", jagvet, clearly you never learned the skill of the dramatic pause. Right up there with feigned confusion.
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Post by cookie on Apr 8, 2020 10:11:06 GMT -5
I would never suggest eating during a hearing. I’m not sure how that came across. I meant between claimants, giving everyone a 5-10 min break to use restroom, refill water, eat a granola bar.
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Post by Ace Midnight on Apr 8, 2020 10:47:43 GMT -5
I do tend to drink coffee and water during hearings. I'm doing less so now on with the Softphone.
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Post by barkley on Apr 8, 2020 10:57:27 GMT -5
The main problem is that these dockets were made 5 months ago. I understand that SCT have different "rights" than HRs, but there was no way for me to know last fall when I gave these dates that I needed to alter my schedule to accommodate the SCT break time. I always schedule straight through because that seems to be the preference for my VEs/HRs. I have asked that unrepped claimants be scheduled at the end of the day so if we get a no show, we all get out early. ALJs have no set time band for taking their lunch break, so if hearings run over, it is no big deal to take my break at 2:30 or 3. However, the SCTs have a specific band wherein they have to take their breaks.
I view this as a management problem, not an SCT or ALJ problem. Either Management needs to split longer dockets between two SCTs or they need to tell the SCTs they will allow them to take a late lunch outside their allotted time band.
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Post by smokingalj on Apr 8, 2020 11:36:35 GMT -5
5 hearings today. Not one dropped call. Maybe the process is going to smooth out.
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