ALJ on duty vs. available

[mjohn19]

With regard to the size of the SSA ALJ corps, what is the difference between the number of ALJs on duty versus the number of ALJs available? Does either number have more importance with regard to the efficiency of the ALJ corps?  Given the current and reasonably foreseeable future workload, any educated guesses as to the number of ALJs needed to operate efficiently and effectively?  

[nylawyer]

Jul 11, 2020 19:38:50 GMT -5 mjohn19 said:

With regard to the size of the SSA ALJ corps, what is the difference between the number of ALJs on duty versus the number of ALJs available? Does either number have more importance with regard to the efficiency of the ALJ corps?  Given the current and reasonably foreseeable future workload, any educated guesses as to the number of ALJs needed to operate efficiently and effectively?  

To answer the first question at least in part, HOCALJs don't count as a full ALJ. They are a lesser percentage, depending on the size of the office.

As for the last question, it is really impossible to anticipate the short to medium term. The conventional wisdom is there will be a huge bump up in applications, but the data doesn't show that yet.

www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/dib-g1.html

We could also debate how many cases can an individual ALJ "efficiently and effectively" adjudicate.

But, the short answer is that long term, the agency needs less than it currently has.