SSA ALJ hire on the horizon?

[odarwinian]

Just received an email cancelling the April 2019 ALJ application from USAjobs. Hmmmmmm….

[costanza]

Feb 1, 2021 9:27:00 GMT -5 odarwinian said:

Just received an email cancelling the April 2019 ALJ application from USAjobs. Hmmmmmm….

I like how they referred to it as an application I had recently submitted.  

[vagabond]

Received the same email, had the same thought. Define recently?

[Prrple]

Well, at least something is happening...

[roymcavoy]

Someone else may know whether this page existed before Biden Admin took over... but this page on OPM website notes the requirement of passing a test that seems inconsistent with the rules from Trump Admin that led to the recently “cancelled” application... as I recall the budget from 2018-19 required that aljs pass OpM test, but that requirement was being removed



www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/specialty-areas/administrative-law-judge-positions/

[fowlfinder]

Got my cancelation notice.

[merican]

I got the same email as everyone else. But when I log into usajobs, it says "hiring complete". Same for everyone? New application and register coming soon possibly?

[bp]

I also received the "cancellation" email regarding the last "Black Hole" SSA ALJ hire (i.e., the one where candidates flew to Falls Church for interviews and then sat in limbo for more than a year with no hires or other progress).

Normally, I wouldn't think much of that, as we knew it was going to happen sooner or later when someone got around to cleaning up old vacancy announcements.

However, in this case, it makes me wonder. I had seen that one of the AFGE's four "Day 1" priorities for the President was:

2. Rescind an EO that politicizes the hiring of administrative law judges

Trump’s lesser known EO 13843 politicizes the hiring of federal administrative law judges (ALJs) by shifting the impartial and rigorous selection of ALJs from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to the agencies themselves, thereby opening the door for political appointees to hire ALJs based on their political leanings rather than their qualifications. ALJ selection process should revert to the objective OPM process under a rigorous timetable of no more than six months.

(https://www.afge.org/article/afge-outlines-priorities-for-incoming-biden-administration/)


Is this an indication that OPM and the administration are moving to cancel pending ALJ vacancy announcements and prevent agencies from making any additional ALJ hires until they implement a new process? Will that process include restoring the OPM register?

Really interesting development to debate...

[roymcavoy]

EO 13843 that removed ALJs from the competitive service was signed in July 2018. On 10 Sep 2018 OPM sent out an email that said, “This is in regard to your listing on the administrative law judge (ALJ) register, based on your competition in the ALJ examination. On July 10, 2018, the President signed Executive Order (E.O.) 13843, which placed ALJs hired on or after that date in the excepted service. As a result, the position of ALJ is now excepted from competitive examination and rating requirements.... The ALJ register is now terminated for any purpose pursuant to 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) A700 3317....”

Apparently Congress was not happy, which caused the 2018-19 budget to include language related to any hired ALJs having passed the OPM test. This was why, as I recalled, when SSA submitted for applicants for the now cancelled 2019 hire, they asked only those who had passed the OpM testing.

Where it goes from here, who knows.

[uboat]

I also received the FOAD email. I once again heard the sound of the crowd cheering "Ole!" in my head.

[Deleted]

"hiring complete" is gov.speak for FOAD, in addition to "cancelled" makes such a message a CYA for SSA, and shows the current "Acting SSA Commissioner" (on his way out) to be just as corrupt as defeated POTUS #45.

"recently submitted" leaves me questioning the EO from 2018, which occurred after actual submission in April 2018.
If the EO eliminated the register, then why an email today?

[jagvet]

Sorry to hear y'all got letter, but everyone is forgetting Lucia. The executive order in 2018 was designed to prevent Lucia from requiring all the ALJs hired pre-Lucia from being fired because they couldn't hold hearings and to empower ones hired after that to be Constitutional. Many of you predicted that Trump would simply replace all the ALJs with political hires. IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

Does cleaning up the long-abandoned hiring process now means that Hunter Biden will now become an ALJ, following that logic?

Everyone get real: Neither Trump nor Biden is or was politicizing ALJ hires. Please give it a rest. Under Lucia, only the head of an agency appointed by the president can hire ALJs. OPM can't do it, and committees of ALJs can't do it.

Additionally, it would be absurd to use a register from 2 1/2 years ago as a basis for hiring.

[northbend]

Should we start a new thread for updates about hiring ALJ's under the Biden administration?

[nothingtoseehere]

Feb 1, 2021 13:19:08 GMT -5 jagvet said:

Sorry to hear y'all got letter, but everyone is forgetting Lucia. The executive order in 2018 was designed to prevent Lucia from requiring all the ALJs hired pre-Lucia from being fired because they couldn't hold hearings and to empower ones hired after that to be Constitutional. Many of you predicted that Trump would simply replace all the ALJs with political hires. IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

Does cleaning up the long-abandoned hiring process now means that Hunter Biden will now become an ALJ, following that logic?

Everyone get real: Neither Trump nor Biden is or was politicizing ALJ hires. Please give it a rest. Under Lucia, only the head of an agency appointed by the president can hire ALJs. OPM can't do it, and committees of ALJs can't do it.

Additionally, it would be absurd to use a register from 2 1/2 years ago as a basis for hiring.

Why would it be absurd?  It may not be ideal, but wouldn't the most likely alternative be to not have any hires until OPM develops and administers a new examination, which could take an extraordinary amount of time.  That isn't particularly ideal either.

[neufenland]

Feb 1, 2021 13:53:29 GMT -5 nothingtoseehere said:

Feb 1, 2021 13:19:08 GMT -5 jagvet said:

Sorry to hear y'all got letter, but everyone is forgetting Lucia. The executive order in 2018 was designed to prevent Lucia from requiring all the ALJs hired pre-Lucia from being fired because they couldn't hold hearings and to empower ones hired after that to be Constitutional. Many of you predicted that Trump would simply replace all the ALJs with political hires. IT DID NOT HAPPEN.

Does cleaning up the long-abandoned hiring process now means that Hunter Biden will now become an ALJ, following that logic?

Everyone get real: Neither Trump nor Biden is or was politicizing ALJ hires. Please give it a rest. Under Lucia, only the head of an agency appointed by the president can hire ALJs. OPM can't do it, and committees of ALJs can't do it.

Additionally, it would be absurd to use a register from 2 1/2 years ago as a basis for hiring.

Why would it be absurd?  It may not be ideal, but wouldn't the most likely alternative be to not have any hires until OPM develops and administers a new examination, which could take an extraordinary amount of time.  That isn't particularly ideal either.

Might not be absurd, but based on what most of the SSA folks on here are saying, there isn't enough work to warrant an ALJ hire right now.  I'm guessing it's not a big priority for the new administration.  

[neufenland]

Feb 1, 2021 12:07:56 GMT -5 uboat said:

I also received the FOAD email. I once again heard the sound of the crowd cheering "Ole!" in my head.

I got the email.  

Does a cancellation count as a FOAD?  

[noah]

In the past, the Register went many years in a row without being refreshed. It is perfectly appropriate to use a register that is merely a few years old.

[roymcavoy]

Feb 1, 2021 15:09:55 GMT -5 noah said:

In the past, the Register went many years in a row without being refreshed. It is perfectly appropriate to use a register that is merely a few years old.

the “old register” allowed them to hire until a new fresh register was created, which is why people with scores in the upper 50s were hired before a new test and register were created in 2013/14.

Pixie has said on here many times that SSA has wanted the ability to hire without the constraints of Opm, etc. As I noted above, bipartisan members of congress were unhappy with the EO getting rid of the register. There is also murmurs that congress Democrats are working on legislation to make ALJs competitive. I think it’s possible that Biden Admin may be working with congress on some legislation to codify the ALJ OpM process. Given the non-need for ALjs at the moment, it’s the perfect time to do something like that—be it good or bad for anyone who went to DC in summer 2019.

[jagvet]

The absurdity is just what noah points out. While it may fit the regs to use an old register, people change over time. When I had to hire off of old registers in the GW Bush administration, people had taken other jobs, moved, been convicted (just kidding), died (not kidding). Others who are now interested and qualified don't get a shot. I once offered a non-SSA fed job to a person interviewed from an old register (politicals were lazy about giving authorization), and she had moved cross-country. She didn't tell anyone because she thought her app was dead. BTW, she's now a RCALJ!

So I'm not saying they're bad applicants, but the list should be fresh.

roymcavoy has it right.  Clear the deck for new thinking on the process.

[roymcavoy]

Feb 1, 2021 16:28:13 GMT -5 jagvet said:

The absurdity is just what noah points out. While it may fit the regs to use an old register, people change over time. When I had to hire off of old registers in the GW Bush administration, people had taken other jobs, moved, been convicted (just kidding), died (not kidding). Others who are now interested and qualified don't get a shot. I once offered a non-SSA fed job to a person interviewed from an old register (politicals were lazy about giving authorization), and she had moved cross-country. She didn't tell anyone because she thought her app was dead. BTW, she's now a RCALJ!

So I'm not saying they're bad applicants, but the list should be fresh.

roymcavoy has it right.  Clear the deck for new thinking on the process.

I don’t like it, but I agree. The question would be what to do if they need ALJs in the time between now and then. It feels unlikely in the short term, but long term will bring vaccinations, long haul covid effects, and the end of unemployment benefits. There is a possibility that one or more of these things could lead to a quick surge in applications...

The old register has traditionally been milked dry while they undertook creating a new testing mechanism. Here, it seems like SSA has authority to use AC AJs for the initial hearing of applications, which might be the plan (assuming the Biden Admin wants to do that—their stance to be more “pro-union” would seemingly be at odds with this maneuver). Or they may use some portion of folks who interviewed in 2019. Or they may bring back the “old register” (I’m sure it’s lying around somewhere).