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Post by Pixie on Aug 5, 2020 8:36:11 GMT -5
Received the below from a board member:
"Hello,
Our office just received official word we are holding phone hearings through November.
Also—East coast offices are down so many receipts we are being asked to hold West Coast hearings. And have to adjust our hearing schedules accordingly. This is not the first time our office is getting cases outside our time zone this year.
You may already have this info, but I wanted to pass along just in case."
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Post by nylawyer on Aug 5, 2020 14:43:09 GMT -5
We've been told phone hearings through the end of the calendar year.
West Coast hearings from the East Coast? That's interesting. Exactly how far are we supposed to shift- would we start our last hearing at 5:00? Or later? Would the flex band be shifted as well?
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Post by nappyloxs on Aug 5, 2020 21:59:37 GMT -5
We were told about November a while ago. Last week, I heard west coast is only area that has increased receipts. Plus, some offices on west coast had significant backlogs before COVID. Get ready for some dog cases and R9 ARs.
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Post by dragon on Aug 6, 2020 16:43:41 GMT -5
My office hasn’t communicated anything since March, except that they have no information. Thank you for keeping us updated.
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Post by Pixie on Aug 6, 2020 17:04:57 GMT -5
We were told about November a while ago. Last week, I heard west coast is only area that has increased receipts. Plus, some offices on west coast had significant backlogs before COVID. Get ready for some dog cases and R9 ARs. Yep they will dump all their dogs on you. |
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Post by nappyloxs on Aug 7, 2020 22:18:26 GMT -5
We were told about November a while ago. Last week, I heard west coast is only area that has increased receipts. Plus, some offices on west coast had significant backlogs before COVID. Get ready for some dog cases and R9 ARs. Yep they will dump all their dogs on you. Why me? |
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Post by southerner on Aug 10, 2020 8:15:11 GMT -5
We were asked for December docket dates and plan for phone hearings. We are already doing other jurisdictions with time considerations, from Hazard, KY to Albuquerque and Roswell.
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Updog
Member
Do I know what rhetorical means?!?
Posts: 29 
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Post by Updog on Aug 10, 2020 10:14:05 GMT -5
Per CSU request, last week we were asked to submit our January calendar. I presume they're wanting 2021 and not 2022 yet.
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Post by barkley on Aug 10, 2020 17:43:40 GMT -5
We have not been asked to give December days yet. Further, we have been told that they are struggling to find cases to fill our November dockets.
Is this an RO problem or a CSU problem?
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ducky
Full Member
Blowing in the wind
Posts: 108 
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Post by ducky on Aug 15, 2020 21:45:19 GMT -5
We’ve submitted January Calendars to CSU.
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Post by Baymax on Aug 16, 2020 18:40:17 GMT -5
We just submitted November a few weeks ago. No word at all about telephone or not, but for telework purposes we are still asking to schedule 50/month. But they’re only scheduling 2-4 hearings per hearing day (I’m not complaining, mind you). What’s strange is that all but three of my hearings this month were prior postponements or video opt outs. There’s no shortage of actual cases, so I’m confused as to why there are so many old cases (instead of a healthy mix).
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Post by luckylady2 on Aug 16, 2020 20:37:01 GMT -5
We've submitted calendars through December. And having offices without backlogs help offices with backlogs has been going on for years. This really isn't new.
(But yes, when you take on another office's cases, be ready for the dogs.)
Baymax - The sending office sends out as many of their AGED as they can to make their stats better.
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Post by pumpkin on Aug 16, 2020 21:18:09 GMT -5
My October and first two weeks of November are already packed with full hearing days scheduled. I did notice that most of the October hearings are repped cases that are aged and were sent to our OHO from an OHO in the Midwest.
We essentially have to turn in our hearing dates for January through March now as our telework requests are due by August 31st for October 2020 through March 2021.
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Post by jimmy224 on Aug 20, 2020 7:11:17 GMT -5
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Post by Pixie on Aug 23, 2020 11:17:02 GMT -5
I have received information that the telephone hearings will continue, at least, through March. Pixie
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Post by hopefalj on Aug 23, 2020 11:28:52 GMT -5
I have received information that the telephone hearings will continue, at least, through March. Pixie Is SSA going to reimburse divorce lawyer fees from the forced work at home? Asking for a friend. I wonder how many reps intent on holding out for in-person hearings will capitulate if this is ever announced publicly or even via scheduling. And if the answer is none, how long until we run out of phone hearings? If we're running low on phone hearings, one proactive thing that could be done is to create an emergency provision to allow initial denials to bypass reconsideration by accepting a telephonic hearing. It would reduce the backlog at recon and keep us busy. |
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Post by hamster on Aug 23, 2020 12:07:19 GMT -5
The ALJs in my office are most definitely NOT running out of hearings. We have plenty of repped and unrepped claimants, and a few no-shows that keep getting scheduled. These are (EDIT—claimants) who filed a claim, don’t show up for their hearing, and, since we can’t dismiss the case, it just gets rescheduled so they can fail to show up a second or third or fourth time. Gotta get those aged cases on the docket, dontchaknow. Our Regional stats have to be better than yours, dontchaknow. Lather, rinse, repeat. We’ve already submitted our calendars for January 2021. Even if OHO continues to schedule telephonic hearings, that does not mean they won’t order the employees into the office every day. There are aged cases, don’t forget, and paper files. Too, we employees are fungible widgets. If I am compelled to go into the office and contract Covid-19, some other ALJ can be assigned the case. It is only the disposition that matters—not the health of the workforce.
Respectfully, H
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Post by nylawyer on Aug 23, 2020 12:16:46 GMT -5
I have received information that the telephone hearings will continue, at least, through March. Pixie Is SSA going to reimburse divorce lawyer fees from the forced work at home? Asking for a friend. I wonder how many reps intent on holding out for in-person hearings will capitulate if this is ever announced publicly or even via scheduling. And if the answer is none, how long until we run out of phone hearings? If we're running low on phone hearings, one proactive thing that could be done is to create an emergency provision to allow initial denials to bypass reconsideration by accepting a telephonic hearing. It would reduce the backlog at recon and keep us busy. I'd like an official announcement just so the unrepped claimants can make an informed decision before opting out of a phone hearing. I feel bad when they do, I'd like to warn them what they are asking for. |
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Post by Loopstok on Aug 23, 2020 17:53:22 GMT -5
I'd like an official announcement just so the unrepped claimants can make an informed decision before opting out of a phone hearing. I feel bad when they do, I'd like to warn them what they are asking for. This, this, this. Like. Plus-one. Up-vote. <3, as they say on the Instagram.
My hearing calendars for April and May were a wasteland of COVID-19 cancellations. June, July, and August, were largely robust, but our CSUs had started scheduling without rep contact, so I lost a small but noticeable percentage of those hearings to time conflicts. Some cases have been on 2/3 times already since March, but people are back at work, or have told us over the phone that they're withdrawing - and we can't accept withdrawal dismissals unless they're in writing, so a lot of those cases just keep getting put back on for no-shows, and we still aren't authorized to issue no-show dismissals (ABDIs). So a 48-hearing month might only see 30 hearings go on the record, if that. As for September, I barely got 50% of the hearings that I requested (after that, I'm packed to the gills, at least).
The TL;DR for the above paragraph is that -- with as many open spaces and no-show hearings on my calendar, I am just sitting here wanting to make decisions and give people their hearings, and the phone opt-out is reaching the point, nearly 6 months into the pandemic, where the people opting out might be preventing themselves from getting their disposition, or closure, or, in X percent of cases, benefits.
Any increase in the backlog will eventually be blamed on the ALJs, if history with the current regime is anything to go by -- but we are here to work and we want more hearings than we've been getting.
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Post by nappyloxs on Aug 23, 2020 21:45:37 GMT -5
I have received information that the telephone hearings will continue, at least, through March. Pixie More like no in-person hearings until March, at the earliest.  |
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