SSA Commissioner's statement: Hiring & Budget

[workdrone]

kingfisher said:

So I agree with Valard that it is logical they will do it again.

I concur as well, and it's pretty sad to see a train wreck coming down the road in slow motion.

[learnedhand]

What I recall is that Congress suggested to the Commissioner that a $400 million dollar budget increase was appropriate, but he came back with much less and somehow the compromise was $300 million increase. Congress has been very supportive of increasing the Social Security budget because of the backlog. Commissioner Astrue lowballed SSA's budget as part of President Bush's budget approach.

I have said before that the Commissioner is only trying to give lip service to Congress in terms of addressing the backlog. In fact he was almost cheerful when he commented that the backlog was likely to rise to 1 million cases. He is putting in place a paltry senior attorney program which, because of the logistics, is doomed to fail. He is starving the offices of staff. Our office is currently down 6 staff attorneys and innumerable clerical staff. We produced adequately (i.e. met our assigned goal) this year because people worked a lot of overtime, but now that is over so production is really going to drop. I think he has to hire at least some aljs to avoid the heavy wrath of Congress and it may be as many as 150, but it is going to be very difficult to function with so little staff. 92 additional staff, when you consider how many vacancies exist now in 141 offices, is a drop in the bucket. The social security disability program is very complex and there are many arcane rules. Without staff to work up cases to get proper histories and dates, you can look forward to many remands and amended decision requests from the service centers because things were missed the first time around. And the time spent dealing with those is time not spent on new claims.

Also, look for the unit in Falls Church to be set up like the Medicare units, with aljs being given a "supervisor" label so they are not under union protection. Then watch for APA violations left and right. Commissioner Astrue testified that Congress had tied management's hands when it created the APA and I think he is actively looking for ways around it.

[cinderella]

Of all things, there were actually a few interesting messages on the "old board" today about this topic. One of which referenced a possibility of "executive order" etc., in the potentially rapid hiring of ALJs. I'm not sure how valid the postings were, but they were thought provoking. It really does boil down to the money, doesn't it? That said, with everything going electronic, bench decisions, FITS templates, Reps submitted FF decisions per FITS, reduced requirements for work-up,(etc etc etc to quote Yul Brenner in "The King and I"), the New ALJs may very well have their hands full, with more duties and less staff. Possible? You bet. As an SA, I can review raw ("unworked") cases, "pull electronic or paper cases (i.e. "work up"), am expected to run all my own queries, order (and draft) my own ME interrogs or CE requests, (including running the invoices), and write paper or electronic decisions. I have absolutely NO clerical support whatsoever. Hard? yep. Impossible? Nope.

[learnedhand]

There will be no executive order in hiring. President Bush would like to see few, if any, employees at SSA. The only way we would see an increase is with a Congressional earmark expressly for aljs (and, hopfully, support staff) that could sustain a presidential veto.

And, Cinderella, for new aljs without program knowledge, reviewing raw files is going to be extremely difficult when a decision needs to be forthcoming. It will be a very frustrating job for essentially the first couple of years even with the help of staff attorneys and the clerical staff that is available.

[nonamouse]

learnedhand said:

And, Cinderella, for new aljs without program knowledge, reviewing raw files is going to be extremely difficult when a decision needs to be forthcoming. It will be a very frustrating job for essentially the first couple of years even with the help of staff attorneys and the clerical staff that is available.

I think that this is one reason that promoting current ODAR attorneys may look quite attractive to the agency. If I had to choose between an outside attorney who had no program knowledge or experience with the agency's quirky computer programs and an attorney with a diverse legal career and some agency experience, I know who I would choose.

I personally would take any brownie points given in ALJ selection for the likelihood that I could hit the ground running right after "training." After all, I already know how to screen files, run queries, work the computers, analyze the facts, find the correct law and quickly write a decision. I also have prior experience in presiding over hearings and efficiently questioning witnesses. We have a couple of newer ALJs who cannot do all of that even after a few years on the job.

[phoebe]

I agree with nonamouse--we have at least three ALJs who only can do disability claims b/c they don't know the other law i.e. retirement, overpayments, etc., can't or won't do their AVID codes, can't or won't review electronic files, can't run queries, and never seem to get the necessary info from the VE for their decision. I hope it helps that I can do all that! we'll see.

[chris]

I think learnedhand touched on Astrue's problem--he can't officially ask for more money because Bush doesn't want that approach. But Astrue still sees the problems he is dealing with and can still hint that he needs more money. I don't know why Bush would want to use an exective order to hire ALJs. It accomplishes nothing while it would give Bush a political problem.

[shadow]

I have no idea of the accuracy of this, but on Oct. 1, just a day before the Commissioner said SSA was hiring "up to" 150 ALJs, an ODAR source stated that ALJ hiring was being cut back to hiring 75 total - 25 in March, 25 in April, and 25 in May. Can anyone confirm or dispose of this rumor? Does it make sense in light of the COSS message the next day?

From this moment forward, I refuse to worry about [or believe] anything I hear about the ALJ hiring process - just kidding, I'm still worried.

[judicature]

shadow -

no info, but that would seem to draw out the training period - 3 different classes back to back to back.

[Pixie]

Having back to back classes is not good. It keeps the judges doing the training away from their offices for three straight months. That is frowned upon. Also exacts a heavy personal toll being away from home for three months.

As I have said before, I thought the 175 number in one year was optimistic. We will have to wait until the budget rolls into the glass palace before we know the real numbers. Pix.

[learnedhand]

Our goal is to hire enough ALJs to reach the 1,250 level in FY 2008.

I'm looking at the COSS extended written testimony put out in May 07. The above statement is a quote from the document. The number is obviously available, but does someone have the current number of aljs at his or her fingertips? Also is there a projected retire rate for FY '08?

[kingfisher]

learnedhand said:

Our goal is to hire enough ALJs to reach the 1,250 level in FY 2008.

I'm looking at the COSS extended written testimony put out in May 07. The above statement is a quote from the document. The number is obviously available, but does someone have the current number of aljs at his or her fingertips? Also is there a projected retire rate for FY '08?

According to the COSS, there are 1,082 ALJs at SSA. This testimony can be seen at www.ssa.gov/legislation/testimony_052307_addendum.htm

[learnedhand]

You're right. Sorry, it was right in front of me. Notice that he referred to adding 170 aljs at that time and indicated that each alj should ideally have 4 staff to function at capacity. Even with 150 aljs, that is 600 new staff projected as necessary.

[techgeek]

SSA does have a fiasco. Not enough staff and many of the newbies don't know squat about computers Hard to believe that in this day and age, we are hiring people that don't know outlook, word etc.. Having to teach staff to use FIT, DGS,EVIEW etc. So much for a techie to have to do to train people, even in basic Windows use.

To much emphasis is put on the Judge aspect of the ODAR equation and the agency only likes to talk about hiring more and paying them more. While they are no doubt part of the equation, there is no I in TEAM and that needs to be remembered. Support staff also makes the numbers happen.

And, the offices only have one tech to support everyone. Add the flexiplace laptop fiasco with needed manual patches, drap equipment failure, remote site problems, edib and everything else.Not only should the ODAR tech be paid a higher grade progression like 9/11/12 in the I.T. Category instead of the clerk category, they should truly designate a secondary position with a clerks workload/pay. The HOSA should be a 9/11/12 instead of a 5 - 9 clerks grade. That backup should be able to fill the shoes of the HOSA to give staff needed support when the HOSA is busy or not available and that grade should be a 5 - 9. ODAR does not appreciate those that keep the offices running.

ODAR is quickly becoming a nightmare for some people and those running the show think that just snapping their fingers and demanding will make us keep up the pace. To much change to fast, not well thought out. We are stuck in the action/reaction cart before the horse syndrome. Region throws more at us. We ask for more and better automation to make it happen. They say they don't have the staff to make it happen. This is where the emphasis needs to be. Get our software working to maximize our abilities and skills and we can produce more with less. But, all the software is not well thought out. Everything needs extra clicks, extra scrolling or doesn't have the best navigation choices for us or can only process on thing at a time instead of a batch ability.Not to mention server crashes, eview failures and CPMS slowdowns as well as untested patches that screw things up.
Regional and HQ tech mgmt should be hired from within the ranks of SSA tech staff when possible to better assist the local office techs.

[ruonthelist]

techgeek said:

Too much emphasis is put on the Judge aspect of the ODAR equation and the agency only likes to talk about hiring more and paying them more. While they are no doubt part of the equation, there is no I in TEAM and that needs to be remembered. Support staff also makes the numbers happen.

techgeek: You make a good point, and it illustrates how statistics, even if they accurately reflect reality, can distort one's perception of reality. The agency focuses on the statistic of dispositions per ALJ. I assume that it is accurate--they know how many dispositions they do per month or year and they know how many ALJs they have, and the math isn't hard. But even with accurate data they have allowed their perception of reality to be skewed.
First you measure dispositions per ALJ, then you make the causal leap of assuming that ALJs are the cause of dispositions, instead of being part of the system of people and equipment that create dispositions. Finally you end up, as the agency has in every recent hiring cycle and apparently is again, assuming that hiring ALJs will, by itself, mean proportionately more dispositions.
The truth is that ALJs need people to pull and write decisions, and all of those people need IT systems to work. And the dependence on HOSAs is only increasing as more functions are automated.

[techgeek]

I would like to ask the Judges to support the HOSAs movement to regrade and reclassify us. We are not classified in the I.T. field and are not graded as the I.T pros that we are. We support you every day. We ask that you let your chief judge and regional judges know that the HOSAs are doing a great job and they should be classified as I.T. Specialists or system specialists. Both are grade 11 or 11/12 positions. If possible, letters to mgmt would also help.

Our union is weak and really doesn't care about us. We are hoping your verbal/written support will help us get the recognition we deserve. We were left out during HPI and are still out in the cold. HELP US PLEASE!

Thank you.