GAO report on SSA ALJ expectations

[nylawyer]

Didn't see this posted elsewhere; if it was, by all means delete the thread.

www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-341

[lurkerbelow]

In 2007, the agency set an expectation—which SSA reported was based on trend data and some regional managers' input—for judges to issue 500-700 dispositions (decisions and dismissals) each year, and the extent to which they have met this expectation has varied over time. SSA did not document the expectation-setting process in 2007, nor has it formally reviewed the expectation since.

I think that says it all.  In the full report, the Office of the Commissioner's responses are on page 58 of the electronic doc, page 53 of the actual report.

[hamster]

Thank you for posting! My weekend reading!

[superalj]

I read about it in an email from the ALJs “In this together”. I strongly agree as the files are huge and not evenly distributed. An ALJ in MN, CA or even KY will have 1500 page files as the norm while down south the files are generally 200-300 pages and I’m talking F section.

This is a little off topic but not sure what I make of the emails from the new ALJ group. I find them informative but this is my home base to blog. The union has been patting themselves on the back, but well deserved after eating crow for four years. I would rather have them eliminate that rule allowing AC judges to hear cases, bring OPM back into hiring process and most importantly get us a good contract than continuing to tout their arbitration wins.

In the end, 500 cases in Minnesota (largest records I’ve ever seen) is far more difficult than 500 in Mississippi.

[Ace Midnight]

While the volume of medical records is certainly a factor in how much time a case will require for pre-hearing preparation, I would be hesitant to use it as the sole or even prime factor in evaluating how difficult/time-consuming a case will be.

Likewise, I would also hesitate about making broad generalizations about how difficult/how easy my colleagues in other offices/regions have it.

In my own limited experience, I find the number of opinions start to amplify the difficulty of a case after you identify 3 or 4 conflicting/contradictory opinions with the treatment evidence being, likewise, all over the place with regards to consistency with such opinions. Another metric is the number of substantive (obviously not "No MER received") exhibits in the F section. If I have 400 pages of essentially medication orders and lab results in a single exhibit, I would rate that as easier to review than, say, 22 exhibits of 16 or so pages with dense objective examination findings, MRI reports, operative reports and so forth.

But, that's just my 2 cents and probably not worth that. As always, your mileage may vary.

[hamster]

In actuality, the “expectations” are mandates. If you don’t issue enough dispositions or schedule enough hearings, you don’t get to telework. Pre-pandemic, that was the Agency’s rule. Period. The Union fought it in a few instances and won, but many ALJs simply resigned themselves to complying with the mandates—even if they believed them to be wrong, unreasonable, or counterproductive. Other ALJs simply resigned themselves to not being able to telework.

I am a good, hardworking ALJ in my own estimation. Management may or may not agree with that assessment. However, long ago I resigned myself to not being able to telework. I met the Agency’s mandate of 500 or more dispositions in the first full year I was an ALJ. In the many years since, I have not. And you know what? Several martinet HOCALJs have threatened in passing to give me scheduling orders. They have fumed. They have fulminated. They have whined. Yet…they have done nothing. They have been full of insincere hot air. Pure BS. In all these years, I have never received a scheduling order. Not a one.

So, if an ALJ is willing not to telework, the Agency appears to only wring its hands and do nothing. I believe this has been the case for years. Consequently, I daresay that most or all ALJs can ignore the Agency’s productivity “expectations” with impunity. The Agency is nothing but a big bully, a paper tiger, a blowhard.

YMMV. Respectfully, Hamster

[tripper]

But if you need to telework because you haven’t received a transfer back to your home office, you have no choice. I would do a much better job at preparing for hearings and writing instructions if I had a little fewer hearings. But I can not lose my TW.

[arkstfan]

Jun 18, 2021 14:59:16 GMT -5 superalj said:

I read about it in an email from the ALJs “In this together”. I strongly agree as the files are huge and not evenly distributed. An ALJ in MN, CA or even KY will have 1500 page files as the norm while down south the files are generally 200-300 pages and I’m talking F section.

This is a little off topic but not sure what I make of the emails from the new ALJ group. I find them informative but this is my home base to blog. The union has been patting themselves on the back, but well deserved after eating crow for four years. I would rather have them eliminate that rule allowing AC judges to hear cases, bring OPM back into hiring process and most importantly get us a good contract than continuing to tout their arbitration wins.

In the end, 500 cases in Minnesota (largest records I’ve ever seen) is far more difficult than 500 in Mississippi.

Before the Affordable Care Act it was not that unusual to see a file with zero treatment records just a CE exam, maybe two. That was unusual but not rare enough that you’d go tell a fellow judge you ain’t gonna believe this.

When I started I did hearings in two states. In one state there was a decent charitable health system for physical impairments through the university medical school system but access to mental health treatment was rare. In the other there was no organized charitable health system just a scattering of clinics run by church groups or other charities with a wide variety of care. While a CT and x-rays tended to be available in the first state in the second x-rays read by the clinic doctor was as sophisticated as it got and many didn’t have that, but there was a really good community mental health system. Now I only cover the second state except for occasional work load balancing but it’s a Medicaid expansion state. Now you get more than an ER visit or CE only cases for non-mental health issues.

One month pre-Medicaid expansion I had 100 cases between mine and covering for a colleague I was mentally beat to hell and racked up some decent credit hours but could do it, just not sustain it. I routinely scheduled 60 per month. Since I’ve had to scale back and was at 50 when the pandemic started and prepping 50 was harder than prepping 60 because of file growth.

[superalj]

Jun 18, 2021 22:33:45 GMT -5 hamster said:

In actuality, the “expectations” are mandates. If you don’t issue enough dispositions or schedule enough hearings, you don’t get to telework. Pre-pandemic, that was the Agency’s rule. Period. The Union fought it in a few instances and won, but many ALJs simply resigned themselves to complying with the mandates—even if they believed them to be wrong, unreasonable, or counterproductive. Other ALJs simply resigned themselves to not being able to telework.

I am a good, hardworking ALJ in my own estimation. Management may or may not agree with that assessment. However, long ago I resigned myself to not being able to telework. I met the Agency’s mandate of 500 or more dispositions in the first full year I was an ALJ. In the many years since, I have not. And you know what? Several martinet HOCALJs have threatened in passing to give me scheduling orders. They have fumed. They have fulminated. They have whined. Yet…they have done nothing. They have been full of insincere hot air. Pure BS. In all these years, I have never received a scheduling order. Not a one.

So, if an ALJ is willing not to telework, the Agency appears to only wring its hands and do nothing. I believe this has been the case for years. Consequently, I daresay that most or all ALJs can ignore the Agency’s productivity “expectations” with impunity. The Agency is nothing but a big bully, a paper tiger, a blowhard.

YMMV. Respectfully, Hamster

Give those HOCALJs heck Hamster but don’t let your cases become seriously delinquent as that would be poking the tiger even more!

[hamster]

I do. I won’t. But I’m not worried about the tiger. I care about the claimants. Whether favorable or not, they deserve to hear as soon as practicable.

Be well!

H.

[roggenbier]

A man once wore the face of an ALJ in other places and for other kings. The man observed that that they were much busier than the face a man now wears. So, a man wonders, what would be the count for the honorable sacrifice to the old Gods and the New.

[x]

Agree this works at 400 dispositions per year.

However, decide 200 a year and you will be under a very strong microscope.

[nylawyer]

Upon review and reflection, I don't know how meaningful this will be.

I fear that SSA will meet the both recommendations by simply saying that since over 80% of ALJs met the expectation in 2019 (the last non-pandemic year), clearly the expectations are reasonable.

And then if in the future a majority of ALJs in a non pandemic year are not meeting expectations- they will convene a group of HOCALJs and high producing ALJs to determine if there has been a significant change that caused productivity to dip such that expectations should be changed, or if instead it is just a blip that should be discounted.

[ba]

Jun 21, 2021 18:12:05 GMT -5 nylawyer said:

Upon review and reflection, I don't know how meaningful this will be.

I fear that SSA will meet the both recommendations by simply saying that since over 80% of ALJs met the expectation in 2019 (the last non-pandemic year), clearly the expectations are reasonable.

And then if in the future a majority of ALJs in a non pandemic year are not meeting expectations- they will convene a group of HOCALJs and high producing ALJs to determine if there has been a significant change that caused productivity to dip such that expectations should be changed, or if instead it is just a blip that should be discounted.

The year we had a writing backlog that led to a bunch of backlog decisions at the beginning of the year coming through. That year was an anomaly with more than the usual number of dispositions per judge.

[thumper]

And let's not forget how many tens of thousands of hours ALJs "donated" to meet the arbitrary requirements. I would like to hear a top level bureaucrat explain how it is reasonable that a second-year ALJ with one year of Federal seniority and a second-year ALJ with 15 years of Federal service are expected to produce the same number of dispositions despite a 2.5 week disparity in the amount of annual leave they are owed.