RFSee
New Member
Posts: 2 
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Post by RFSee on Jul 10, 2021 18:14:00 GMT -5
Let him keep working and just stop paying him.  |
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Post by rightspeech on Jul 10, 2021 18:17:11 GMT -5
What does this mean with regards to new ALJ hiring? Will new leadership use the Register? New ALJ hiring is LONG overdue. They should use the Register. Register is dead never to see the light of day again, you gotta get over that. I wouldn't expect ALJ hiring for years. Apps are way down and not coming back. Unemployment is low and employers are desperate for low skill workers all while wages for low skill jobs are rising rapidly. Employers are gonna have to take people with medical problems. Apps aren't coming back until the next recession, even when offices reopen. |
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Post by ssaogc on Jul 10, 2021 19:01:25 GMT -5
What does this mean with regards to new ALJ hiring? Will new leadership use the Register? New ALJ hiring is LONG overdue. They should use the Register. Register is dead never to see the light of day again, you gotta get over that. I wouldn't expect ALJ hiring for years. Apps are way down and not coming back. Unemployment is low and employers are desperate for low skill workers all while wages for low skill jobs are rising rapidly. Employers are gonna have to take people with medical problems. Apps aren't coming back until the next recession, even when offices reopen. There are some who believe there is a major bubble in the market and real estate that is going to pop in the near future. |
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Post by TigerLaw on Jul 10, 2021 20:14:08 GMT -5
Pixie, maybe merge the threads. I have to say, I find the general tone of jubilation to be a little off. The expectation of 500-700 dispos annually; the attempts to reduce telework; the elimination of the OPM competitive process. All of these preceeded Saul (and Trump). I think it is way too soon to expect anything different in the near future, with one huge exception- I would expect the negotiations with the unions to be more productive. (If only because the unions now have a club to wield). "I would expect the negotiations with the unions to be more productive." And hence the general tone of jubilation!  |
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Post by Deo Volente on Jul 10, 2021 20:35:34 GMT -5
bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ13Here is OHO rankings: 389 out of 410. Leadership scores are abysmal. If this was a DWPI or an ALJ’s remand agree rate, scheduling, dispo ranking, they would be on the hot seat. The Effective Leadership: Senior Leaders is lower than the guys who just got canned!!!! I am not anti-Gruber, but the FEVS and Rankings speak for themselves. They are going to touting the “numbers” to new acting Commish, but how could OHO be so productive with this poor of leadership unless they skew the “numbers” to their favor. # of hearings scheduled during Covid means little since how many cases were scheduled 3+ times. Decrease in pending over last 2-3 years means little since the end of prototype states shifted 100,000s+ cases to DDS. Ditto for decrease in APT, etc…. I don’t think there will be a change up top, but looks like there should be. Otherwise what is the point of the FEVS or these rankings. I probably wouldn’t be as anti-TG if she had any clue about the adjudication process, effective hearing office operation, or anything related to hearings at all. It’s been demonstrated time and time again to not be the case. Trying to cram an operations-type plan onto a purportedly independent hearing process without any actual knowledge or information about the hearing process has been a recipe for disaster. I know that you know this, but for anyone thinking a change at CALJ is going to make a difference, it won’t. Until there’s a change in the mindset of Baltimore, there will always be yes men/women/people to fill the roles at HQ and who will kowtow to those in Baltimore by signing bullsh*t affidavits and the like. Falls Church isn’t going to be staffed with anyone other than those who will only ask “How high?” when Baltimore says to jump. |
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Post by Deo Volente on Jul 10, 2021 20:38:05 GMT -5
SSA needs more ALJ hiring now. It has been years and is overdue. 80-100 positions like before. Agreed....there has been a lot of attrition but no replacements. But with filings down and the backlog mostly gone, who knows.... |
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 10, 2021 22:07:41 GMT -5
I don’t expect the change to be dramatic or earth shaking.
All I’m hoping for is a management team that at least puts on the pretense of not hating me, and a management team that doesn’t hate me solely because I’m employed by the government.
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Post by roymcavoy on Jul 10, 2021 23:29:24 GMT -5
What does this mean with regards to new ALJ hiring? Will new leadership use the Register? New ALJ hiring is LONG overdue. They should use the Register. Register is dead never to see the light of day again, you gotta get over that. I wouldn't expect ALJ hiring for years. Apps are way down and not coming back. Unemployment is low and employers are desperate for low skill workers all while wages for low skill jobs are rising rapidly. Employers are gonna have to take people with medical problems. Apps aren't coming back until the next recession, even when offices reopen. This might be true in a static market. But a market where disability apps have been suppressed by ongoing unemployment benefits is not static. It’s the definition of chaotic. It’s now been 4y since a hire. The eradication of the backlog built a time buffer, but there is not currently an SSA mechanism to hire ALJs. What’s more, there are ongoing depleted numbers of ALJs—remember that the 2020 SSA budget relied on 1320 ALJs: we are passed that number. And the email from the ALJ Union seemingly indicates that some offices currently need butts in seats. Thus, ANY increase in applications will likely result in a backlog of cases. Which will eventually result in a large hire. A bureaucracy is seldom forward thinking—it’s conservatively reactionary. The swing between no hires for 4y and an immediate need for ALJs with no mechanism to do so creating a large backlog—that pendulum swing is chaotic |
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Post by rightspeech on Jul 11, 2021 12:38:50 GMT -5
ssaogc I'm not saying Jeremy Grantham is wrong but one could just as easily post a video from Cathie Wood talking about how we are at the beginning of the next roaring 20s due to unprecedented innovation only accelerated by the pandemic. It's a battle of the experts situation, pick your poison. @roy I think you're right about a reactionary bureaucracy so there won't being an onus for a large ALJ hire until there is a massive backlog like in 2014, which won't happen for awhile. That doesn't change the fact that the register is never coming back no administration would give up hiring control. SSA always hated the register under every administration and they hire 90%+ of new ALJs. Also, not sure what type of mechanism you would be looking for. There's not gonna be like some sort of published process for ALJ hiring. They're just gonna collect resumes, conduct interviews, and hire who they like just like any other job.
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Post by Pixie on Jul 11, 2021 14:24:08 GMT -5
ssaogc I'm not saying Jeremy Grantham is wrong but one could just as easily post a video from Cathie Wood talking about how we are at the beginning of the next roaring 20s due to unprecedented innovation only accelerated by the pandemic. It's a battle of the experts situation, pick your poison. @roy I think you're right about a reactionary bureaucracy so there won't being an onus for a large ALJ hire until there is a massive backlog like in 2014, which won't happen for awhile. That doesn't change the fact that the register is never coming back no administration would give up hiring control. SSA always hated the register under every administration and they hire 90%+ of new ALJs. Also, not sure what type of mechanism you would be looking for. There's not gonna be like some sort of published process for ALJ hiring. They're just gonna collect resumes, conduct interviews, and hire who they like just like any other job. I think this is as close to the new model as anything we will see. SSA wants to stay as far from the OPM process as possible. Unless forced to resume that process, no reason for them to do so. Pixie |
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Post by fowlfinder on Jul 11, 2021 22:30:13 GMT -5
SSA needs more ALJ hiring now. It has been years and is overdue. 80-100 positions like before. Agreed....there has been a lot of attrition but no replacements. But with filings down and the backlog mostly gone, who knows.... The 2022 HHS budget is up for house committee markup to tomorrow and full consideration on Wednesday I believe. The budget had allocation for some alj hiring prior to the end of fy2022. I suspect what ever happens in the budgetary process will give a better insight in whether hiring is likely to occur. |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 11, 2021 23:16:42 GMT -5
Anyone who thought that Saul/Black made any major changes are just wrong. The bureaucracy owns SSA, and it owned the commissioners through several regimes. Tell me why no-shows can't be easily dismissed? Why can claimants "demand" in-person hearings? Why did Saul not make Appeals Council have a strict harmless-error standard? And on and on. Y'all may be singing "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead," but the Witch is quite alive and well, thank you. And Saul was merely one of many feckless politicals almost powerless to impose a president's will on an agency. David Black was even worse. He always sought to please the establishment career management people in every government job he ever had.
Admit that the only reason you might celebrate Saul's departure is because you don't like the president who appointed him. Now, if Biden appoints someone who actually confronts the career people, there might be some change, but that won't happen. It will be a Democratic Andrew Saul.
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Post by mercury on Jul 11, 2021 23:20:11 GMT -5
Anyone who thought that Saul/Black made any major changes are just wrong. The bureaucracy owns SSA, and it owned the commissioners through several regimes. Tell me why no-shows can't be easily dismissed? Why can claimants "demand" in-person hearings? Why did Saul not make Appeals Council have a strict harmless-error standard? And on and on. Y'all may be singing "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead," but the Witch is quite alive and well, thank you. And Saul was merely one of many feckless politicals almost powerless to impose a president's will on an agency. David Black was even worse. He always sought to please the establishment career management people in every government job he ever had. Admit that the only reason you might celebrate Saul's departure is because you don't like the president who appointed him. Now, if Biden appoints someone who actually confronts the career people, there might be some change, but that won't happen. It will be a Democratic Andrew Saul. Some of us didn’t like Saul because he blasted telework without evidence while logging in from his New York home. Others didn’t like him because of his relationship with the Unions. Perhaps there are perspectives other than those to which you ascribe to everyone else. |
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Post by nappyloxs on Jul 11, 2021 23:23:59 GMT -5
bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ13Here is OHO rankings: 389 out of 410. Leadership scores are abysmal. If this was a DWPI or an ALJ’s remand agree rate, scheduling, dispo ranking, they would be on the hot seat. The Effective Leadership: Senior Leaders is lower than the guys who just got canned!!!! I am not anti-Gruber, but the FEVS and Rankings speak for themselves. They are going to touting the “numbers” to new acting Commish, but how could OHO be so productive with this poor of leadership unless they skew the “numbers” to their favor. # of hearings scheduled during Covid means little since how many cases were scheduled 3+ times. Decrease in pending over last 2-3 years means little since the end of prototype states shifted 100,000s+ cases to DDS. Ditto for decrease in APT, etc…. I don’t think there will be a change up top, but looks like there should be. Otherwise what is the point of the FEVS or these rankings. I probably wouldn’t be as anti-TG if she had any clue about the adjudication process, effective hearing office operation, or anything related to hearings at all. It’s been demonstrated time and time again to not be the case. Trying to cram an operations-type plan onto a purportedly independent hearing process without any actual knowledge or information about the hearing process has been a recipe for disaster. I know that you know this, but for anyone thinking a change at CALJ is going to make a difference, it won’t. Until there’s a change in the mindset of Baltimore, there will always be yes men/women/people to fill the roles at HQ and who will kowtow to those in Baltimore by signing bullsh*t affidavits and the like. Falls Church isn’t going to be staffed with anyone other than those who will only ask “How high?” when Baltimore says to jump. I couldn’t agree more with everything you wrote. |
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Post by nappyloxs on Jul 11, 2021 23:35:23 GMT -5
I don’t expect the change to be dramatic or earth shaking. All I’m hoping for is a management team that at least puts on the pretense of not hating me, and a management team that doesn’t hate me solely because I’m employed by the government. I am in management; how is it I feel the same way? |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 11, 2021 23:36:50 GMT -5
Anyone who thought that Saul/Black made any major changes are just wrong. The bureaucracy owns SSA, and it owned the commissioners through several regimes. Tell me why no-shows can't be easily dismissed? Why can claimants "demand" in-person hearings? Why did Saul not make Appeals Council have a strict harmless-error standard? And on and on. Y'all may be singing "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead," but the Witch is quite alive and well, thank you. And Saul was merely one of many feckless politicals almost powerless to impose a president's will on an agency. David Black was even worse. He always sought to please the establishment career management people in every government job he ever had. Admit that the only reason you might celebrate Saul's departure is because you don't like the president who appointed him. Now, if Biden appoints someone who actually confronts the career people, there might be some change, but that won't happen. It will be a Democratic Andrew Saul. Some of us didn’t like Saul because he blasted telework without evidence while logging in from his New York home. Others didn’t like him because of his relationship with the Unions. Perhaps there are perspectives other than those to which you ascribe to everyone else. I respect that people found Saul to be hypocritical on telework (I agree) and hostile to the unions (I also agree), but again, he was doing the bidding of those muckety-mucks who have been mucking up SSA for decades. Why did people have to work a whole year before being eligible for telework before Saul? In 2017, two years before Saul, the IG reviewed SSA telework policies. ALJs were able to telework up to eight days per month. This came from OCALJ, not acting commissioner. It was four years after negotiating telework agreements with the unions. Acting Commish was dragging her feet on the whole thing. Telework was revoked on any one of many trivial reasons. oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-04-17-50267.pdf |
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Post by arkstfan on Jul 12, 2021 10:24:46 GMT -5
I don’t expect the change to be dramatic or earth shaking. All I’m hoping for is a management team that at least puts on the pretense of not hating me, and a management team that doesn’t hate me solely because I’m employed by the government. I am in management; how is if I feel the same way? To clarify, local management is great to work with but it sure feels like Baltimore and Falls Church don’t like anyone in their chain of responsibility |
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Post by Prrple on Jul 12, 2021 10:36:08 GMT -5
What does this mean with regards to new ALJ hiring? Will new leadership use the Register? New ALJ hiring is LONG overdue. They should use the Register. I wouldn't expect ALJ hiring for years. Apps are way down and not coming back. Unemployment is low and employers are desperate for low skill workers all while wages for low skill jobs are rising rapidly. Employers are gonna have to take people with medical problems. Apps aren't coming back until the next recession, even when offices reopen. You're not wrong. The death of the register is hard to get over. Some people are still in shock/denial about it. Sure, it had been dealt a death blow in 2018, but there was hope the change of administration would matter. Then the executive order keeping ALJs out of competitive hiring threw dirt in the grave. Painful for those of us who had been holding on to that thin thread of hope.
This pandemic has shaken up the economy in ways that have been surprising, and the surprises are not over yet. The low app rate is going to let the agency not hire for a very long time.
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Post by mercury on Jul 13, 2021 22:54:39 GMT -5
Some of us didn’t like Saul because he blasted telework without evidence while logging in from his New York home. Others didn’t like him because of his relationship with the Unions. Perhaps there are perspectives other than those to which you ascribe to everyone else. I respect that people found Saul to be hypocritical on telework (I agree) and hostile to the unions (I also agree), but again, he was doing the bidding of those muckety-mucks who have been mucking up SSA for decades. Why did people have to work a whole year before being eligible for telework before Saul? In 2017, two years before Saul, the IG reviewed SSA telework policies. ALJs were able to telework up to eight days per month. This came from OCALJ, not acting commissioner. It was four years after negotiating telework agreements with the unions. Acting Commish was dragging her feet on the whole thing. Telework was revoked on any one of many trivial reasons. oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-04-17-50267.pdf With respect, it sounds like you’re moving the goalposts re: reasons people disliked Saul. To your substantive points, many agencies had telework waiting periods of a year. To my knowledge no one blamed that on Saul, nor did they the imposition of quotas, so that’s a straw man. Beyond that, I’m not an ALJ, just a wannabe, nor do I work at SSA anymore, so I’ll leave the rest for those more in the know. |
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Post by jagvet on Jul 14, 2021 0:36:57 GMT -5
I respect that people found Saul to be hypocritical on telework (I agree) and hostile to the unions (I also agree), but again, he was doing the bidding of those muckety-mucks who have been mucking up SSA for decades. Why did people have to work a whole year before being eligible for telework before Saul? In 2017, two years before Saul, the IG reviewed SSA telework policies. ALJs were able to telework up to eight days per month. This came from OCALJ, not acting commissioner. It was four years after negotiating telework agreements with the unions. Acting Commish was dragging her feet on the whole thing. Telework was revoked on any one of many trivial reasons. oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/pdf/A-04-17-50267.pdf With respect, it sounds like you’re moving the goalposts re: reasons people disliked Saul. To your substantive points, many agencies had telework waiting periods of a year. To my knowledge no one blamed that on Saul, nor did they the imposition of quotas, so that’s a straw man. Beyond that, I’m not an ALJ, just a wannabe, nor do I work at SSA anymore, so I’ll leave the rest for those more in the know. You made my point stronger. Saul was doing what other agencies were doing, and the IG audit was done two years before Saul became commissioner. OCALJ, the careerists, make OHO policy and the politicians take the blame. Like most careerists in management, they assume their subordinates take advantage of things like telework and resist it. Saul didn't set 500 hearings a year. Saul didn't start the humiliating paper timesheets or WEBTA. |
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