Working as a DW at an NCAC

[Deleted]

Any DWs on here with experience working at an NCAC?  What is the structure?  Are they comparable to a regular office?  Thanks.

[seaprongs]

Jul 20, 2023 18:04:13 GMT -5 @lancelotlink said:

Any DWs on here with experience working at an NCAC?  What is the structure?  Are they comparable to a regular office?  Thanks.

So I don't have direct experience in an NCAC, but I can give you a sense office structure. It's similar to a traditional hearing office with some minor tweaks in structure.

A traditional hearing office services a specific geographic location i.e. a hearing office in Des Moines might serve that city and surrounding areas. ALJs hold hearings for that area, make the decision, and write instructions. DWs get assigned a case (usually from a Group Supervisor, who they report to directly) and basically write for every ALJ in the office as decisions come available for writing. They become very familiar with the medical record structure or the major healthcare providers, the arguments/objections certain reps make, and any specific rulings or ARs that apply to the region.

A National Hearing Center is sort of like the triage unit for offices that have a backlog of hearings that need to be held. It's an office with ALJs who exclusively do video hearings. When a geographic area has a backlog of cases, they connect to those areas and hold hearings with claimants who do not opt out of video hearings. Typically, each ALJ supervises 2 attorneys. DWs will sometimes review files in advance and then write decisions exclusively for that one ALJ. So the work can be slightly different than a traditional hearing office, and the supervisor is an ALJ rather than a Group Supervisor, which means that DWs will "customize" decisions to the ALJ's preferences. (This does not typically happen in a traditional hearing office where attorneys are writing for all judges.)

The NCAC is the triage unit for offices that don't have enough attorneys to write decisions. Maybe an office has a lot of ALJs, but they don't have enough attorneys to write all the decisions. Those extra decisions are shipped to the NCAC or RCAC, Regional Case Assistance Center. So, you are writing for various ALJs all over the country as needed. I believe DWs in the NCAC also report to a group Supervisor. You will write cases from all over the country, so you'll become very familiar with ARs (basically situations where SSA handles their policies differently in a specific geographic area based on federal court precedent in that circuit).

I have not worked in the NCAC or RCAC, so I will let others chime in on whether they loved it or hated it, but the decision writing aspect of the job is the same in all 3 places with some minor tweaks to office structure.

[mercury]

The biggest difference working at an NCAC is that you’ll likely not write for the same ALJ more than a couple times. You won’t have the opportunity to develop as many personal connections and training is more limited. However, there could be more promotional opportunities if you’re a good DW.

[catlaw]

I work at an NCAC and I would agree with first two replies. If by regular office you mean a regular OHO hearing office, they perform all the same duties. The biggest difference is you do not write for the same pool of judges and do not interact with judges other than through email, though I've received an occasional skype call from a judge. I like the set up, as you can focus totally on writing decisions. The only person you really interact with is your GS, so if you get along with your GS your work life will be pleasant and stress free, albeit somewhat repetitive. The supervisors at my office have been really good at shielding us from judges who are persnickety and request rewrites due to stylistic preferences or trivial matters, which I really appreciate. Pre-pandemic NCAC writers got 4 days of work from home, whereas hearing office writers got 3, though I kind of doubt we'll go back to the office anytime in the near future. Overall, I have been very pleased with my NCAC experience, but if you like having a variety of tasks and frequent interaction with others it might not be the best place for you.

[jimmy224]

Jul 20, 2023 18:04:13 GMT -5 @lancelotlink said:

Any DWs on here with experience working at an NCAC?  What is the structure?  Are they comparable to a regular office?  Thanks.

I think the decision writing is going to be fairly similar (i.e, get instructions from ALJ and type up a decision). Not sure if the decision goes through more layers of review at the Ncac though. For example, group supervisor might review the decision at the Ncac before giving it back to alj as opposed to just giving the draft decision back to the alj right away and communicating with Alj directly. We do other things beside writing decisions in my office, like pre hearing reviews and Covid enhanced outreaches to claimants. Not sure if the Ncac is doing that kind of work at the moment. It can be helpful to have a variety of work especially if writing gets low.

[bemanprada]

I’ve worked at an NCAC and an NHC. As for NCAC, once you are off review (meaning your decisions are no longer reviewed prior to submission to the ALJ for review) it’s a solitary/independent gig, which I appreciated. That said, from my experience I suspect the NCAC workload isn’t strictly “overload” and that the HO GJs (or whomever it is that route cases to the NCAC) selectively send the NCACs cases from those ALJs who don’t understand the law, refuse to provide adequate instructions, etc., in order to preserve the metrics of the DWs in their office.