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Post by arkstfan on Aug 16, 2023 21:35:59 GMT -5
As an "insider" I am surprised at how different this job feels versus what I thought it would feel like/be like. I don't think this is a bad thing, I am very excited, just a lot to consider and take into account with this job. It is an interesting transition. I had a similar take, that the job was different from what I expected. Harder but satisfying. |
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Post by prescient on Aug 17, 2023 7:30:29 GMT -5
One thing I do have to say about this small class of 33 hires. Their resumes are impressive. Definitely a very elite cadre hired this go around. When I got FOADed in 2013 and 2016 I was like “Damn it. Why won’t they hire me?” Today I’m like “Damn, how did they manage to hire me?” Yep. Even though the quantity of insiders is much less this round, the quality is vastly superior to the 2022 class. There are 2 absolute super stars, as well as more than a handful of excellent others. Id recommend befriending them and adding them to your contact list asap Best advice I can give is to find whoever in your office is the most experienced and form a strong working relationship. Once you get the hang of the job, the vast majority of cases will be fairly routine. But for those complicated cases whether it’s procedural or substantive, having an in house person to assist will be invaluable. |
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Post by FrogEsq on Aug 17, 2023 11:06:49 GMT -5
To the Honorable newbies: As you may or may not have learned, a Vocational Expert will usually be available at your hearings. You will rely upon them to discuss work in the national economy. In between hearings, *ask a VE how long it takes to learn how to be an average performing judge.
Relax- this is year 1
*FYI-that's the SVP
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Post by rmspringfield on Aug 17, 2023 11:52:29 GMT -5
To the Honorable newbies: As you may or may not have learned, a Vocational Expert will usually be available at your hearings. You will rely upon them to discuss work in the national economy. In between hearings, *ask a VE how long it takes to learn how to be an average performing judge. Relax- this is year 1 *FYI-that's the SVP I actually know the answer to this. An attorney has an SVP 8 per the DOT. A judge has an SVP of 9. So congratulations class of 2023. We’ve gone up an SVP level! |
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Post by garlow on Aug 17, 2023 20:37:08 GMT -5
how so? I would assume if they ask for 25 or 35 whatever hearing slots, you have to provide those on actual work days even if it means altering your schedule, so "days off" are academic as they don't proportionally reduce your workload, just the days you have to do it So let's use MLK day as an example. If you like many judges have hearings on Tuesday and Thursday with the intent to use Monday to prepare for hearings now you can't prepare on Monday. You can work on the long weekend or work it in the Friday before but both of those solutions create stress. The goal here is to avoid unnecessary stress. Options that don't create additional stress include not having hearing on Tuesday, scheduling Tuesday hearings for Friday that week, starting late on Tuesday so that you can prep in the morning, etc. Your hearing calendar is yours to control within the confines of the contract. You should avoid unnecessary stress in your calendar because there will be more than enough necessary stress. One important thing to keep in mind is the goal is approximately 600 hearings a fiscal year. So don't focus on how many hearings you get in a specific month and instead focus on working towards the total number of hearings necessary for you to meet your goals. So I take that to mean the laptop literally won't let us log in on federal holidays? Ugh, that's annoying, as is the 10pm login limit. I'm more of a night owl so I wish they'd extend to midnight or whatever. But as to the original thread questions: I have no regrets thus far. I assumed going in that it would be "a lot," and I was right. So there is definitely reduced flexibility compared to my old job. I'm still learning all the hats we wear at hearings, and the quotas will be tough at full load... it will all take some getting used to. And learning the 5 step process as an outsider is a lot to digest. But I think it will be fulfilling and keep me engaged once I know what I'm doing. I went into it with the mentality that this will be a challenging but eventually rewarding adventure, not necessarily a "sweet gig," and so far it is the former. And I kind of feel like I'm in judge boot camp, most of my day is eating sleeping, and drinking all the content and VODs and SHOP... trying to give myself a crash course in all this stuff, re-reading modules until my head hurts and it sort of starts to make sense... and then re-reading it the next day because I forgot what the weird rule was. So its definitely a bit stressful because our october hearings will come faster that we think. but I'm still happy about the decision. |
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Post by johnthornton on Aug 18, 2023 6:14:23 GMT -5
So let's use MLK day as an example. If you like many judges have hearings on Tuesday and Thursday with the intent to use Monday to prepare for hearings now you can't prepare on Monday. You can work on the long weekend or work it in the Friday before but both of those solutions create stress. The goal here is to avoid unnecessary stress. Options that don't create additional stress include not having hearing on Tuesday, scheduling Tuesday hearings for Friday that week, starting late on Tuesday so that you can prep in the morning, etc. Your hearing calendar is yours to control within the confines of the contract. You should avoid unnecessary stress in your calendar because there will be more than enough necessary stress. One important thing to keep in mind is the goal is approximately 600 hearings a fiscal year. So don't focus on how many hearings you get in a specific month and instead focus on working towards the total number of hearings necessary for you to meet your goals. So I take that to mean the laptop literally won't let us log in on federal holidays? Ugh, that's annoying, as is the 10pm login limit. I'm more of a night owl so I wish they'd extend to midnight or whatever. But as to the original thread questions: I have no regrets thus far. I assumed going in that it would be "a lot," and I was right. So there is definitely reduced flexibility compared to my old job. I'm still learning all the hats we wear at hearings, and the quotas will be tough at full load... it will all take some getting used to. And learning the 5 step process as an outsider is a lot to digest. But I think it will be fulfilling and keep me engaged once I know what I'm doing. I went into it with the mentality that this will be a challenging but eventually rewarding adventure, not necessarily a "sweet gig," and so far it is the former. And I kind of feel like I'm in judge boot camp, most of my day is eating sleeping, and drinking all the content and VODs and SHOP... trying to give myself a crash course in all this stuff, re-reading modules until my head hurts and it sort of starts to make sense... and then re-reading it the next day because I forgot what the weird rule was. So its definitely a bit stressful because our october hearings will come faster that we think. but I'm still happy about the decision. Don't worry about the quota. Worry about handling each case as well as you can. Do the extra development. Schedule the medical experts. Order the CEs that DDS didn't because they wanted to rush the denial out the door. Don't schedule more than you believe you can handle. Management will bang the drum about the rolling fifty and the quota. Ignore them. Fun fact: I checked this morning to see how many Judges were on pace to meet the goal of 500 dispositions. How many? 16 out of 1268. |
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Post by february on Aug 18, 2023 7:57:50 GMT -5
As for working on federal holidays—please just don’t.
We periodically get stern reminders not to work on federal holidays, so from that I presume it is possible to log in and work, and that someone got caught doing so.
It’s actually illegal to work on a federal holiday. It violates the Anti-Deficiency Act, and the agency could get into quite a bit of hot water if it knowingly permitted non-essential employees to work these days.
More fundamentally, federal holidays are one of the great perks of being a federal employee! Embrace this! Use the day to volunteer, or take care of projects around your house, or take your kids/grandkids/neighbor’s kids to a museum, or just lounge around reading a good book. The work isn’t going anywhere. Everything will still be waiting for you when the office reopens.
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Post by johnthornton on Aug 18, 2023 11:07:51 GMT -5
As for working on federal holidays—please just don’t. We periodically get stern reminders not to work on federal holidays, so from that I presume it is possible to log in and work, and that someone got caught doing so. It’s actually illegal to work on a federal holiday. It violates the Anti-Deficiency Act, and the agency could get into quite a bit of hot water if it knowingly permitted non-essential employees to work these days. More fundamentally, federal holidays are one of the great perks of being a federal employee! Embrace this! Use the day to volunteer, or take care of projects around your house, or take your kids/grandkids/neighbor’s kids to a museum, or just lounge around reading a good book. The work isn’t going anywhere. Everything will still be waiting for you when the office reopens. Amen to that. I also smiled at this comment. "So I take that to mean the laptop literally won't let us log in on federal holidays? Ugh, that's annoying, as is the 10pm login limit. I'm more of a night owl so I wish they'd extend to midnight or whatever." Not too long ago, we couldn't log in until 6:30 am and we had to log out by 6:00 pm. The new work band of 5 am to 10 pm is only a year old. |
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Post by jagvet on Aug 18, 2023 11:25:06 GMT -5
I have been watching these newbie comments and the sage advice of long-timers with amusement. The crunch, I have found, is not nights, weekends and holidays. The crunch is last-minute document dumps, often enabled by a 5-day Evidence Acquisition letter. You simply cannot prepare for that by working nights, weekends and federal holidays, so don't waste your time. The key is to get several weeks ahead in hearing prep whenever you can. Look for missing or ignored development, missing or not scheduled MEs when you have specifically requested them, and unnoticed rep withdrawals. Deal with those as soon as you see them. They are ambushes waiting to grab you.
Do a quick review the day before your hearings to make sure there are no last-minute problems, so you can reschedule hearings, rather than waste everyone's time (like claimant dies, or still no ME, or claimant sent to wrong hearing office). When you have down time (which you will), get your ALPOs and EDITs done to keep the numbers down and the cases moving.
Don't get an ME unless you really need one. Some judges almost always have MEs, even when the medical issues are not complex. Make sure there is no VE on a true child case (where the kid is still young). Non-dibs are crazy cases. Often the paperwork is confusing, but the "claimant" will lay out the story at the hearing, so don't overprepare those cases. You can always figure it out at the hearing and then try to see what it means afterward. A staffer with field office experience (if you have one), can review if you really need to dive in.
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Post by jagvet on Aug 18, 2023 11:33:22 GMT -5
One more piece of advice: Kaiser. If you have a case that has records from Kaiser Permanente, learn how to speed-read those documents. A Kaiser toenail appointment might be 100 pages. Why? Because Kaiser sticks every e-mail chain and patient notice in the file. Here's what I mean: Patient: Doc, Are you in the office tomorrow? I would like to come in.
Doc: No. I'm out playing golf. How's Tuesday? Patient: Doc, Are you in the office tomorrow? I would like to come in.
Patient: Tuesday's not good. I have a canasta tournament. Doc: No. I'm out playing golf. How's Tuesday? Patient: Doc, Are you in the office tomorrow? I would like to come in.
Doc: I love canasta. Didn't know you played. What's your best score? Patient: Tuesday's not good. I have a canasta tournament. Doc: No. I'm out playing golf. How's Tuesday? Patient: Doc, Are you in the office tomorrow? I would like to come in. Ad infinitum. I have not included all of the email boilerplate, privacy warnings and time stamps. |
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Post by arkstfan on Aug 18, 2023 22:58:15 GMT -5
As for working on federal holidays—please just don’t. We periodically get stern reminders not to work on federal holidays, so from that I presume it is possible to log in and work, and that someone got caught doing so. It’s actually illegal to work on a federal holiday. It violates the Anti-Deficiency Act, and the agency could get into quite a bit of hot water if it knowingly permitted non-essential employees to work these days. More fundamentally, federal holidays are one of the great perks of being a federal employee! Embrace this! Use the day to volunteer, or take care of projects around your house, or take your kids/grandkids/neighbor’s kids to a museum, or just lounge around reading a good book. The work isn’t going anywhere. Everything will still be waiting for you when the office reopens. Put more simply. If you are going to work private sector hours, go get a job that compensates for that. The Federal compensation package is a decent pension, 5% match on retirement savings, roughly 3/4ths of your health insurance premium, 11 paid holidays, 2 hours of sick leave per week worked, 2-4 hours of annual leave for each week worked, walking out the door or shutting down the laptop at end of tour and not having to think about work until the next work day. The new ALJ contract adds about 5 hours a day to available work period. The firm 8 hour work day unless on alternate work schedule is gone. If someone wants to log their 80 hours over 7 days instead of 10 more power to ya. But work more than 80 hours in two weeks and you already have 24 hours of credit banked, there is no extra pay, no bonus, no gold star, in fact more likely to get friendly advice from the HOCALJ to stop doing that rather than get praise. I don't understand people WANTING to turn down part of the compensation package by working holidays or extra hours. |
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Post by Pixie on Aug 19, 2023 8:03:05 GMT -5
For those of us coming in from outside the federal government, the idea of a 40 hour week is an alien concept. Having worked whatever it took to get the job done all of my career, there was no way I could pack up and go home at the end of 8 hours. There was still work to be done.
Sure, if I left early, the work would still be there tomorrow, but so would another 8 to 9 hours of its brothers and sisters. Eventually, I learned ways to increase my efficiency and quit spending so much time in the office. I have discussed two of these methods below.
There is one category a judge should avoid like the plague, and that is ALPO. That is the category in which a case is placed after the hearing is over, but no decision has been made. Always make a decision and write the decision notes before leaving the hearing room at the end of the day. I actually do it immediately after the hearing and before the next hearing starts.
If a case has to go out for a CE, I still write the decision notes as an unfavorable with a caveat that if the CE finds xyz, then it will be a favorable. Why unfavorable? Because if there were enough there for a favorable, I wouldn't send out for the CE.
The biggest time suck is having to review a case for the second time. Any time a case goes out for development, the probability is that there will be a second file review because we will have forgotten the details by the time we get it back. The way I avoid this is to write my decision notes at the end of the hearing with a note as to what the development might show. That way there is no need to review the case file, but only to look a my decision notes and the new records, if any, that have been submitted. Because of my notes, I know exactly what I am looking for.
So, to condense:
* Never use ALPO.
* Always write decision notes immediately after the hearing.
Follow these rules, and you will be well on your way to leaving the office at the end of an 8 to 9 hour day. Pixie
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Post by judgechamberlain on Aug 19, 2023 10:30:57 GMT -5
I apologize for jumping in as an IJ and a former private practitioner who remembers working Far more than 40 hours a week. I just wanted to say that Pixie’s post is outstanding advice. It applies to us as well- try to finish as much as possible in one hearing slot, to a decision if at all possible, and the job is a manageable one. Pile up the reserved decisions or continue hearings, and look out for exponentially multiplying the workload by having to listen to hearings all over again and do all of the prep work.
Sorry again to intrude. This advice just applies to us as well I wanted to thank you for providing it, Pixie.
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Post by Gaidin on Aug 19, 2023 11:30:42 GMT -5
Put more simply. If you are going to work private sector hours, go get a job that compensates for that. I don't know why anyone would jump through all the hoops to get this job to work like they're still in a private practice setting. No one who says "This is the best job I ever had." Is also saying I wish they let me work on Federal Holidays. It is entirely possible to meet TPTB's arbitrary metrics without giving them free work. Sometimes you give them credit hours so you can turn around and take an afternoon off to go to the lake. But you really don't need to work for free. Don't let years of a bad work/life balance make you miserable in this job too. |
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Post by hopefalj on Aug 19, 2023 11:43:21 GMT -5
For those of us coming in from outside the federal government, the idea of a 40 hour week is an alien concept. Having worked whatever it took to get the job done all of my career, there was no way I could pack up and go home at the end of 8 hours. There was still work to be done. Sure, if I left early, the work would still be there tomorrow, but so would another 8 to 9 hours of its brothers and sisters. Eventually, I learned ways to increase my efficiency and quit spending so much time in the office. I have discussed two of these methods below. There is one category a judge should avoid like the plague, and that is ALPO. That is the category in which a case is placed after the hearing is over, but no decision has been made. Always make a decision and write the decision notes before leaving the hearing room at the end of the day. I actually do it immediately after the hearing and before the next hearing starts. If a case has to go out for a CE, I still write the decision notes as an unfavorable with a caveat that if the CE finds xyz, then it will be a favorable. Why unfavorable? Because if there were enough there for a favorable, I wouldn't send out for the CE. The biggest time suck is having to review a case for the second time. Any time a case goes out for development, the probability is that there will be a second file review because we will have forgotten the details by the time we get it back. The way I avoid this is to write my decision notes at the end of the hearing with a note as to what the development might show. That way there is no need to review the case file, but only to look a my decision notes and the new records, if any, that have been submitted. Because of my notes, I know exactly what I am looking for. So, to condense: * Never use ALPO. * Always write decision notes immediately after the hearing. Follow these rules, and you will be well on your way to leaving the office at the end of an 8 to 9 hour day. Pixie I think this is great advice and should be followed if able, but in my office, this is largely impossible to do consistently. I’m curious about what you do with cases that were in POST once any post-hearing evidence/issues are resolved if those aren’t being moved to ALPO. That’s where 90% of my ALPO cases come from, and regardless of how many times I ask to have the policy changed, our legal assistants batch dump 5+ cases from POST rather than regularly checking them. Certainly I could go through POST myself if I had the time, but I’m too busy doing other legal assistant work and DW work to add another duty to my list. I try to have all decision instructions written by end of day, but my hearing days often run longer than they should due to technical issues, our interpreter services dropping multiple times, etc. I have to waste time responding to why a case may have been in ALPO 31 days when I have 25+ in UNWR, many of which have been there since early May. This job is relatively easy if you only have to do your job. When you’re having to regularly add LA and DW duties to your workload that is getting delayed because of the poor resources you are being provided, it can be hard to keep up, IMO. |
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Post by Pixie on Aug 19, 2023 13:15:59 GMT -5
For those of us coming in from outside the federal government, the idea of a 40 hour week is an alien concept. Having worked whatever it took to get the job done all of my career, there was no way I could pack up and go home at the end of 8 hours. There was still work to be done. Sure, if I left early, the work would still be there tomorrow, but so would another 8 to 9 hours of its brothers and sisters. Eventually, I learned ways to increase my efficiency and quit spending so much time in the office. I have discussed two of these methods below. There is one category a judge should avoid like the plague, and that is ALPO. That is the category in which a case is placed after the hearing is over, but no decision has been made. Always make a decision and write the decision notes before leaving the hearing room at the end of the day. I actually do it immediately after the hearing and before the next hearing starts. If a case has to go out for a CE, I still write the decision notes as an unfavorable with a caveat that if the CE finds xyz, then it will be a favorable. Why unfavorable? Because if there were enough there for a favorable, I wouldn't send out for the CE. The biggest time suck is having to review a case for the second time. Any time a case goes out for development, the probability is that there will be a second file review because we will have forgotten the details by the time we get it back. The way I avoid this is to write my decision notes at the end of the hearing with a note as to what the development might show. That way there is no need to review the case file, but only to look a my decision notes and the new records, if any, that have been submitted. Because of my notes, I know exactly what I am looking for. So, to condense: * Never use ALPO. * Always write decision notes immediately after the hearing. Follow these rules, and you will be well on your way to leaving the office at the end of an 8 to 9 hour day. Pixie I think this is great advice and should be followed if able, but in my office, this is largely impossible to do consistently. I’m curious about what you do with cases that were in POST once any post-hearing evidence/issues are resolved if those aren’t being moved to ALPO. That’s where 90% of my ALPO cases come from, and regardless of how many times I ask to have the policy changed, our legal assistants batch dump 5+ cases from POST rather than regularly checking them. Certainly I could go through POST myself if I had the time, but I’m too busy doing other legal assistant work and DW work to add another duty to my list. I try to have all decision instructions written by end of day, but my hearing days often run longer than they should due to technical issues, our interpreter services dropping multiple times, etc. I have to waste time responding to why a case may have been in ALPO 31 days when I have 25+ in UNWR, many of which have been there since early May. This job is relatively easy if you only have to do your job. When you’re having to regularly add LA and DW duties to your workload that is getting delayed because of the poor resources you are being provided, it can be hard to keep up, IMO. Your comments point out the differences between a well run office, one that isn't well run and the affect it can have on a judge who has to deal with what he is given. In our office, batch dumping is out. When a case comes back from Post, it goes to ALPO. I have several "first" things I do each morning, but one of my first is to check my statuses. When I see an ALPO, it is dealt with immediately. Only takes a few minutes because I have my decision notes already written. It is moved on to unwritten, and I move on to something else more productive. If your management team cannot, or will not, eliminate batch dumping, there isn't much you can do about it. Just as there is nothing you can do about being slammed with decisions in Edit the last day (or last hour) of the reporting period. As hard as I have tried, I have been unable to eliminate that necessary evil. What I have learned to do is to keep the last Friday of the reporting period open, knowing the DW will slam me on that day. Back when we had paper files, the DW would delight in waiting for me to leave my office for a few minutes. Then they would scurry like large rats into and out of my office, dropping off decisions to be edited in the process. Upon my return 4 minutes later, I would have a stack of files where there had been none before I left. I just learned to laugh at their scurrying and deal with it. I think the worst is when the writers slam us with decisions and the clerks slam us with ALPO late in the afternoon on the last Friday of the month. That's when I put an end to batch dumping ALPO. The clerks have learned to change the status as soon as the CEs (or other development) come in. Pixie |
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Post by jagvet on Aug 20, 2023 12:39:37 GMT -5
It's sometimes impossible to get instructions done after a hearing, because one ran late, etc. etc., but I always try to at least put a preliminary determination in DWI. If it's going POST, I might say, "Looks UNF Step 4, but wait for POST MER." That said, I get lots of ALPO dumps from POST from certain staff, and Friday afternoon EDITs (usually after I have signed out).
That said, I agree that whenever possible, do full instructions and toggle "Complete" after the hearing and then when it shows up in ALPO, the DWI is greyed and you can move immediately to UNWR. If you have no POST, but don't have time to finish instructions, at least summarize in the top of ALPO (e.g., "FFAV Meets 4.02A" or "UNF, but see if SGA or Step 5"). That way, it won't draw a blank when you go back to it.
On those rare occasions when I am all caught up, I cruise my POST cases. I always find cases languishing there for no good reason. Remind the staff of what has to be done. I rarely will move a case myself from POST to ALPO (like when MER came in or the CE is done and proffered). Usually, I ask the staff responsible to do it, so they know they messed up (although I do not chastise--I'll just say, "In XXXXXX case, I saw that all MER is in. Please move to ALPO"). I will close development and move it myself if staffer is on long-term leave or if it's a critical case.
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Post by ssaogc on Aug 20, 2023 16:01:28 GMT -5
Your Legal assistant (LA) can either ruin your process or help you succeed. They rotate them every few months. There are some offices where certain ALJs get preferred treatment by management and the wealth (better LAs) are not spread around. I currently have a LA that is slow……. It takes them longer than it should to move cases out of hearing status to the appropriate status. I do not know why they do not allow ALJs to move the case after the hearing right to UNWR or POST. The slowness also impacts VE call orders in HACPS and then I get emails to sign these orders ASAP.
I schedule 45 min hearings but if I am going to pay a case I only hold the hearing to get the past work qualified (DDS) is bad at qualifying it and VE testimony and I will be done in 15 minutes. If that is the case then I write instructions for that case and any other cases I heard. My goal is no instructions outstanding at end of day. ALPO, I dislike it but sometimes I put cases in there. Especially the ones where NTSC go out. I monitor the days myself because my LA is SLOW…and it will be weeks before the case gets moved if I leave it up to them. I always strive for single digits in ALPO status. Cases in EDIT get reviewed and signed the day they drop in that status. I see some judges with 25 plus cases in EDIT and management floods all judges with E-mails pleading to move cases out of EDIT.
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Post by shoocat on Aug 21, 2023 14:57:32 GMT -5
My prep was largely my decision instructions. I noted opinions and evaluated them, did an analysis based on review---in other words made a decision based on my review with all the relevant instruction sections completed, subject to possible post-hearing change.
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Post by barkley on Aug 21, 2023 21:01:11 GMT -5
I have never - literally never - had an ME at a hearing. I figure it is my job to decide whether the evidence matches Social Security's standard for disability. However, there have been 5 or 6 cases where I have sent interrogatories to an ME because the MER was beyond my ken. I had once needed a Pediatric respiratory specialist determine whether a listing was equalled. I had another child's case where the Listing for a particular hearing problem referred to a test that was obsolete and no longer used, so I had to ask for a call about whether the tests we had equalled a listing. And I have had a couple vision field listing cases and who can read those test results? My point - you do not have to have an ME at the hearing, you can get help later if you really, really need it.
Also, when I first started, I had a wise mentor tell me - Do not order a CE unless you need it to pay a case. If the evidence is not there and your gut is telling you to deny, just deny it; a CE can muck things up. I order CEs typically when there is objective testing necessary to pay. I had one guy, former coal miner, 62, and could barely walk across the room. He just looked frail, and seemed credible in his testimony, but there was no evidence. I asked the CE for hip and knee X-rays - the guy had severe arthritis of the knees and avascular necrosis of the hips. An obvious pay, but just needed real documentation. I will also order a CE in order to get IQ testing and achievement testing. That being said, I order less than a dozen CEs a year.
The above POST suggestions are great, except I would add, do your instructions for cases that go into post. Sometimes, nothing comes in and you are good to go. A lot of times, "new" evidence does not change anything.
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