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Post by Pixie on Nov 12, 2024 16:49:14 GMT -5
"Worried About" doesn't equate to giving up a good job and moving into retirement. Pixie But for those of us who can retire but are still working because we enjoy the job, taking away our decisional independence and forcing us back into the office, is a strong motivator to retire. But, and this is a big but, that hasn't happened yet. Don't count your broken eggs until they hit the floor. Pixie |
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td37
Full Member
Posts: 43 
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Post by td37 on Nov 12, 2024 18:30:04 GMT -5
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Post by hopefalj on Nov 12, 2024 19:45:33 GMT -5
Yes, they had better get the hiring done now before it is too late. No, there won't be more retirements than usual in December, although December is the best month in which to retire. Pixie Why do you think there won't be more retirements than usual in December? I already see the current Biden management tightening the screws on ALJ independence. Why wouldn't the judges expect the tightening to get worse and decide to retire? Some of us are worried that management will decide to ignore the current AALJ collective bargaining agreement and make the union grieve everything. They’ve already decided this. My office hasn’t complied with the scheduling MOU since its inception. I’m not entirely sure what the union is doing about it other than collecting information about specific violations, but all I’ve gathered from management is that if they can’t find the right cases to comply with the scheduling MOU that they can simply violate it. Pretty great way to interpret a contract. |
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Post by redbird on Nov 15, 2024 0:02:49 GMT -5
My guess is no hiring of ALJS for a longtime. I think there will be a combination of big budget cuts and a hiring freeze. I don't think that subsides for at least 2-3 years. They will probably have to just start this whole process over at that point. I have nothing intelligent to add or say about the latest ALJ posting, other than, I guess, I’m just really disappointed. I’ve been at this a very long time, including spending a good deal of money to interview in the anti-climatic 2019 interviews. I feel like I keep applying yet the process changes and I start over or the process gets thwarted and I start over. Bleh. I know others here understand how I feel. |
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Post by jagvet on Nov 15, 2024 14:50:08 GMT -5
My guess is no hiring of ALJS for a longtime. I think there will be a combination of big budget cuts and a hiring freeze. I don't think that subsides for at least 2-3 years. They will probably have to just start this whole process over at that point. I have nothing intelligent to add or say about the latest ALJ posting, other than, I guess, I’m just really disappointed. I’ve been at this a very long time, including spending a good deal of money to interview in the anti-climatic 2019 interviews. I feel like I keep applying yet the process changes and I start over or the process gets thwarted and I start over. Bleh. I know others here understand how I feel. My dear friend: This crazy system has been around a long time. Don't get discouraged. Just plow ahead and ignore the negativity. Hang in there. "Never give up. Never surrender." |
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Post by badger on Nov 17, 2024 9:18:39 GMT -5
If hiring is still happening, I assume we'll hear about interviews this week. Wednesday would be the same timeline as the last cycle and it's hard to imagine getting in person interviews and hiring completed by mid-January if they wait any longer.
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Post by ssaogc on Nov 19, 2024 7:30:49 GMT -5
If hiring is still happening, I assume we'll hear about interviews this week. Wednesday would be the same timeline as the last cycle and it's hard to imagine getting in person interviews and hiring completed by mid-January if they wait any longer. Next week is Thanks giving and the usual holiday slow down begins. Setting up interviews before the new year would be difficult. You not only need the logistics of giving folks enough notice to travel as well as getting management ALJ panels together to conduct the interviews. Very hard to do during holiday season. with the commissioner resigning next week and with no budget hiring, if any, will take place under new administration in 2025. |
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Post by bafzzad on Nov 19, 2024 9:14:42 GMT -5
If hiring is still happening, I assume we'll hear about interviews this week. Wednesday would be the same timeline as the last cycle and it's hard to imagine getting in person interviews and hiring completed by mid-January if they wait any longer. Next week is Thanks giving and the usual holiday slow down begins. Setting up interviews before the new year would be difficult. You not only need the logistics of giving folks enough notice to travel as well as getting management ALJ panels together to conduct the interviews. Very hard to do during holiday season. with the commissioner resigning next week and with no budget hiring, if any, will take place under new administration in 2025. Not to mention calling references and completing background checks for those selectees who are new to USG. My read on the current POTUS is that he is enjoying his lame duck on his terms (mainly in the sphere of foreign policy), and that does not entail moving heaven and earth to get in eleventh-hour SSA ALJ appointments. I would not expect the incoming administration to continue a hiring announcement under the previous administration. At the very least, it would be reissued so that the people this administration wants in, who may not have applied under the previous administration, can have their opportunity to apply. (Although I think it more likely that no hiring at all will take place.) All in all, the hiring announcement of October 2024 is almost certainly DOA. |
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Post by neufenland on Nov 19, 2024 10:00:39 GMT -5
Next week is Thanks giving and the usual holiday slow down begins. Setting up interviews before the new year would be difficult. You not only need the logistics of giving folks enough notice to travel as well as getting management ALJ panels together to conduct the interviews. Very hard to do during holiday season. with the commissioner resigning next week and with no budget hiring, if any, will take place under new administration in 2025. Not to mention calling references and completing background checks for those selectees who are new to USG. My read on the current POTUS is that he is enjoying his lame duck on his terms (mainly in the sphere of foreign policy), and that does not entail moving heaven and earth to get in eleventh-hour SSA ALJ appointments. I would not expect the incoming administration to continue a hiring announcement under the previous administration. At the very least, it would be reissued so that the people this administration wants in, who may not have applied under the previous administration, can have their opportunity to apply. (Although I think it more likely that no hiring at all will take place.) All in all, the hiring announcement of October 2024 is almost certainly DOA. If this is the case, and it very well may be, one has to ask why the announcement was published in the first instance. It’s not like this outcome was unforeseeable throughout the last year of campaigning. |
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Post by hillsarealive on Nov 19, 2024 10:03:29 GMT -5
Seems misguided to solicit applications when hiring is contingent on a coinflip election occurring in less than a month. But I appreciate that there is a reason for everything, however senseless it might seem, and the process is ultimately indifferent, not cruel.
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Post by judgedjbj on Nov 19, 2024 10:37:41 GMT -5
Will be interesting to see if they go through with the hiring for the DOL ALJ position.
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Post by neufenland on Nov 19, 2024 11:26:08 GMT -5
Will be interesting to see if they go through with the hiring for the DOL ALJ position. They are committed to getting those two positions filled before 1/20. Doesn’t mean a wrench can’t be tossed in the gears, of course. |
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Post by jagvet on Nov 19, 2024 13:28:39 GMT -5
Seems misguided to solicit applications when hiring is contingent on a coinflip election occurring in less than a month. But I appreciate that there is a reason for everything, however senseless it might seem, and the process is ultimately indifferent, not cruel. I don't understand this at all. We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption. It could stop over budget considerations, but I have not heard anything in this campaign season that would support the conspiracies some have promoted. Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs? The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs. |
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Post by neufenland on Nov 19, 2024 13:40:45 GMT -5
Seems misguided to solicit applications when hiring is contingent on a coinflip election occurring in less than a month. But I appreciate that there is a reason for everything, however senseless it might seem, and the process is ultimately indifferent, not cruel. I don't understand this at all. We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption. It could stop over budget considerations, but I have not heard anything in this campaign season that would support the conspiracies some have promoted. Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs? The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs. There was definitely a federal hiring freeze in 2017, and I think most of us imagine that there will be one again. |
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Post by prescient on Nov 19, 2024 14:35:44 GMT -5
Seems misguided to solicit applications when hiring is contingent on a coinflip election occurring in less than a month. But I appreciate that there is a reason for everything, however senseless it might seem, and the process is ultimately indifferent, not cruel. I don't understand this at all. We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption. It could stop over budget considerations, but I have not heard anything in this campaign season that would support the conspiracies some have promoted. Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs? The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs. But it’s not nearly the same situation now as in 2016. We didn’t have a made up “agency” whose sole purpose is to make federal employees lives miserable. “Make us feel pain” or fire 75% of us. I would love to be proven wrong, but it feels very, very different this time |
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Post by jagvet on Nov 19, 2024 15:53:59 GMT -5
I don't understand this at all. We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption. It could stop over budget considerations, but I have not heard anything in this campaign season that would support the conspiracies some have promoted. Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs? The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs. There was definitely a federal hiring freeze in 2017, and I think most of us imagine that there will be one again. You are correct. There was originally a 1/23/17 freeze. After a few weeks, however, SSA was given an exemption, and the freeze was lifted for it. ODAR resumed the hiring of staff, including ALJs, from existing rosters. The rest of the freeze was lifted later. federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/2017/03/opm-grants-3-hiring-freeze-exemptions/ |
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Post by hillsarealive on Nov 19, 2024 15:54:25 GMT -5
Seems misguided to solicit applications when hiring is contingent on a coinflip election occurring in less than a month. But I appreciate that there is a reason for everything, however senseless it might seem, and the process is ultimately indifferent, not cruel. I don't understand this at all. We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption. It could stop over budget considerations, but I have not heard anything in this campaign season that would support the conspiracies some have promoted. Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs? The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs. I'm happy to explain. If I'm reading the room correctly, many people think there won't be ALJ hiring in the near future because the next administration is on record as wanting to shrink the federal workforce. There's no secret conspiracy or sinister plot. Now you can ask yourself whether the worries about RIFs and hiring freezes are overblown or not. The truth is that none of us know what will happen. So it's a question of assigning probabilities to various outcomes and planning accordingly. Hope for the best and expect the worst, right? |
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Post by jagvet on Nov 19, 2024 15:57:01 GMT -5
I agree that there will be an effort to shrink the federal workforce. The idea that there is some secret plan to REPLACE the existing ALJs with cronies is just not supported.
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Post by Thomas fka Lance on Nov 19, 2024 17:53:08 GMT -5
"We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption....Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs."
In 2016 the 100+ members of October/November class were hired prior to the election, (actually offers were accepted prior to the end of the fiscal year, in September), hires were not made at the time around the election or shortly afterwards, nor during a change in Administration. Those election results and the upcoming change in Administration occurred while the new ALJs were in their initial ALJ training.
Once the change in Administration occurred, a hiring freeze was implemented in early 2017. While SSA was eventually exempted that does not mean hiring occurred at a replacement rate. Offices were empty long before COVID because people who retired or quit, could not be replaced.
Current concerns appear to be based on accurate recollections of the situation during that time frame.
Without a Commissioner, or Deputy Commissioner, to approve the hires the chances become even less likely..
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Post by ssaogc on Nov 19, 2024 18:53:57 GMT -5
"We had the same situation in 2016-17, and the hiring process continued unabated through the Obama-Trump transition without interruption....Has anyone here actually seen anything during the campaign about SSA ALJs The same predictions were made eight years ago and nothing happened. I think the real factor is a possible budget freeze, not some sinister plot to replace ALJs." In 2016 the 100+ members of October/November class were hired prior to the election, (actually offers were accepted prior to the end of the fiscal year, in September), hires were not made at the time around the election or shortly afterwards, nor during a change in Administration. The election results and the upcoming change in Administration occurred while the new ALJs were in their initial ALJ training. Once the change in Administration occurred, a hiring freeze was implemented in early 2017. Current concerns appear to be based on accurate recollections of the situation during that time frame. Without a Commissioner, or Deputy Commissioner, to approve the hires the chances become even less likely They cannot hire because the agency will not have a senate confirmed COSS after next week and the senate confirmed deputy position is vacant. Any ALJ hiring will have to happen after new appointments are made by the incoming administration (senate confirmed or recess appointments) |
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