New Offices/Post on AALJ Board

[aljsouth]

This was a post on the AALJ board:

From the COSS's speech from Charles Hall's Blog:


"Two new NHCs will open: Albuquerque and Chicago.

There will be 5 new HOs [Hearing Offices]: Tallahassee, FL, Toepeka, KS, Mt. Pleasant, MI, Toledo, OH, and Atlanta (South), GA.

There will also be offices of some sort in Anchorage, AK and Boise, ID.

There will be “satellite offices” in Madison, WI, Sioux Falls, SD, and Rochester, NY."

SSA is on a continuing resolution. I doubt there will be any building of offices until a budget is passed. This will probably be in March. If money is available then new offices will be built.


The staffing of new offices is covered in our master contract with SSA. They are supposed to advertise the office and any ALJ who is interested can apply. All applicants will be deemed to have the same request date. ALJ's are to be chosen based on the tie breaker provisions of the transfer list provisions. OF COURSE the agency has violated this in the past.

SSA takes the position that "NHC" alj's are management positions. We will see if the agency follows the CBA if and when new regular offices are opened. I think it violated the provisions when Dover was opened and some sort of grievance was filed.



FROM ALJSOUTH: I note the coss also thought that there would be no new hires until Summer of 2009.

[hooligan]

Oct 18, 2008 9:27:44 GMT -5 aljsouth said:

The staffing of new offices is covered in our master contract with SSA. They are supposed to advertise the office and any ALJ who is interested can apply. All applicants will be deemed to have the same request date. ALJ's are to be chosen based on the tie breaker provisions of the transfer list provisions. OF COURSE the agency has violated this in the past. /quote]

The ALJ Union filed grievances over the selection process used to put judges in Dover and Colorado Springs.

The Union lost.

Management takes the position that they can choose the best qualified candidates for the new offices without reference to seniority and the provisions of the transfer list. It is not correct to say the agency has violated the contract provisions. The adverse decisions have not been appealed.

[sgl]

Oct 18, 2008 9:27:44 GMT -5 aljsouth said:

FROM ALJSOUTH: I note the coss also thought that there would be no new hires until Summer of 2009.

ALJ hires, or personnel of any kind?

[morgullord]

He was speaking of ALJs at the time...

[happy]

Okay -- based on the AALJ Newsletter, looks like the new offices may actually happen this year. Of course, who knows with a new President?

Still, I wonder how many sitting ALJs are interested in relocating to Topeka, Boise, and Mt. Pleasant. I know a number who would jump at Atlanta (South) and Tallahassee.

Any feedback?

[privateatty]

"Don't go mistaking Paradise for that home across the road." --Bob Dylan

One could declare paradisomo in Topeka or Boise...

Hey happy, good to see you!

[zero]

How many judges will there be in a new hearing office?

[morgullord]

Given the logistics involved in opening a new office, it has in the past taken two years or more to get one up and running. I would not expect to see any new offices open for business before the very end of 2009, at the earliest.

[jcse]

Whenever there is a decline in the economy, and the unemployment rate is high (the highest it's been in years now), disability applications tend to skyrocket. That is what led to ODAR's huge backlog in the mid-1990's. I would predict that has begun to happen again this year, which has in turn, necessitated the need for more ALJs and more offices..

[morgullord]

Baby-boomers moving into the Advanced Age bracket also pushes up the number of applications.

[ed]

Is there any way to find out where the ALJ's are needed. I am not with the agency and I am curious if any of my geographic picks actually need ALJs. I know Tampa does, but Charleston, Greenville and Columbia SC; Raleigh and Charlotte NC; Lexington, and Louisville, KY I do not know.

[zero]

Jan 15, 2009 9:18:38 GMT -5 ed said:

Is there any way to find out where the ALJ's are needed. I am not with the agency and I am curious if any of my geographic picks actually need ALJs. I know Tampa does, but Charleston, Greenville and Columbia SC; Raleigh and Charlotte NC; Lexington, and Louisville, KY I do not know.

If you find the answer to this question, please PM me. This is a bit of a holy grail for us outsiders.

[ed]

My guess is to follow the backlog, but where is that info kept?

[chieftain]

I think one of the biggest determining factors is the availability of office space. With the advent of video hearings, specific location of the ALJs is less important because they can all cover more ground

[valkyrie]

It does come down to office space primarily, organization, and support staff, to a lesser extent. An ODAR office is supposed to follow an organizational plan of a hearing office director with one group supervisor and one senior attorney adjudicator per four ALJs. There should be a minimum of at least two clerks available for each ALJ, sort of the same way budgets are supposed to be balanced. As a rule of thumb, there will be four or less ALJs per group supervisor in each office.

[lawcat]

With $900 million being requested by the Obama Administration for the SSA, do you think they will hire more ALJ's in 2009?

[morgullord]

Don't pop the cork on the champagne just yet. Look at the amount of increase over 2008, then back out the cost of pay raises for current employees, operations and programs costs, including 60,000 new computers and monitors, and the cost of acquiring and furnishing new office space for relocating offices and new offices.

ALJ retirements will be a bigger factor in hiring that budget increases.