tater
Full Member
Posts: 73 
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Post by tater on Sept 2, 2007 14:40:28 GMT -5
I am hearn that there are to be several new hearing offices created in the future. Does anyone know when and where?
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Post by workdrone on Sept 2, 2007 14:47:41 GMT -5
The most persistent rumor I heard is the creation of a central hearing office at Falls Church, VA with 100+ ALJs who'll conduct hearings on overflow cases via the use of video teleconferencing technology. Appearently VTC has been a success for HHS's Medicare hearing offices, so it looks like ODAR is going to copy them.
Regards,
Drone
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Post by learnedhand on Sept 2, 2007 15:57:26 GMT -5
That there will be a unit in Falls Church has been announced publicly. I doubt, however, that it will be as many as you suggest. A 12 judge office is quite large, so even if you are talking about a unit of 15 or 20 aljs, that will be huge and quite sufficient to deal with overflow.
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Post by workdrone on Sept 2, 2007 16:22:04 GMT -5
Very true. 15 judge office = about another 50-60 support staff on top of ALJs, so it is a large office. The 100+ judges in Falls Church I heard is just a rumor and I have no idea as to its validity. Hopefully the Falls Church office will work out well, since something needs to be done to help the field offices cut down the backlogs.
Regards,
Drone
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Post by chris on Sept 2, 2007 16:32:27 GMT -5
There is also a rumor floating about a new Florida office and an Alaska office as well as one or two others but I don't know the details.
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Post by cinderella on Sept 2, 2007 16:57:15 GMT -5
It seems that rumor's etiology stems from the old board. I seem to remember that someone came back from the AALJ annual meeting and said that an announcement had been made that 5 new hearing offices would be opened: Florida (2), Alabama(1), Michigan (1) and Alaska (1) (if I recall correctly). Not sure if we have any ALJs on here who would be able to substantiate that statement or not. Certainly when you run a list of average case processing times, we see some long waits in Region IV and Region VI. Of course there is no hearing office in Alaska, Idaho, Wyoming, and a few other states so I think the Seattle region takes care of them. However, with the alleged impending birth of a big centralized video hearing office- not sure if any of this is accurate.
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Post by odarite on Sept 2, 2007 18:10:44 GMT -5
Everything is still at the rumor stage. Expect a big announcement within the next couple weeks from the Commish, though, announcing several new hearing offices - at this time locations are still not firm and won't be until Astrue signs off on them. But remember, a new office is announced, from announcement to opening is going to be anywhere from 18-36 months.
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Post by oldtimer on Sept 3, 2007 6:31:53 GMT -5
I don't understand (other than to placate powerful individual members of Congress) why ODAR would be creating new hearing offices. Between the creation of the new video hearing office in D.C., the fact that every hearing office in the field has at least one video hearing room, that many existing offices already have enormous numbers of pending cases per ALJ, and that it's difficult, if not nearly impossible, to find judges willing to serve as HOCALJs, how is there any "logical" reason for ODAR to add new hearing offices in the field?
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Post by learnedhand on Sept 3, 2007 7:35:09 GMT -5
This is just my theory but it is that Astrue is paying lipservice to Congress' concerns by adding these, in a sense, paper fixes. He has "resurrected" the sr atty program, but it is a shadow of the former program and, with the quality control element, may end up with negative gains. Michigan and Florida are powerful election states and the other possible locations for new hearing offices may also provide some political advantage aside from actually helping the agency. Meanwhile some offices are functioning with practically skeleton crews in terms of staff so the backlog is rising in those locations. Instead of clerical staff which was needed in our office, we got stay-in-school hires and a receptionist, none of which are contributing in any meaningful way to lowering the backlog. Also, the essentially "virtual" unit in Falls Church also looks good on paper, but depending on how it is run, i.e. if admin heavy or if the equipment is not constantly kept in top notch shape, it could end up not performing real well either.
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Post by chris on Sept 3, 2007 9:32:26 GMT -5
I agree. This is a political decision. Logic has never been the guiding principle of the federal government or even most big corporations. Adding offices and adding staff (ALJs or otherwise) helps insulate mgmt from charges that they did nothing.
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Post by southerner on Sept 3, 2007 10:06:49 GMT -5
After the AALJ meeting and the regional ODAR mgt. meeting, the 5 offices ID's above were mentioned. The training for new ALJ's was to be 4 weeks, but they would commence with class in March and start in hearing offices in April.
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Post by oldtimer on Sept 3, 2007 13:16:35 GMT -5
I realize it's futile to try to understand these things (especially when they're still rumors), but 2 more offices in Florida?! Don't we already have offices in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville? What's left? Pensacola? Sarasota?
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Post by longhorn on Sept 3, 2007 14:25:11 GMT -5
I heard it was Tallahassee and Ft. Myers
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Post by Pixie on Sept 3, 2007 17:53:32 GMT -5
I asked around and determined that the last word on this idea, back in July, I think, was to have one each in Alaska, Ohio, Michigan, two in Florida and the central hearing unit in Falls Church. Initially they were talking of 100 or so judges in the central hearing office, but I believe that has been scaled back to no more than ten or so.
Many ideas are tossed about and planned, but fall short of implementation. This will probably be one on them, at least in the configuration I listed above. So, don't count on it. Pix.
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Post by hooligan on Sept 4, 2007 12:46:44 GMT -5
have one each in Alaska, Ohio, Michigan, two in Florida and the central hearing unit in Falls Church. Pix. That is the information that we got at the AALJ Conference, however, it appears that the Michigan office may actually be located in Ohio to service the Michigan area. One office would be in the Cleveland suburbs and the other in Toledo. |
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Post by nonamouse on Sept 5, 2007 11:29:42 GMT -5
I know someone who has been working on the start up in Falls Church, so I guess that office is going to pan out even if we don't have the actual numbers.
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Post by lamplighter on Sept 5, 2007 13:33:28 GMT -5
They've been talking about an office in Toledo for 20 years now. Will believe it when I see it
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Post by Pixie on Sept 5, 2007 15:09:35 GMT -5
Are you the same Nonamouse that was on the old board several years ago before Ben started the present one? If so, good to see you back. Pix.
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Post by nonamouse on Sept 5, 2007 15:49:30 GMT -5
Not the same mouse, but thanks for moderating a new board.
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