Ode on a Grecian Urn

[justfoundthisboard]

Since today is a holiday, I finally have the chance to post some of my thoughts on this Board. I’m one of the new ALJs. This Board was my lifeline during the hiring process.

I waited for years for the re-opening of the register. During that time, I focused on getting as much experience as I could (trial work, hearings before ALJs, appellate work, and experience with medical-legal issues) to qualify for a position as an SSA ALJ. Now that I have one, I have to say it is everything I had hoped for, and more. Much more!

I love this job, but the pressure to get as many cases out the door each month is daunting. I have been a litigator several times during my career, but in all my other jobs, at least I had a chance to breathe in between cases. At SSA, the work is never-ending. No matter how many dispositions you have in a month, Management will always wants more, and you will want to do more, because you know that each file represents a person who is desperate for help. Sometimes you can give them help, sometimes you can't. This job is also great if you want/need immediate feedback on your work.

The greatest drawback to this job is the lack of sufficient staff support. If we had the staff to really work up the files before and after the hearings, more cases could be done. But at least where I am located, and I believe in most ODAR offices, there just is not enough help. Work piles up. The "pulled" cases are in awful shape. You cannot just hand an assistant a file after a hearing, and ask them to follow up on something for you. In all of my other litigation positions, I could rely on a dedicated legal assistant. At SSA this just doesn't happen. Don’t get me wrong. I am talking about quantitative, not qualitative. The people we already have are absolutely wonderful, hard-working, and caring individuals. We just need more of them! They also need to be better paid and have more chances for promotion.

SSA Management seems to just hate ALJs. I don't know what happened, since I'm new to this agency, but until this mindset changes, nothing will be different. Perhaps that is the best reason of all to hire outsiders as well as insiders to be new ALJs. The insiders know so much already. I envy their knowledge and experience and I rely on them quite a bit. (Yay, Piragons!). But we outsiders also serve a purpose. Hopefully we can share ideas based on our prior experiences, and make this very difficult system better. Perhaps some of us will even become Management someday.

Finally, just a note to some of the wannabes. The SSA ALJ position is not for everyone. There is a lot of bureaucracy, and things may seem rote after awhile. It is certainly not a job for prima donnas. Nor is it (in my opinion) particularly intellectually challenging. If you want to do a lot of research and prepare detailed, analytical decisions, perhaps you should look elsewhere. Many other agencies hire off of the OPM register.

Best of luck to all those in the running. It really is the best job in the government. ;D

[deaddisco]

Some have called the SSA hearing system "retail justice." I think it's appropriate. The cases come to you in a non-stop assembly line fashion, each in a different condition when it comes to case prep and workup. When it comes to managing your docket, the goal is to find some type of order in the disorder.

If you like people, if you find people and their stories interesting, you will LOVE this job. If you are looking for a real district court or court of appeals type of position, this is NOT the job for you.

[southerner]

Hi JFTB and fellow Piragons!

Retail justice or traffic court justice, as I had heard described also, is not really fair. I, too, rue the unworked cases we come to see too frequently, but with the backlog and lack of full staff for the needs we have, including steadily increasing applications that are being filed, we move as quickly as we can with as much attention to detail as time permits. The whole process can be numbing if you let it get to you, but also challenging. You are dealing with matters that can impact people's lives significantly on a daily basis. I enjoy the work and the people with whom I serve. Especially, I enjoy the camaraderie with my fellow Piragons.

[zero]

"Management will always wants more, and you will want to do more, because you know that each file represents a person who is desperate for help. Sometimes you can give them help, sometimes you can't. This job is also great if you want/need immediate feedback on your work."

Should a judge focus on "helping" a class of litigants or reaching the right result?

[counselor95]

I, too, am a new ALJ and this job is the hardest one I have ever had. It's not the position itself; I have had several jobs with lots of responsibility. It's the numbers to be done. I find it is not difficult to make decisions, but I feel the responsibility of knowing the evidence before drawing conclusions. Each file represents a person who needs a decision, and I work way more than 40 hours a week to try to get those decisions ready to mail, writing half or more myself. Today's holiday is a welcome respite.

Agreed, the lack of support staff, both clerical and decisionwriting, is the worst aspect of the job. The agency ought to return to the model used years ago and now used in the NHCs, with support staff assigned and accountable to each judge. The agency could also do more to take advantage of the wealth of experiences brought by the new ALJs in finding better ways to accomplish our shared goal.

[justfoundthisboard]

As I said in my Ode, in my view, each file represents one human being. Not a class of litigants. The reason I feel that I can "help" some, and not others, is because only some of the applicants have the sufficient objective medical evidence to support a finding that they are disabled under SSA regulations. I don't "focus" on anything but the correct result under the law.

[carjack]

JFTB:

You can be most thankful that today is a 'holiday.' Those of us in pp get the option of work or starve with no paid time off. I spent today preppin a client for a trial that got bumped from tomorrow to next Monday, unless the criminal trial ahead of us goes forward in which case we get yet another date. I am lighting candles hoping to get in the next class of ALJs. I'd love to be a fed!!

[judicature]

As a new ALJ, I concur with JFTB and counselor95.

The job is not for the faint of heart, but it is an important job, and it has its rewards. If you have a heart for service, then you will find what you need at ODAR....

[buckeye]

Just came into the office and read JFTB's post. I wouldn't change a comma to relate my experience. I was in private practice for 30+ years (1/2 SS cases and 1/2 WC cases). I had given a pass at the old register, but was too late. I was in the April 08 class so I'm coming up on one year and really love the work. This is the first time I've ever worked for anyone other than myself so there was an adjustment to tasks such as signing in and other bureaucratic stuff. However, I can now enjoy the work without having to worry about covering payroll, paying the bills, returning phone calls, marketing, etc. Anyone who is surprised at the short staffing, backlog, pressure to get work out and all the other downers that are ODAR didn't do their due diligence. There are no surprises here. You really just have to keep a perspective about what can and can't be changed.
That said, back to work. I have to review cases for my docket tomorrow. Good luck to all that are in the process now. Reminds me of what my life was like just 12 months ago.

[zero]

Feb 16, 2009 20:34:18 GMT -5 justfoundthisboard said:

As I said in my Ode, in my view, each file represents one human being. Not a class of litigants. The reason I feel that I can "help" some, and not others, is because only some of the applicants have the sufficient objective medical evidence to support a finding that they are disabled under SSA regulations. I don't "focus" on anything but the correct result under the law.

If you have had to support yourself on minimum wage (as I have), then you remember how painful the social security tax is. Most social security tax is paid by people who really need the money. It takes a lot of maids and waitresses to pay for one SSA-approved disability. If I am lucky enough to be a judge, I will certainly try to find entitlement when warranted. But I'll never forget that being generous with other people's money might feel good, but isn't always the right thing to do.

[valkyrie]

"If you have had to support yourself on minimum wage (as I have), then you remember how painful the social security tax is. Most social security tax is paid by people who really need the money. It takes a lot of maids and waitresses to pay for one SSA-approved disability. If I am lucky enough to be a judge, I will certainly try to find entitlement when warranted. But I'll never forget that being generous with other people's money might feel good, but isn't always the right thing to do. "

I think JFTB is referring to three critical issues we see every day at ODAR. The first is the conservative bent of the DDS determinations that are being appealed. Some are terrible with little grasp of reality, while others reflect an incomplete, or brief medical record. Whether or not the determinations are excusable, many represent a travesty by the time they arrive at ODAR for adjudication. The second issue is the time factor. Many of the claimant's are seriously worn down by the time they get to their hearing and just want some kind of finality, paid or unpaid. I sympathize with these people who face the unhappy prospect of either living and working with a severe but not disabling illness/injury, facing the limited remaining life of an individual on disability, or finally, the total disaster of poverty/homelessness, etc. They just want to know which way they are going. The last aspect is the medical evidence of record. It is not unusual to find farm laborers who do not seek medical treatment for anything short of a severed artery, or other people that have not found any significant access to medical care. Many of the mentally disabled do not even realize that they are insane. Sometimes you can find the hints in the documentary evidence, and sometimes the claimant's show up at the hearing legitimately describing and exhibiting serious symptoms of psychosis without knowing it.

Anyway, the way I look at it, the laws and regulations of the Social Security Act pays people their benefits. The job at ODAR is to help the claimant's get a fair shake when they apply for their benefits in some of the ways described above.

[oldjag]

It is interesting to read the comments of new judges. My memory of those first 12 months is blessedly softened by more years than I care to remember. It does get easier with time and experience.

I find it wonderful that so many of you realize that the claimant's need our decision as soon as we can get it out--both the allowance and denials. Either they get benefits or they have an answer that they will not and can move on--whatever that may mean for them. As judges, management does not focus on what our decisions are so they have to focus on the only factor they can properly evaluate--numbers. It's good to see that not everyone is fixated on just sheer numbers but on the people they represent.

Please do continue to enjoy this job--even with many years behind me it is a rewarding experience.

[aljwannabe]

Wow, JFTB, I really "feel" your love for the job from your post. I was in your class of initial applicants for the job in '07. However, I am still in this waiting waste land hoping to get selected. Despite being an experienced, skilled adjudicator already, inexplicably, I scored low. As such, my status is uncertain. Part of me just wishes they would eliminate the existing register and just reopen the application process so I can try again. I am so frustrated with this process as I have no idea what portion of the test/interview I bombed. I hope to get the chance to do the job one day.

[southernmiss]

I think that Managment has a sour taste in its mouth for ALJs because of the behavior of some (many) of the long ago hired ALJs. They considered themselves inviolate because of the APA and the Bellmon (spell?) review, which was before 1980, and which basically said that management could not manage judges because it would violate the APA. Basically, I agree with that, but then, like in most cases, there were many who took advantage of it. I have known judges who put out 16 to 20 cases a month over their careers. Things are changing, and so are the attitudes of the judges. I do see a disturbing trend, though. It seems more judges are issuing favorable decisions. They add that the claimant should be re-evaluated in x months, but there is not enough money to do the initial cases, much less reveiws. These people will be on for a very long time, maybe forever.

For that matter, the decisions are changing, too. I used to write real decisions with arguments, couter-arguments and detailed analyses. Not any more. It is pretty much hit and run. For favorable decisions, it is not that important, but for denials, I would bet most of the decisions written nowadays could be remanded; there is no time for details.

And more bad news-as the economy suffers, more people apply for benefits. It is daunting.

[jcse]

Another great thing I don't think was mentioned above, is that most offices allow ALJs to work at home ("Flexiplace") several days a month.

[arlene25]

It is refreshing and heartening that you new aljs are being so dilligent and applying the law. What sticks in my craw day after day working for ODAR as an attorney is the sheer audacity of the ALJs in our office who really aren't doing their job. A couple pay everything on the record, which is just wrong. Some don't apply the law/regs and simply don't care enough to learn. And with the new efiles, many aren't reading everything and when I bring something to their attention, like drug use, earnings after onset, I get yelled at for daring to question them. The reason I want to be an alj is to do the job right and I am glad you are. The burnout factor is high though, more and more cases, more and more claimants in dire needs and management's attitude. Just be careful not to lose sight of your job duties.

[chieftain]

I have to say I'm thankful that my experience is different from Arlene25's. I went from outside to ODAR about 6 months ago. I have brought medical evidence to the attention of the ALJ on maybe 3-4 occasions, and only when their notes or instructions indicate that they may have missed something and again only when it could conceivably change the outcome of the case. Our ALJs have been gracious and appreciative about having things like that brought to their attention. My impression, though, is that they all work hard and try to do the right thing. Maybe it sounds a little Pollyanna, but I must have just landed in a really good office.

[alj]

Chieftain: I'm glad you made it to a good office. Most of the judges in my office are the same as in yours. We only have one who is a little "different," but he too wants his mistakes brought to his attention. As fast as TPTB want us to go through these cases, there are going to be misakes.

[justfoundthisboard]

Regarding Flexiplace for ALJs, new ALJs (at least those from outside SSA) are not permitted to work outside the office until one year on the job. Haven't figured that rule out yet. It really makes no sense to me.

[arlene25]

I think one's experience at ODAR very much depends on your office!!! A25