Fwd: President's Newsletter

[Dick Goodwin]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zahm, Marilyn <Marily...@ssa.gov>
Date: Sat, May 12, 2018 at 12:02 PM
Subject: President's Newsletter
To:

 

May 12, 2018

 

PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER

Another Win in Arbitration

Arbitrator Michael de Grasse upheld the AALJ’s interpretation of the seniority clause in our contract (Article 22) in an award issued on May 10.  Judge Lil Richter, Designated Representative, and Judge Mary French, Region 9 Vice President, are credited with the win, as they presented the Union’s case on behalf of the judges in the Seattle Hearing Office.  Thank you, Lil and Mary.  The award will be posted on our web site.

Update on Termination of eBB

We have heard from over 200 ALJs who want the eBB features being removed on June 30 to remain.  We have made this known to the agency as well as that many eBB users strongly believe that removing these features will seriously affect their productivity and policy compliance. 

We have also reached out to the agency and we thank Associate Commissioner Joe Lopez for his willingness to engage in discussions with us to resolve the concerns of eBB users.  

We have achieved some success in that the agency is now going to bring back the “File Review Notes” feature, which allows ALJs to take individual notes by exhibit.  That feature will work just as it does in eBB now, with one exception - it will not push any questions into the claimant testimony script. 

The agency has refused to restore this script, as well as those for the opening statement, other witnesses testimony and ME testimony.  The agency is also refusing to restore the useful “links” feature that has a drop down menu for quick access to resources such as the SGA tables, Occubrowse, the listings, etc.… 

Agency management ordered development of a “minimally viable product.” Unfortunately, the agency did not consult with actual eBB users to ascertain which functions in eBB were valuable.  The agency instead simplified the software while complicating the adjudicatory process for eBB users.

Moreover, by the time CALJ Nagle issued his memo last week, the agency had already retained or restored most of eBB, including the ability to create narrative and function by function hypotheticals, the VE testimony script, the general notes functionality, the case information page, and the Case Information Summary or CIS.  Further, as I mentioned last week, ALJs who do not want these features can simply bypass them by going straight to DWI. 

We will continue to try and work with the agency to have these features restored as soon as possible.  Hopefully, it will realize the gravity of its mistake and do so. 

If you have any additional questions about the termination of eBB, or if you would like features added to DWI or the other parts of the agency’s new Case Analysis Tool, please send an email to Marty Pillion and he will compile and forward the information to the agency.   

Telework Arbitrations

Thanks go to Judge Janet McEneaney, Deputy Grievance Chair, and Judge Som Ramrup, Designated Representative, for their outstanding work this past work at an arbitration hearing in the New York Hearing Office.  This is the second arbitration this year regarding a judge having telework restricted for not scheduling an average of 50 hearings a month.

Judge Bill Ramsey, Region 1 Vice President, Judge Ramrup and I will be heading to New Haven this coming week to continue the arbitration hearing we started in March.  We have seven more arbitrations dealing with telework scheduled from now through October.

Changes to the Leave Regulations

The Office of Personnel Management has issued new regulations on the granting and recording of weather and safety leave for Federal employees, pursuant to the Administrative Leave Act of 2016.  They can be found in the Federal Register for April 10, 2018, beginning at page 15291, and are in effect as of May 10.  We have been advised by the Agency that SSA is not yet actually implementing the new concepts, as currently it is waiting for OPM to issue its clarifying guidance.  

Quiet Keyboards for the Drap Equipment

The Agency is rolling out the new quiet keyboards for the hearing rooms.  This is an issue that AALJ has been pushing to have the Agency implement and we are happy that it is doing so.

In Solidarity,

Marilyn Zahm

 

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[Dick Goodwin]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Zahm, Marilyn <Marily...@ssa.gov>
Date: Tue, May 22, 2018 at 2:30 PM
Subject: President's Newsletter
To:

 

May 22, 2018

 

PRESIDENT’S NEWSLETTER

New Streamlined Fully Favorable Template

Success – the Agency has completed its Updated Fully Favorable template, Marty Pillion has reviewed it, and it is good to go in our view.

The Agency is planning to pilot the template, but we are encouraging Chief Judge Nagle to release it to everyone on June 30^th so that we can start using it as soon as possible.

Judge Nagle has graciously agreed to consider expediting the process, so I’ll keep you informed.

We are so pleased that the collaboration between the Agency and AALJ has resulted in such a good product.

Background Investigations

The Agency has implemented the background investigation procedure without bargaining its impact and implementation with the AALJ.

I continue to hear from members who are spending five to six hours to complete the questionnaire and who must spend additional time and travel expense to obtain the required fingerprints.

I am speaking with the FLRA Board Agency today; he will want the names of witnesses who have undergone this process.  Please contact me right away if you are willing to give a statement.

Washington Post Story

Last week, the Washington Post published a story on the OIG’s Report on the high processing times of OHO’s Atlanta and New York Regions and SSA’s closure of field offices.  I was quoted in the article as citing inadequate staffing as the number one problem.  The story is reproduced at the end of this newsletter.

Lack of support staff is hampering our efforts to deal with the backlog.  Until we have sufficient staff, the agency should not be insisting on unrealistic scheduling numbers.

Removing Dues Deductions of HOCALJs and NHC Judges

As we all know, Judges move in and out of our bargaining unit  - from line judge to HOCALJ and back again and from regular hearing offices to the NHCs and back again.  Even if a Judge is not in the bargaining unit, the Judge can be an Associate Member by paying dues.  And, except for access to the grievance procedure and elections, the Associate Members benefit from all of the AALJ’s actions, such as the brief in the Lucia case, the gains under the CBA which management usually extends to HOCALJs, and the Congressional contacts to improve our conditions, to name a few.  We are lucky to have two former HOCALJs serving on the National Executive Board.

Up until last month, the Agency did not interfere with a Judge’s dues deduction status if the Judge was no longer in our bargaining unit, unless the Judge himself/herself requested that dues deductions cease. 

Now, in what appears to be an effort at reducing our capability to act on the ALJ Corps’ behalf, the Agency has stopped the dues deductions of all 69 HOCALJs, RCALJs, and NHC judges, removing all from membership in the AALJ.

If you have been removed from membership, we will be contacting you to complete an allotment form to restore your membership. 

Rotating Dismissals

During an arbitration hearing last week, I discovered that a Hearing Office was not rotating dismissal cases.  This is a violation of the Agency’s own policies as well as a violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.  No good has ever come from violating the law. I have advised the Chief Judge of the problem, but you may want to check with your HOCALJ to make sure that your office is rotating all dismissals.

75 Day Notices

Some offices are unable to send out the Notice of Hearing 75 days in advance and are resorting to untimely scheduling cases with unrepresented claimants – and including a waiver with the notice.  We are concerned that unrepresented claimants may not be making knowing waivers.  In addition, this adds to the Judge’s workload, as we now must keep track of whether the claimant has signed the waiver, and if the claimant actually understands what this means.

We request that managers follow the regulation and provide all unrepresented claimants with the full 75 day notice.

Telework Arbitrations

We continue to arbitrate the telework grievances.  We have additional days scheduled in June for New Haven and a hearing at the end of that month in Huntington, WVA, where the AALJ will be represented by Judges Lillian Richter and Marty Pillion.

In Memoriam

It is my sad duty to tell you that Judge Robert Phares of the Raleigh Hearing Office passed away on May 21^st, having suffered a heart attack after a short illness.

One of our retired members, Judge Patricia Lobo, of the Cleveland Hearing Office, passed away last week.  https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/patricia-lobo-obituary?pid=188955021

 

In Solidarity,

Marilyn Zahm

 

Senators, watchdog hit Social Security over closed offices and poor service   By Joe Davidson Susan Landfield, 65, joined a May 3 protest of the closure of the Arlington Social Security office, saying it would be a personal hardship. (Patricia Sullivan/The Washington Post) The Social Security Administration (SSA) is getting heat from inside and outside the agency stemming from scores of field-office closures and poor customer service.   Bipartisan leaders of a special Senate committee want Social Security to explain why so many facilities have been shuttered, while a new internal watchdog report documents long processing times at hearing offices.   In letters to SSA and the General Services Administration (GSA) on Monday, Sens. Susan M. Collins (R-Maine) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (Pa.), the chairwoman and ranking Democrat, respectively, of the Senate Special Committee on Aging said, “as some 10,000 seniors turn 65 each day and file for Social Security and Medicare, we should be expanding access to services, not reducing access.”   Instead, Social Security has closed about 125 field offices since 2000 and, the senators said, “service hours at field-office locations have also been cut while wait times have risen and hearing backlogs have grown.”   That was detailed in an SSA inspector general’s report that examined two regional Social Security hearing offices and found both had “high average processing times (APT), had below-average staffing levels, low morale, and issues with telework, claimant representatives, and the quality of the support staff’s work.”   The regions were New York, which covers 16 offices in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rico; and Atlanta, with 37 offices in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee.   These regions “had a disproportionate number of the lowest-ranking hearing offices in terms of average processing time,” Acting Inspector General Gale Stallworth Stone said in a letter with the report. In fiscal 2016, 88 percent of the offices in the New York region had above-average processing times, as did 65 percent of the Atlanta region, a trend that continued through fiscal 2017.   “It is our view that the availability of conveniently located and adequately staffed Social Security field offices is crucial to providing good service to America’s seniors, people with disabilities, and their families,” the senators wrote, “and to maintaining the public’s trust in Social Security, Medicare, and other programs that SSA administers.”   The report, however, demonstrates that the availability of an office alone doesn’t ensure good service. But without a convenient office, it could be difficult for many to get any service at all.   Collins and Casey included GSA in their letter because that agency acts as the government’s real estate agency and landlord.   “Particularly concerning are reports that in at least some of the locations where offices were closed, the reason cited for the closure was the inability of GSA to locate acceptable real estate within the geographical area served by the closed or consolidated offices,” Collins and Casey said. “This is reportedly the case even in areas where there were significant vacancy rates in commercial real estate.” They said offices in Arlington, Baltimore, Chicago and Milwaukee are targeted for closure or consolidation.     The GSA did not respond to a request for comment. SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle would not discuss the senators’ letter, except to say the agency will respond to them directly.   “Regarding the IG report, Social Security continues to make progress in lowering the hearing pending level. For 16 consecutive months, from January 2017 through April 2018, we have reduced the number of people waiting for a hearing decision. The number of cases pending is now under 1 million, at about 968,000 as of the end of April 2018,” Hinkle said. “We will use the information in this report, as well as other information, to continue to identify areas for business process efficiency and improvement in our hearings operation. We will also work closely with the New York and Atlanta Regional Offices and their hearing offices to address the issues identified in this report.”   The senators’ letter followed, and in some wording closely tracked, one to them from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare asking for hearings into service issues. “It is difficult to overstate the importance of local Social Security field offices in providing service to the American people,” Max Richtman, the committee’s president and chief executive wrote last month. “Whether it’s time to file a claim for benefits or whether something has gone wrong regarding someone’s Social Security benefits, the availability of a convenient network of nearby offices is an essential element in SSA’s system of delivering services to the American people.”   Marilyn Zahm, a Buffalo administrative law judge in the New York region, who is president of the Association of Administrative Law Judges, cited, by email, “inadequate staffing as the number one problem; many of the ills cited in the report (such as teleworking causing problems and deficient work products) actually flow from this factor.”   The IG report confirmed that, saying “we found a general correlation between the support staff ratio and APT.”   More support staff was, by far, the most suggested way to improve processing time in 96 interviews the inspector general did with employees, including management officials, judges and hearing-office staff, for the report.   Insufficient staffing also was a factor in low employee morale that contributes to long processing times and decreased productivity, along with overwork, regional office micromanagement and lack of accountability for poor performers, among others.   Regional office authorities, according to the inspector general’s report, “generally agreed with our findings, except for the claims of micromanagement,” as might be expected.   Collins and Casey expressed their “deep concern that the recently announced closures of multiple field offices continues a trend that will significantly affect the quality of service that the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides.”   Read more:   [One out of 10 Social Security offices has closed since 2000. Seniors and politicians want to know]   [Short staffing leads to long waits for Social Security disability hearing decisions]   [Trump’s Social Security budget offers more work, less staff, longer waits]