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AS SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY APPEALS PILE UP,
THERE'S A CALL FOR MORE JUDGES -- More than
730,000 disability appeals
are pending at SSA and
the problems in hiring new administrative law
judges have contributed to the backlog.
This story will be of special interest to
veterans applying for SSDI benefits.
Story here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/01/AR2007050101625
.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email
Story below:
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As Disability Appeals Pile Up, a Call for More
Judges
By Stephen Barr
The government's troubled hiring program for administrative law judges
has been put on notice that it needs speedy improvement.
Members of the House Social Security subcommittee yesterday expressed
frustration that more than 730,000 disability appeals are pending at the
Social Security Administration and that problems in hiring new
administrative law judges have contributed to the backlog.
Administrative law judges issue dozens of rulings every year on whether
Americans are entitled to Social Security disability benefits and other
federal services. Some of the judges, once known as hearing examiners,
rule in federal regulatory cases and determine whether laws were
violated. Of the 1,400 ALJs in the government, 1,108 work for Social
Security.
Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue and Linda M . Springer,
director of the Office of Personnel Management, told the House
subcommittee yesterday that efforts are underway to increase the number
of judges and to create new procedures for hiring the judges.
The agency sets the qualifications for the job, rates the applicants and
places those who qualify on a hiring roster. Springer said a new roster
would be ready by late October.
Despite the importance of administrative law judges, the hiring program
has struggled in recent years. Eight years ago, litigation over how the
agency had ranked applicants for ALJ positions shut down the program.
The case was resolved in favor of the agency four years ago, but the
rule establishing a new hiring program took effect only last month.
"I'm frankly concerned that the process has taken this long," said Rep.
Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Social Security
subcommittee. Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Tex.), the ranking member, called it
"criminal that you are waiting to the end of the year" to establish a
new roster of qualified applicants.
Springer said the agency has been sensitive to the needs of Social
Security, stressing that her agency had gone to court to win an
exception so that Social Security could hire during the litigation.
Since 1997, she said, Social Security had hired 562 off the agency's
list.
But Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-N.D.) pointed out that most of the people on
the agency's roster filed applications in the 1990s, raising concern
that this pool might not have included the best people for Social
Security.
Pomeroy also listed a series of statements made by Social Security from
2003 to 2006 that indicated obstacles to hiring administrative law
judges would be overcome soon. But the number of judges on the hiring
roster continued to drop while the number of disability claims grew, he
said.
Americans in need of Social Security assistance, Pomeroy said, "are
being hurt every day by the bureaucratic bungling of OPM."
Springer said she pushed the agency's staff to shorten the timetable for
establishing a new ALJ hiring roster when she learned about the
subcommittee's concerns. She said the staff had probably thought the old
list was meeting the needs of Social Security and that the agency had
time to undertake "a more deliberative process" of issuing regulations.
Astrue said Social Security must "use our ALJs in a smarter, more
efficient way," adding that it may be time for the agency to place some
judges in a central office and use them to address the worst backlogs
through video teleconferencing. Keeping all the administrative law
judges in the agency's 141 hearing offices probably is not the most
efficient way through the backlog, he said.
He said the agency has 1,108 ALJs and that he plans to increase their
number to 1,250. Astrue said he has been meeting with members of the
Appropriations committees to try to win a larger budget for Social
Security next year.
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Larry Scott --
