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President Trump Takes First Step Towards Removing 2,000 Administrative Law Judges From Federal Payroll

Posted on July 13, 2018 by Judge London Steverson

 

 

POTUS has stripped all Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) of Civil Service Protection. They now have no job security.

DID SOMEONE SAY “DRAIN THE SWAMP”?Effective July 10, 2018 ALJs no longer have Civil Service Protection against wrongful termination or removal at will by their Agency Head.
Also, ALJs will no longer be selected or appointed by competitive examinations.
All Federal ALJs can now be fired at will or removed from office by the Agency Head where they are employed.
They have no right to “Due Process” or a NLRB Hearing on-the-record. This is a major blow to their Judicial Independence. They can now be told when and where to hold Hearings by GS-3 Agency Clerks. Moreover, they can be ordered to hold a specific number of Hearings per week or month. This amounts to a Quota. In point of Fact, they can be told what the expected Decision should be in a particular Case. This will reduce Judges to rubber stamps for bureaucratic Supervisors.
This could be the first step in a well planned move to abolish the Position of ALJ and all Senior Executive Level Legal Positions and their Support Groups.
That could conceivably eliminate about 2,000 GS-15 and GS-16 Positions.
The first step is simply to take away their Job Security, which are primarily their Civil Service Protections. These include Due Process Rights, and a Hearing On The Record.
The second step could be to take away their Jurisdiction. Remove their Authority to hear particular types of cases. Transfer their job duties to someone else, such as a Senior Staff Attorney, or a Paralegal.
The third step would be to eliminate their Position, all together. With no job duties, there is no need for the Position.
When the Social Security Administration (SSA) recently eliminated The Treating Physician Rule, the immediate effect was to increase the BACK LOG of Disability Cases waiting for a Hearing, and to lengthened the time for Claimants to receive a Decision on their Disability Claim.
It now takes an average of over 2 years to get a Hearing before an ALJ if a Claimant Appeals a Denial Decision from the State Disability Determination Service (DDS). Also, it takes 6 months or more after a Hearing to receive a Decision. A Claimant does not know whether he won or lost his Appeal until 6 months after the Hearing. Claimants have been known to die or commit suicide waiting to hear what the Decision was in their Case.
President Trump has devised one sure way to wipe out the Hearing BACK LOG. He will get rid of the ALJs. Eliminating the requirement for a Hearing would streamline the Disability Decision Making Process.
However, eliminating the Hearing Requirement is the biggest obstacle to eliminating the Position of ALJ.

A Senior Attorney or a Paralegal can perform all of the duties of an ALJ, except for holding a Hearing.
If the Government can deny Disability Claims without a Hearing, there is no need for an ALJ.
The big issue is whether Disability Insurance Benefits are Personal Property? American citizens who pay Social Security Taxes have a social contract with the Government. Does that amount to a Property Interest?
The Government cannot take Property without Due Process. That requires a Formal Hearing on the Record pursuant to The Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
If the Government uses Senior Attorneys , and later ParaLegals to decide Disability Claims, it will be cheaper and Processing Times will be shorter.
A Lawyer can process the Claim in a few hours. That would eliminate the 2 year wait to get a Hearing. The Back Log would disappear forever.
ALJ salaries are about 60% of the SSA Budget. ALJs make $167,000.00 a year. A GS-9 Lawyer makes about $55,000.

Claimants will still be able to appeal unfavorable Decisions. Many cases reach Article 3 Courts, even with ALJs in the Appeal Process. ALJs are Article 2 Judges. They are in the Executive Branch Of Government. Article 3 Courts are Under The Supreme Court.
Trump will save $millions, and lower The Deficit.
When POTUS stripped all Administrative Law Judges Of Civil Service Protections he surprised a lot of the Members Of The Deep State.
ALJs can now be fired at will or removed from office by the Agency Head where they are employed.
They have no right to “Due Process” or a NLRB Hearing on-the-record.
For years the SSA Association Of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ) has lobbied Congress to remove SSA’s ALJs from under the authority of the SSA Commissioner.  SSA ALJs have their own union, the AALJ.

All ALJs pay Union Dues. These Dues are used to pay Professional Lobbyists on behave of theALHs.
There is an Old Saying goes “Be careful what you wish for; it might come true”.
Well, it now appears that the SSA ALJs can be fired at will by the Commissioner of Social Security. In the past it took 2 years to remove an ALJ because of Civil Service Protections. With one stroke of a pen, POTUS has stripped them of all job security.

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Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

Confession Is Good For The Soul; Two Social Security Judges and a Psychologist Cleanse Their Souls, Get Long Jail Time

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Judge London Steverson

Fugitive lawyer pleads guilty for escape, fraud

A former fugitive and social security disability lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court June 6, 2018 for his role in scheming to defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA) of more than $550 million, retaliating against an informant and fleeing from the United States.

Attorney Eric Christopher Conn, 58, of Pikeville pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves of the Eastern District of Kentucky to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of conspiracy to escape and one count of conspiracy to retaliate against an informant. Sentencing is set for September 7, 2018.

http://cgacriticalthinkers.blogspot.com/2017/12/when-judge-breaks-law-when-judge-goes.html

According to the plea, from October 2004 to December 2017, Conn participated in a scheme with former SSA administrative law judge David Black Daugherty, multiple doctors, including clinical psychologist Alfred Bradley Adkins, and others to submit thousands of falsified medical documents to the SSA to fraudulently obtain disability benefits totaling more than $550 million for thousands of individuals.

According to the plea, of a former SSA employee discovering and providing information about the scheme to federal agents, Conn and former SSA administrative law judge Charlie Paul Andrus conspired and acted to have the former SSA employee terminated in an effort to discredit the employee.

Finally, Conn admitted that after pleading guilty in March 2017, and prior to being sentenced on June 2, 2017, he fled the country with the help of Curtis Lee Wyatt by severing the electronic monitoring device from his ankle and fleeing across the Mexican border.

Conn was originally charged in April 2016, along with Daugherty and Adkins, in an 18-count indictment with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and other related offenses in connection with the disability fraud scheme.

Conn subsequently pleaded guilty on March 24, 2017, to a two-count information charging him with theft of government money and paying illegal gratuities, and he was sentenced in absentia on July 14, 2017 to 12 years in prison on those charges.

After his flight from the United States, Conn was charged, along with Wyatt, in September 2017, in a seven-count indictment with conspiracy to escape, escape and other related offenses.

On Dec. 5, 2017, Conn was returned to the United States from Honduras after being apprehended by Honduran authorities.

Conn’s plea today resolves the outstanding charges against him.

In addition to the 12 years in prison Conn is currently serving, he now faces an additional 15 years in prison. As part of the plea agreement, Conn agreed to recommend to the Court at sentencing that the Court sentence him to the maximum possible sentence, a 15-year sentence, and run that sentence consecutive to the 12-year sentence previously imposed, for a total of 27 years in prison.

Andrus pleaded guilty in June 2016 to a one-count information charging him with conspiracy to retaliate against an informant, and was sentenced Aug. 7, 2017 to six months in prison.

Daugherty pleaded guilty in May 2017 to a two-count information charging him with receiving illegal gratuities, and was sentenced on Aug. 25, 2017, to four years in prison.

Adkins was found guilty following a six-day trial in June 2017 of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and one count of making false statements, and was sentenced on Sept. 22, 2017, to 25 years in prison. Wyatt pleaded guilty in March 2018, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 29.

(June 6, 2018)

 

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

The Coast Guard Academy Class of 2018

Posted on May 27, 2018 by Judge London Steverson

Assimilation, not Segregation, is The Goal. Coast Guard Academy Graduates 50 Years Later.

Fifty Years after the Coast Guard Academy graduated its first African-American cadet, the Class of 2018 boasts the largest number of Black Graduates. In 1966 there was one, Ensign Merle James Smith, Junior from Baltimore, Maryland. In 2018 there are eighteen, among them Ensign Karida Harris, also from Baltimore, Maryland,shown below shaking the hand of Vice President Mike Pence, the Graduation Speaker.

Below, Coast Guard Commandant, Admiral Paul Zukunft, stands proudly in the middle of this Black Tidal Wave of Ensigns.

As I observe and ponder this new phenomenon in Coast Guard and American History, I am left with some soul searching questions. I have a right to ask these questions because I dedicated a major portion of my Coast Guard Career to recruiting Black high school students for the Coast Guard Academy.

My first emotions are Joy, Happiness, and Pride. God is good, and He works in wondrous, even mysterious ways. In 1964 when I entered the Coast Guard Academy, I never would have dreamed that this day would ever come. We find ourselves on the threshold of a New Era in Coast Guard History. In 50 years I have seen the Coast Guard go from the horse and buggy phase to inter-planetary phase of travel in the area of Equal Opportunity, particularly where America’s Citizens of Color are concerned.

The events of this past week have left me all warm and fuzzy about my Alma Mater. However, after seven Decades of living in America, and the last eight years of Fundamental Change under the previous Administration, I am hesitant to pop the champagne corks, just yet. The decades come and go, and the Ebb and Flow of History does not always take us where we think we are heading. The President who was supposed to stop the rise of the Oceans and bring us all together as a Nation of Americans, has left us more divided than at any time in my life. I spent my first 21 years under a System of Jim Crow Segregation where we acquiesced to a Political System called Separate But Equal.

When the Supreme Court told us that “Separate” was inherently “Unequal”, we looked to a day when America would be fully “integrated” into a Color-blind Society. We thought and prayed that Obama would be the final link in that chain. Unfortunately, we were wrong. Honest and objective critical thinkers today see that we were all hood-winked. I saw men and women, some of my high school classmates killed fighting for equal rights and full integration in the 1960s. Our Society was working towards Full Integration, not just De-segregation. But today, Black students at Harvard University are demanding a return to “Separate But Equal”. How the worm turns!

(See, Above Twitter Post of Harvard Black Students’ Separate Graduation 2018.)

This trend disturbs me very much. Obama was a Harvard Graduate. Many of our National Leaders are Harvard Alumni. I do not agree with most of their Liberal Leftist Policies and Opinions, but they impact all Americans. I accept the results of fair National Elections. We suffered under Obama and his twisted appointees for eight years. And I see what it has brought us; more divided that united, clamoring for separation rather than integration, separating into splinter group constituencies, and taking a giant step backwards in the area of Human Relation, American Style.

So, what does this mean for the Coast Guard Academy Class of 2018, and this constant pigeon-holing of Coast Guard Officers? They were separate social and culture groups in 2014 when they entered the Academy. Their four years of training was designed to tear down barriers and to turn them into a unified Corps of Coast Guard Officers. They were to think alike, act alike, and be alike; they were to do everything except look alike, which is not possible. America wanted Coast Guard Officers, not Balkanized marine specialists with allegiances to separate groups in our Society. This constant separation into various superficial groups for statistical purposes does not bring us together as an American Society. It works against the idea of “E pluribus Unum”.

When will these Graduates cease to be Black Coast Guard Officers or African-American Officers, and become simply Coast Guard Officers or just Officers?
 Starting at Swab Summer we strive to eliminate distinctions between the cadets. We try to put them through a four year cookie cutter training program that turns out exact replicas. I may be overstating it a bit, but that is the intention.

https://www.theday.com/article/20180523/NWS09/180529718

If all the other graduates are plainly and simply Coast Guard Officers, why must we consider these to be Black Officers or African-American Officers? We still hover in the shadow of “Separate But Equal”, knowing that Separate is inherently Unequal. Fifty years after Merle Smith graduated, Black Officers are still considered a separate and distinct specie.

I fear that not many will see my point. It is very subtle, and it takes old age and a lifetime of experiences as a Black Man in majority white America and a retired Coast Guard officer to perceive the distinction.  Also, a lot of world travel and exposure to other cultures and societies have helped to mold my opinion.

I understand the need to be recognized, to be accepted into a group, and to be held in high esteem by your peers. I understand the need for keeping statistics and the desire to get credit for jobs well-done.
 For example consider Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs. It is a theory in psychology proposed by  Maslow in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” in Psychological Review. Maslow subsequently extended the idea to include his observations of humans’ innate curiosity.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory in psychology comprising a five-tier model of human needs, often depicted as hierarchical levels within a pyramid. Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that some needs take precedence over others. Humans need food, sleep, safety, love, and purpose.

We humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among social groups, regardless whether these groups are large or small. For example, some large social groups may include clubs, co-workers, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs, and online communities. Some examples of small social connections include family members, intimate partners, mentors, colleagues, and confidants. Humans need to love and be loved – both sexually and non-sexually – by others.

Esteem needs are ego needs or status needs develop a concern with getting recognition, status, importance, and respect from others. All humans have a need to feel respected; this includes the need to have self-esteem and self-respect. Esteem presents the typical human desire to be accepted and valued by others. People often engage in a profession or hobby to gain recognition. These activities give the person a sense of contribution or value. Low self-esteem or an inferiority complex may result from imbalances during this level in the hierarchy. People with low self-esteem often need respect from others; they may feel the need to seek fame or glory. However, fame or glory will not help the person to build their self-esteem until they accept who they are internally.
How does one explain the need for the National Bar Association, NBA, when there is an American Bar Association, ABA? Perhaps they would not allow Black Attorney members or they would not recognize Black achievement.

Why do we need a Black History Month, if American History is taught in school? (Assuming it is taught, AND the historians consider Black citizens to be Americans.)
What is the usefulness of praise or honor that you have to buy? If you have to write your own news stories to praise yourself, it is the same as recommending yourself for a medal , and writing the citation. It is fake, false, worthless. It is akin to the difference between making love to your wife versus paying a Hooker for commercial sex. The emotional content is different. One has meaning, soul satisfaction; while, the other merely scratches an itch.

If only Black Officers praise and respect you, are you truly respected lord honored? If only the Black Community praises and respects you, are you truly honored? These officers deserve the praise and respect of the overall American population; as Coast Guard Officers, not as a sub-category of Officer.

 The American Dream is to become an American, not an American version of what we were. When America first allowed Immigrants to come to America, Immigrants forbade their children to learn the language of the Old Country; instead they were forced to learn American/English.
 Assimilation is the American ideal, the Dream. When Black high school graduates assimilate into the USCG Officer Corps, when they join the Long Blue Line, they become Coast Guard Officers, not Black Officers or African-American Officers. Separate But Equal is not full Integration. It is only De-Segregation.
 These officers are “stigmatized “ at birth; that is to say, at graduation. The men and women out in the Field of the Coast Guard are being told these officers are different. Black Officers need to be Assimilated, not separated. Taking them aside and photographing them is almost like a “Perp Walk”.

I would give these Black Officers some advice. When they report to their First Duty Stations they should avoid all activities identified as Black Only. They should forget that they are Black, and stop thinking Black. They should become American first and Coast Guard second. They should leave their Blackness at home in the morning, go to work and be a good Coast Guard Officer. They should never again think of themselves as Black Officers. They are Coast Guard Officers. When they retire they can go back to being Black, if possible.

They should hang around with the other Officers, and the chiefs. I know Birds of a feather, flock together. But, a bird does not cease to be a bird if he spends some time with Lions, or Elephants or even Snakes. He already knows how to fly. Other birds cannot teach him anything he doesn’t already know. But a Lion could teach him how to have heart and be a King. An Elephant could help him improve his memory. Hanging around snakes could teach him subtlety and other socially unacceptable traits that would serve him well when evil doers seek to take advantage of him. My advice to the Class of 2018 is to be as wise a Serpents, but as harmlessly Doves.

This type of mind control and discipline is not much different from what a Judge must do when he puts on his Black Robe. He must shed his biases, prejudices, and other human foibles. While he is on the Bench he must pretend to be a god, and act totally objectively. Hypothetically, a Black Panther Judge should be able to fairly Judge the Case Of even a KKK Wizard.

Posted by ichbinalj at 2:03 PM

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ichbinalj
I am a thoroughly civilized, humane, cosmopolitan, polished, restrained, enjoyable, entertaining Info-maniac. I am a staunch exponent of individual dignity, freedom, equal access to legal services, and equal protection of the law. Here I hope to demonstrate my emotional restraint, humbleness of sentiment, psychological subtlety, lucid style, and simple language, without evading political reality or eternal truth. Daily I am excited that I have the right to create the beginning of a new self and to challenge old habits and attitudes I no longer choose to accept. I choose to relax in the present with my direction firmly in mind. I have an enormous capacity for creative and clever ideas and thoughts. It is phenomenal what I can do. I am capable of so much learning and absorbing a lot of information. My potential is a source of pleasant surprise for me. Each day, I increase in knowledge, skills, strength, faith, and abilities.With each adventure, the boundary hemming in my potential expands easily to accomodate my growth and achievements.

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Categories: Social Security Benefits | 4 Comments

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Represented Cadet Webster Smith

Posted on November 1, 2017 by Judge London Steverson

A Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Partner, Attorney Ronald Machen served for over five years as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He was also the Appellate Defense Counsel for Coast Guard Academy Cadet Webster Smith, who was the first cadet to be punished by court-martial at the Coast Guard Academy. The Case was appealed all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, but the Fix was in.

(Above Ronald C. Machen, a Partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Door, was the Appellate Defense Counsel for Coast Guard Academy Cadet Webster Smith, the first cadet to be punished by court-martial at the Coast Guard Academy in 2006. Cadet Webster Smith is an African American Black.)

 

 

 (https://www.amazon.com/Judge-London-Steverson/e/B006WQKFJM)
Attorney Machen also defended the United States in a wide range of civil matters involving alleged age, race and sex discrimination, torts, and medical malpractice.
 Ronald Machen is one of the nation’s leading trial and white-collar defense lawyers. His practice focuses on government enforcement actions, corporate and congressional investigations, and litigating civil business disputes. An experienced litigator who has tried more than 35 cases to verdict, Mr. Machen specializes in litigating complex criminal and civil actions. He also routinely helps clients navigate high-stakes, crisis situations that garner the attention of multiple regulators, enforcement authorities, Congress and private litigants. Prior to rejoining the firm in 2015, Mr. Machen served for over five years as the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

 Prior to his appointment as US Attorney, Mr. Machen was a partner in WilmerHale’s Investigations and Criminal Litigation Practice, where he represented individual and corporate clients in the areas of white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, corporate compliance and complex civil litigation. Mr. Machen also served as an Assistant US Attorney in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia from 1997 to 2001, where he prosecuted matters involving bribery, mail fraud, government contract fraud, federal conspiracy, homicide, embezzlement and theft.During his career, Mr. Machen has been repeatedly recognized for his professional accomplishments. In 2015, he was identified as one of DC’s “Top Criminal Defense Lawyers” by Washingtonian magazine and also honored as one of the “100 Most Outstanding African American Leaders” for his contributions in the field of law by African Leadership Magazine. In 2013, he received the Equal Justice Award from the National Bar Association. In 2012, he was recognized as a “Visionary” by Legal Times for helping to advance the practice of law during his tenure as US Attorney. In 2008, The National Law Journal named him one of the “50 Most Promising Litigators in America Under the Age of 45” and also recognized him as one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America.” In 2006, the Washingtonian magazine named him one of DC’s “Top 40 Lawyers Under the age of 40.”(https://www.wilmerhale.com/ronald_machen/)

 

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

Social Security Administration Moves To Abolish Treating Physician’s Rule. Backlog Of Hearing Requests Sure To Worsen.

Posted on June 14, 2017 by Judge London Steverson

New Rule May Worsen Backlog For Social Security Disability Claimants

  •                                                                                    Stephenie Hashmi keeps her husband Shawn company in the kitchen while he prepares dinner. She has appealed the Social Security Administration's denial of her claim for disability benefits.

    (Stephenie Hashmi, above right, keeps her husband Shawn company in the kitchen while he prepares dinner. She has appealed the Social Security Administration’s denial of her claim for disability benefits.)

By the time Stephenie Hashmi of Lenexa, Kansas, was in her mid-20s, she had achieved a lifelong dream: She was the charge nurse at one of Kansas City’s largest intensive care units. But even as she cared for patients, she realized something was off with her own health.

“I remember just feeling tired and feeling sick and hurting, and not knowing why my joints and body was hurting,” Hashmi says.

Hashmi was diagnosed with systemic lupus, a disease in which the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues and organs.

She’s had surgeries and treatments, but now, at age 41, Hashmi is often bedridden. She finally had to leave her job about 6 years ago, but when she applied for Social Security disability benefits, she was denied.

                                                                                            

“I just started bawling. Because I felt like, if they looked at my records or read these notes, surely they would understand my situation,” Hashmi says.

Lisa Ekman, director of government affairs for the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives, says Hashmi’s struggle with the application process is not unusual.

“It is not easy to get disability benefits. It’s a very complicated and difficult process,” Ekman says.

Right now, just about 45 percent of people who apply for Social Security disability benefits are accepted, and getting a hearing takes an average of nearly 600 days.

The Kansas City office’s average hearing time is closer to 500 days, but its approval rate is slight lower at 40 percent.

The Backlog started snowballing about 10 years ago, around the time Jason Fichtner became acting Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA).

He says that during the Great Recession, a lot of people who had disabilities applied but weren’t necessarily unable to work.

“But they’re on the margin,” Fichtner says. “They can work, but when the recession happens, those are the first people who tend to lose their jobs, and then they apply for disability insurance.”

There are now more than a million people across the country waiting for hearings. Adding to the strain, the Social Security Administration’s core operating budget has shrunk by 10 percent since 2010.

This spring, the SSA introduced changes to fight fraud and streamline the application process, including a new fraud-fighting measure that removes the special consideration given to a person’s long-time doctor.  (This is known as The Treating Physician’s Rule)

Lisa Ekman says this is a mistake.

“Those changes would now put the evidence from a treating physician on the same weight as evidence from a medical consultant employed to do a one-time brief examination or a medical consultant they had do a review of the paper file and may have never examined the individual,” Ekman says.

She says this could lead to more denials for disabled people with complex conditions like lupus, multiple sclerosis or schizophrenia. These illnesses can affect patients in very different ways and may be hard for an outside doctor or nurse to assess.

She says more denials will lead to more appeals, which will only increase the backlog.

She is correct. The Treating Physician’s Opinion is controlling.

https://judgelondonsteverson.me/2016/06/24/the-treating-physician-rule-is-controlling/

But former administrator Fichtner, now a senior research fellow at George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, says the SSA is obligated to weed out any fraud it can, including the admittedly rare cases of treating physicians tipping the scale in favor of their patients.

He says the SSA can still prioritize applicants.

“For patients that are really in dire condition and really have major disabilities, I don’t think they have to worry about this rule change,” Fichtner says.

He acknowledges, however, that the backlog needs attention and says the agency has safeguards to monitor whether the rule is working.

Back in her kitchen in Lenexa, Stephenie Hashmi’s husband Shawn prepares a family dinner she won’t be able to eat because she’s having problems with her esophagus.

Stephenie puts on a brave smile, but the progression of her illness and the ordeal with Social Security have made her increasingly pessimistic.

After several rejections, she’s now on her final appeal. Her hearing is scheduled for November – of   2018.

(By Alex Smith , Jun 7, 2017, Alex Smith is a health reporter, and she can reach him on Twitter @AlexSmithKCUR)

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Tags: Social Security Administration, SSA, treating Physician Rule | 2 Comments

SSA Judge Pleads Guilty To Taking Bribes

Posted on May 17, 2017 by Judge London Steverson

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A former Social Security Administration (SSA) Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) pleaded guilty on  May 13, 2017 to taking more than $609,000 in bribes from a disability lawyer who called himself “Mr. Social Security.”

The former judge, ALJ David Black Daugherty, 81, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving illegal gratuities, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice and stories by the Washington Times and the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader.

Daugherty, who heard cases in West Virginia, was accused of taking payments to make favorable rulings in more than 3,100 cases for clients represented by Kentucky lawyer Eric Conn, obligating the government to pay more than $550 million in lifetime disability payments.

Conn, who once called himself “Mr. Social Security,” pleaded guilty in March. He is scheduled to be sentenced in July, according to the Herald-Leader.

Daugherty admitted he sought out Conn’s cases, told him what type of medical evidence to submit, and awarded benefits without holding hearings. Daugherty accepted the illegal payments between November 2004 to April 2011, according to the press release.

The government is holding new hearings to determine whether the claimants in the cases are entitled to benefits. More than half of the applications have since been disapproved, according to the Washington Times. Many have unfortunately committed suicide.

The actual payout by the Social Security Administration in the cases was $46.5 million, an amount that Conn promised to pay the government. He also promised to pay $5.7 million, representing the fees he earned in the cases.

Daugherty has agreed to pay the government $609,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 25. The charges carry a maximum prison sentence of four years, according to the Herald-Leader.

Charges are still pending against a psychologist accused of falsifying mental impairment evaluations.

(By Debra Cassens Weiss)

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

Granny Kills, Then Steals Dead Husband’s Social Security Benefits

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Judge London Steverson

Granny Kills and Steals; She Killed Husband, Then Collected His Social Security Benefits


A federal grand jury indicted Opal Elaine Tillman in April 2017 for fraudulently claiming nearly $168,000 in Social Security widow’s benefits on the death of a husband she killed, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey . A six-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges Opal Elaine Tillman, 71, with five counts of wire fraud for causing the SSA to wire benefit payments, which Tillman was not entitled to receive, to her account at Regions Bank in Jefferson County between May 2012 and September 2016. Count Six of the indictment charges Tillman with theft of government property for stealing more than $100,000 from the SSA. The indictment seeks to have Tillman forfeit $167,830 to the government.
According to the indictment, Tillman was convicted in Alabama in June 1988 for killing her husband, Walter R. Tillman, on March 1, 1987. The month he died, Opal Tillman applied for Social Security Title II benefits on her husband’s work record. Title II benefits encompass old age, survivor and disability insurance payments. In her application Tillman wrote a statement acknowledging that she understood that “if I am convicted of felonious homicide any social security monies I receive on Mr. Tillman’s Social security record will constitute an over-payment and I will be liable to repay this money,” according to the indictment. She then requested monthly benefits for her and her children to begin as soon as possible.
While Opal Tillman was in prison in November 1988, the SSA notified her of an over-payment of benefits and explained: “A person who has been convicted of the felonious and intentional homicide of a wage earner cannot be entitled to monthly benefits, underpayments, or the lump-sum death payment on the earnings record of that wage earner,” according to the indictment.
Opal Tillman was released from prison into the Jefferson County Community Corrections Program in December 1996.
In October 2009, she applied by telephone to the SSA for widow’s benefits on the work record of Walter Roderick Tillman, according to the indictment. Opal Tillman provided her deceased husband’s Social Security number, dates of birth and death, and verification of their marriage for the application, the indictment charges.
Opal Tillman began receiving benefits Nov. 9, 2009, on the work record of the man she killed, according to the indictment. The monthly benefits continued until Sept. 14, 2016.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for theft of government property is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
An indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

In an unrelated case, Opal Elaine Tillman was arrested in 2015 on charges that she stole stole more than $60l,000 from an elderly couple she was supposed to be caring for. In that case, she pleaded guilty last month to financial exploitation of the elderly and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with 18 months to serve.
While Tillman was in prison in November 1988, the SSA notified her of an overpayment of benefits. They explained to her, “A person who has been convicted of the felonious and intentional homicide of a wage earner cannot be entitled to monthly benefits, underpayments, or the lump-sum death payment on the earnings record of that wage earner.”
Tillman was sentenced to 35 years in prison for her husband’s death, but in December 1996 was released from prison into the Jefferson County Community Corrections program.
In 2009, federal authorities say, she applied by telephone to the SSA for widow’s benefits on the work record of her dead husband. For the application, she provided his Social Security number, dates of birth and death, and verification of their marriage. She began receiving those benefits on Nov. 9, 2009 on the work record of the man she killed, according to the indictment. Those monthly payments continued until Sept. 14, 2016.
The maximum penalty for wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250.000 fine. The maximum penalty for theft of government property is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“I think there is a special place for people that take advantage of our senior citizens,” Chief Deputy Randy Christian said of Opal Elaine Tillman’s arrest.

Two years ago, Tillman was working as a housekeeper and caregiver for an elderly Jefferson County couple. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint that she had stolen cash and property from an 87-year-old woman and her husband.
Family members told investigators they had noticed several suspicious transactions on the victims’ checking account. Tillman had been working as a housekeeper for the victims in 2011 on a part-time basis, but had taken on more responsibilities as the wife’s health declined.
In all, authorities said, Tillman stole more than $60l,000 from the couple. “I think there is a special place for people that take advantage of our senior citizens, most especially those placed in a position of trust,” Jefferson County sheriff’s Chief Deputy Randy Christian said at the time.
Tillman pleaded guilty to those charges on April 4, 2017. She is currently listed as an inmate at Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. Her parole on the murder charge has been revoked. Her minimum release date is 2023, but she will come up for a parole hearing next year on the state charges.
A trial date on the new, federal charges has not been announced.

Posted by ichbinalj at 9:32 PM
Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

The Social Security Administration Must Follow Its Own Regulations

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Judge London Steverson

7th Circuit orders disability case back to administrative law judge

    Angela M. Farrell v. Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, 11-3589

Because the Social Security Administration (SSA) Appeals Council (AC) did not consider new evidence when it was presented – despite its own regulations requiring it to do so – the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals sent a disability insurance benefits case back to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) for further proceedings.

At the time of the hearing on Angela Farrell’s application for disability benefits, she was married with two children and extremely overweight. She suffered from multiple issues, including anxiety, insomnia, fibromyalgia, and plantar fasciitis. Her initial application was denied, but the Appeals Council remanded her case for reconsideration. On remand, the ALJ again ruled against her, in part because of Farrell’s failure to establish definitively that she suffered from fibromyalgia.

This time, the AC affirmed the ALJ’s decision, despite new evidence before the AC that confirmed Farrell’s fibromyalgia. The District Court also affirmed.

In addition to finding the Appeals Council didn’t follow its own regulations that require it to consider “new and material evidence,” the 7th Circuit found several other aspects of the ALJ’s decision independently require correction, including that the ALJ “failed to grapple properly with the competing medical opinions” in considering Farrell’s application.

Her Treating Physician (TP), Dr. Sarah Beyer, recorded Farrell suffered from several conditions and alluded to the possibility of Farrell suffering from fibromyalgia.

The other Consultative Examining (CE) Physicians who reviewed Farrell’s file as part of the application evaluation process believe that Farrell only had “moderate difficulties” or “mild restrictions on Average Daily Activity Level (ADL).” One doctor testified there was no evidence of a confirmed diagnosis of fibromyalgia or anything that would give rise to arthritic pain.

The 7th Circuit concluded in Angela M. Farrell v. Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, 11-3589,  that the ALJ’s residual functional capacity determination for Farrell improperly discounted the Treating Physician, Dr. Beyer’s medical opinions and that the RFC determination was based on an incomplete assessment of the record.

The judges sent the case back to the ALJ for further proceedings. REMANDED back to SSA ALJ.

This is the Case of  Angela M. Farrell v. Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, 11-3589.

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment

Undocumented Workers Are Keeping Social Security Afloat

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Judge London Steverson

 

In 2013, analysts at the Social Security Administration calculated that in 2010 undocumented immigrants had paid $13 billion into the system and were making on average $34,000 a year at the time. From 1996 to 2003, undocumented workers paid a combined $90 billion into both Social Security and Medicare.

Since 1996, immigrants who didn’t qualify to get a Social Security card numbers have been able to apply for an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS. ITINs were originally granted to foreign citizens who were active investors in the American real estate market.

A substantial percentage of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. pay billions in taxes annually and own their own homes, according to a 50 state report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (The Study).

With an IRS ITIN number, undocumented residents can legally open a bank account and apply for mortgage financing and close on a real estate transaction.

“Contrary to a lot of myths out there, The Study shows that the undocumented pay a very significant share of their income to state and local taxes,” Meg Wiehe, a co-author of the report told CBS MoneyWatch. “They are also establishing roots here because they are committed to their communities.”

One in three of the nation’s undocumented families own a home, according to the ITEP report. States such as Idaho and New Mexico report undocumented ownership rates as high as 46 percent. Those statistics are based on research done by the Migration Policy Institute and data collected by the U.S. Census’s American Community Survey.

Expert opinion remains sharply divided on the impact of the undocumented on the U.S. economy.

While analysts at the conservative Heritage Foundation concede undocumented immigrant households do contribute tax revenue, they make the case that what they contribute is far outweighed by what their presence here in the U.S. costs taxpayers.

“In 2010, the average unlawful immigrant household received around $24,721 in government benefits and services while paying some $10,334 in taxes,” according to Robert Rector and Jason Richwine in their analysis for the Heritage Foundation.

“This generated an average annual fiscal deficit (benefits received minus taxes paid) of around $14,387 per household,” their analysis said. “This cost had to be borne by U.S. taxpayers. Amnesty would provide unlawful households with access to over 80 means-tested welfare programs, Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare. The fiscal deficit for each household would soar.”

While the expert debate over this hot button issue has raged for years, Pew Research Center polling suggests American public opinion has shifted greatly since the early 1990s. In a 2015 poll, 45 percent of those surveyed expressed the opinion that immigrants were a net benefit for the U.S. versus 37 percent who felt their presence had a negative impact.

 

One of the ironies of the challenging financial future faced by the Social Security Administration is this seldom-discussed fact: Undocumented workers contribute about $13 billion per year to the Social Security Trust Fund, and only get back a small fraction, adding a bit of black ink to a balance sheet in sore need of a boost. These Social Security payments are a proxy of sorts for the potential power of these workers who now stand in the shadows of the economy.

These immigrants are often accused of creating outsize social services costs, but in this important instance the opposite is true. Undocumented workers using fake, invalid, or borrowed Social Security numbers are subject to payroll taxes but usually receive nothing back.

The extent of their contributions hints at the vast scale of the underground economy.

The chief actuary of the Social Security Administration estimates that, out of the approximately 7 million unauthorized workers currently in the US labor force, about 3 million use either false or expired Social Security numbers.

The payroll taxes paid by these unauthorized workers go into the Social Security’s “Earnings Suspense File” — in effect, money without a lawful home.

“You could say legitimately that had we not received the contributions that we have had in the past from undocumented immigrants . . . that would of course diminish our ability to be paying benefits for as long as we now can,”. Undocumented immigrants have contributed $100 billion into Social Security over the last decade.

Major immigration reform legislation would provide work authorization and Social Security numbers for an estimated 11 million immigrants working here illegally. But without changes to protect Social Security, illegal workers whose status later changes could become entitled to benefits based on jobs worked under fake and invalid Social Security numbers. Social Security could be on the hook for hundreds of billions in new liabilities according to a new  research report based on data from the Social Security Administration.

Unauthorized immigrants getting jobs show employers false or invalid Social Security numbers. When the Social Security Administration receives copies of W2s in which the name and Social Security number do not match those on Social Security’s records, they go into the Earnings Suspense File (ESF). The W2s remain on file until the earnings can be reconciled with the real worker, even if that occurs years later. Since 2000, the Social Security Administration has received about 9.3 million such W2s per year on average, representing more than $69.4 billion per year in earnings.

The earnings reported to the ESF over the past 11 years now total more than $763.5 billion, unadjusted for inflation. “Those earnings are important, because that’s what the Social Security Administration uses to determine entitlement and initial benefit amounts — not the amount of taxes paid in,” .

Although Social Security is aware of the problem, no government estimates of the potential future cost of benefits based on work under fake Social Security numbers exist.

Immigration advocates say that the taxes on earnings worked under invalid Social Security numbers help boost Social Security’s financing and that workers would have little chance of collecting benefits. “But that would change under immigration reform that provides work authorization”. “Work authorization and a valid Social Security number are the two requirements that would allow former unauthorized workers to file a claim for benefits.”

That could have significant implications for future Social Security costs because, under current law, the fraudulent use of Social Security numbers to gain employment is not penalized. “One would think that the earnings under fake Social Security numbers would not be used to calculate Social Security benefits. But to the contrary, under current policies, those earnings can be reinstated — no questions asked”.

Social Security uses all earnings to determine entitlement even for jobs worked under fake Social Security numbers. If workers have kept evidence of earnings, like copies of their W2s, tax return earnings under invalid Social Security numbers would be reinstated to the new valid number.

“Congress is considering Social Security changes that would cut the benefits of U.S. citizens and authorized workers who paid into the system under valid Social Security numbers”. “Yet our current polices reward people for the use of fraudulent Social Security numbers, undermining the financial solvency of the program”.

“You could say legitimately that had we not received the contributions that we have had in the past from undocumented immigrants . . . that would of course diminish our ability to be paying benefits for as long as we now can,”. Undocumented immigrants have contributed $100 billion into Social Security over the last decade.

(In part based on an article by Robert Hennelly in MoneyWatch February 29, 2016)

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Tags: Earnings Suspense File, Social Security, Social Security Administration, undocumented workers | 1 Comment

Why The Rich Are Getting Richer and The Poor Are Getting Poorer

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Judge London Steverson

Inequality, class and life expectancy in America

15 February 2016

A study by Brookings Institution economists released Friday documents a sharp increase in life span divergences between the rich and the poor in America. The report, based on an analysis of Census Bureau and Social Security Administration data, concludes that for men born in 1950, the gap in life expectancy between the top 10 percent of wage earners and the bottom 10 percent is more than double the gap for their counterparts born in 1920.

 (DISCLAIMER: I neither agree nor disagree with the social or political philosophy expressed in this article. It is presented merely to disclose the underlying factual basis of the arguments put forth. The Facts and the Statistics speak for themselves.)

For those born in 1920, there was a six-year differential between rich and poor. For those born in 1950, that difference had reached 14 years. For women, the gap grew from 4.7 years to 13 years, almost tripling.

Overall, life expectancy for the bottom 10 percent improved by just 3 percent for men born in 1950 over those born in 1920. For the top 10 percent, it soared by about 28 percent.

Life expectancy for the bottom 10 percent of male wage earners born in 1950 rose by less than one year compared to that for male workers born 40 years earlier—to 73.6 from 72.9. But for the top 10 percent, life expectancy leapt to 87.2 from 79.1.

The United States ranks among the worst so-called rich countries when it comes to life expectancy. But its low ranking is entirely due to the poor health and high mortality of low-income Americans. According to the Social Security Administration, life expectancy for the wealthiest US men at age 60 was just below the rates for Iceland and Japan, two countries with the highest levels. Americans in the bottom quarter of the wage scale, on the other hand, ranked just above Poland and the Czech Republic.

Life-expectancy is the most basic indicator of social well-being. The minimal increase for low-income workers and the widening disparity between the poor and the rich is a stark commentary on the immense growth of social inequality and class polarization in the United States. It underscores the fact that socioeconomic class is the fundamental category of social life under capitalism—one that conditions every aspect of life, including its length.

The Brookings Institution findings shed further light on the catastrophic decline in the social position of the American working class. They follow recent reports showing a sharp rise in death rates for both young and middle-aged white workers, primarily due to drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide. Other recent reports have shown a dramatic decline in life expectancy for poorer middle-aged Americans and a reversal of decades of declining infant mortality.

It is no mystery what is behind this vast social retrogression. It is the product of the decay of American capitalism and a four-decade-long offensive by the ruling elite against the working class. From Reagan to the Obama administration, Democrats and Republicans alike have overseen a corporate-government assault on the jobs, wages, pensions and health benefits of working people.

The ruling elite has dismantled the bulk of the country’s industrial infrastructure, destroying decent-paying jobs by the millions, and turned to the most parasitic and criminal forms of financial speculation as the main source of its profit and private wealth. Untold trillions have been squandered to finance perpetual war and the maniacal self-enrichment of the top 1 percent and 0.1 percent.

The basic infrastructure of the country has been starved of funds and left to rot, to the point where uncounted millions of people are being poisoned with lead and other toxins from corroded water systems. Flint, Michigan is just the tip of the iceberg.

Under Obama, this social counterrevolution has been intensified. The financial meltdown of 2008 has been utilized by the same forces that precipitated the crash to carry through a reordering of social relations aimed at reversing every social gain won by the working class in the course of a century of struggle. A central target of the attack is health care for working people.

Obamacare is the spearhead of a worked-out strategy to reduce the quantity and quality of health care available to workers and reorganize the health care system directly on a class basis. Corporate and government costs are to be slashed by gutting employer-paid health care, forcing workers individually to buy expensive, bare-bones plans from the insurance monopolies, and rationing drugs, tests and medical procedures to make them inaccessible to workers.

The rise in mortality for workers and the widening of the life span gap between rich and poor are not simply the outcome of impersonal economic forces. In corporate boardrooms, think tanks and state agencies, the ruling class is working to lower working class life expectancy. In late 2013, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank with the closest ties to the Pentagon and the CIA, published two policy papers decrying the “waste” of money on health care for the elderly. The clear message was that ordinary people were living much too long and diverting resources needed by the military to wage war around the world.

The social and economic chasm in America finds a political expression in the vast disconnect between the entire political establishment and the masses of working people. Neither party nor any of their presidential candidates, the self-described “socialist” Bernie Sanders included, can seriously address the real state of social conditions or offer a serious program to address the crisis.

In his final State of the Union Address last month, Obama presented an absurd picture of a resurgent economy. “The United States of America, right now,” he declared, “has the strongest, most durable economy in the world… Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.”

In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton and Sanders are seeking to outdo one another in seizing the mantle of the Obama administration and praising its supposed social and economic achievements.

They cannot address the real conditions facing the masses of working people because they defend the capitalist system, which is the source of the social disaster. The remedy must be based on an understanding of the disease. It is the building of an independent socialist and revolutionary movement uniting the entire working class, in the US and around the world.

(Barry Grey, World Socialist Web Site)

(DISCLAIMER: I neither agree nor disagree with the social or political philosophy expressed in this article. It is presented merely to disclose the underlying factual basis of the arguments put forth. The Facts and the Statistics speak for themselves.)

Categories: Social Security Benefits | Leave a comment
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