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     From Government Executive : A union representing administrative law judges at the Social Security Administration on Thursday asked a federal appeals court to halt an impasses panel's proceedings with the agency, after the panel and another labor-management entity failed to respond to a constitutional challenge. Last October, the Social Security Administration declared an impasse in negotiations over a new contract with the Association of Administrative Law Judges, following a combined six months of negotiations and mediation, and asked for the Federal Service Impasses Panel to assert jurisdiction over the proceedings. Later that month, the union objected to the impasses panel getting involved, arguing that the way its members are appointed is unconstitutional. The union�s argument echoes multiple ongoing lawsuits that claim that given the power granted to the impasses panel, as well as lack of oversight and parties to appeal it...

     After the Supreme Court held in Lucia v. SEC that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) as then appointed were unconstitutional, there was the inevitable issue of which Social Security claimants would get new hearings. The Social Security Administration argued that the issue had to have been raised before the Administrative Law Judge or at least before the Appeals Council. They have now given up on the argument that Lucia had to have been raised before the ALJ and have remanded all of the cases where the Lucia issue was raised at least before the Appeals Council. The issue of whether the issue had to have been raised at least before the Appeals Council is being litigated in the federal courts.       We have our first Court of Appeals opinions in one of the post- Lucia Social Security cases, Cirko v. Commissioner , a Third Circuit case. Social Security lost. The Court held that it did not matter that the Lucia issue wasn't raised until a...

     Why would an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issue a recommended decision instead of just a decision, as is normal, when there is no basis in Social Security's manual for issuing a recommended decision. The manual says to not do this but I hear that it's not unusual for a few ALJs to do this. What is their thought process? Literally asking for a friend. It's not my case.

     From a Notice of Proposed Rule-Making (NPRM) that will appear in tomorrow's Federal Register: ... W e propose to clarify that an AAJ [Administrative Appeals Judge] from our Appeals Council may hold a hearing and issue a decision on any case pending at the hearings level under t itles II, VIII, or XVI of the Act . Just as ALJs [Administrative Law Judges] have the authority to hold hearings on a variety of disability and non - disability claims, we would not limit the kinds of claims that AAJs c ould hear. AAJ s would be required to follow the same rules as ALJs, and the hearings they hold would apply the same due process protections as hearings held by our ALJs . ...      This is only a proposal. The public may comment on the proposal. Social Security must consider the comments. If the agency wishes to go ahead with final regulations, they have to submit them to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval. This is a process that or...

     From the Post & Courier of Charleston, SC: Sick and injured workers face a brutal game of chance when they apply for federal disability benefits: their odds hinge as much on the judge they are assigned as on the facts of their case. ...   Draw one particular Charleston-area judge and the odds of winning benefits will be worse than almost anywhere else. That judge, Tammy Georgian, was the second-toughest in the country in the 2019 fiscal year, approving only 12 percent of her cases. ...   If you saw Judge Jim Scott [of the same office] in 2018, you had an 87 percent chance of winning.  ...     I can tell you there�s no way an ALJ can get to a 12% reversal rate honestly. You have to be guided almost completely by your personal political and social beliefs rather than the law and the facts.       There�s only so much the agency can do about brutal Administrative Law Judges such as Tammy Georgian. The thing is that G...