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April is National Social Security Month, and NTEU could not let it end without recognizing the important work of the employees we represent at the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) at the Social Security Administration (SSA).
Many people think of retirement benefits when they think of SSA, but Social Security also pays disability benefits to people who can’t work because they have a serious medical condition.
Look at your paycheck and you will see a withholding from the FICA (Federal Insurance Contribution Act), which funds the Social Security trust fund. As Chapter 224 (SSA) President and Senior Attorney Christie Saunders explained, these funds are used by workers who become disabled and are unable to work under Title II- SSA’s Disability Insurance Program. Those who are disabled but have not worked may be eligible for benefits under Title XVI- Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
When it comes to retirement benefits, your eligibility is based on age. However, eligibility for disability benefits can be less clear, which is where NTEU-represented employees at OHO come in. If a person’s disability claim is denied, they have due process rights which allow them to appeal the decision. NTEU-represented employees handle appeals at the hearing level.
Who are these employees? NTEU represents around 2,000 OHO employees, including attorneys, legal assistants (senior case technicians), paralegals and IT staff.
The attorneys, paralegals and senior attorneys draft disability decisions after a hearing based on instructions from an administrative law judge (ALJ). They also provide legal research and act as legal advisers to the ALJs. Senior Attorneys have adjudication authority and can adjudicate decisions like a judge, except for cases when a claimant is denied benefits.
The IT staff is charged with ensuring agency equipment works, an especially important job now that there are many more video hearings and teleworking employees.
“The work we do at OHO has a huge impact on Americans—they rely on us for assistance when they become disabled and unable to work,” said Saunders. “These benefits are often the only source of income for disabled claimants. Benefits are used to pay for basic needs such as housing, food and medication. Our claimants are often desperate for assistance.”
Despite the critical work OHO employees perform, they face a similar challenge as employees at other NTEU represented agencies—understaffing. In 2017, SSA had as many as 1.1 million applications for disability benefits under both Titles. The agency’s current pending backlog (pending applications) is just under a million cases. Last fall, National President Tony Reardon advocated for a more efficient use of OHO staffing to reduce the backlog in congressional testimony.
“At OHO, we are tasked with making sure the right person receives any benefit for which they are entitled,” said Saunders. “We also have a duty to make sure we uphold the integrity of the system. We are responsible for the funds entrusted to us. We must be good stewards of those funds. We do so by maintaining the integrity of the system and issuing decisions that comply with the Social Security Act.”