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Despite Support from Democratic Senators, Union Judges at Social Security Struggle [1]

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Date: 2023-02-06  

Most of Social Security's 1,500 judges are represented by the Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJs)

The judges’ union at Social Security — the Association of Administrative Law Judges (AALJ) — has had a complicated history with agency leadership. During the Trump administration, an arbitrator in May 2021 found multiple instances of bad faith bargaining by the agency and ordered that it renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with its administrative law judges (ALJs). See www.govexec.com/… The following month, the Agency indicated that it would abide by that decision and completely restart negotiations. See www.govexec.com/...

In July 2021, the Washington Post wrote that Social Security judges appeared to face unfair quotas, based upon a report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). See www.washingtonpost.com/… The GAO report indicated that the expectation of 500 dispositions annually for union judges was reduced for “management judges” in the National Hearing Centers (NHCs) to 450 dispositions annually, and even less for local chief judges across the agency’s 160+ hearing offices. See www.gao.gov/… (table at page 19 sets forth different expectations). These different expectations were imposed, despite statutory authority that ALJs should be assigned to cases in rotation, 5 U.S.C. § 3105, and that ALJs are exempt from the definition of “employee” for purposes of performance appraisal, U.S.C. § 4301(2)(D). See www.federaltimes.com/...

More recently, in May 2022, the judges’ union alleged that “management judges” in the NHCs should be part of the judges’ union. See www.govexec.com/... Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) wrote to the acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), Kilolo Kijakazi, in support. See prospect.org/… To date, there has been no change.

There are legitimate questions whether different expectations for union judges versus “management judges” serve the public interest. As noted above, statutory authority supports that the expectations would be similar, given that ALJs are supposed to be assigned to cases in rotation. Meanwhile, Social Security’s Chief Judge, Patrick Nagle, has been running for alderman in Chicago’s 46th Ward since August 2022. See patricknaglefor46.com/… Mr. Nagle has handled no cases for the agency this fiscal year. See www.ssa.gov/... He handled 6 cases for the agency last fiscal year. See www.ssa.gov/… His wife, Kim Soo Nagle, also works as a Social Security judge, appears in campaign photographs, and has worked primarily in the Chicago NHC. See www.disabilityjudges.com/… She has handled 24 cases in the three months currently reported this fiscal year, or 8 cases per month. See www.ssa.gov/… Their production contrasts with the 50 cases required to be scheduled for union ALJs each month. See www.federaltimes.com/… Writ large, such dramatic differences in expectations for SSA judges — “management” versus union — translates into significantly fewer hearings held on behalf of the public. Last fiscal year, Mrs. Nagle disposed of approximately 240 matters, or 20 cases per month on average. See www.ssa.gov/...

This article does not address the ongoing election, except to illustrate that SSA’s “management judges” spend their time differently than union judges. Another Daily Kos article discusses the ethical concerns for a federal agency whenever a federal employee, like Mr. Nagle, runs for public office. See www.dailykos.com/… That article does not reach any conclusions, however.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/6/2151408/-Despite-Support-from-Democratic-Senators-Union-Judges-at-Social-Security-Struggle

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