Social Security Administration Law Judges

Posted on March 6, 2008 by Dory Sutker

On February 28, 2008, the Commissioner of Social Security (SSA) announced that the agency began making offers to fill 144 Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) positions. (SSA intends to hire a total of 175 ALJs this fiscal year.) This action is possible thanks to an increase in SSA’s budget. The hope is that the additional ALJs will aid in reducing the backlog of cases.

The plan calls for the first hires to report for duty in April. After completing an orientation and training program, the new ALJs will handle a reduced docket. By the end of the year, the expectation is that the new ALJs will be up to speed and capable of handling a full docket of cases.

I certainly applaud the hiring of additional ALJs and hope that this action will, indeed, reduce the backlog. But, I am somewhat skeptical. While I am just a mere observer of various hearing offices, it seems that a large part of the problem lies with the lack of administrative staff. Most offices are woefully understaffed. Although it is clear that you need judges to hear the cases, you also need staff to schedule the hearings, arrange for vocational and/or medical experts, "work up" the cases and get them ready for hearing, notify the parties involved, draft decisions (not all judges write their own), etc. Absent administrative support, the cases still won’t be heard in an expeditious fashion.

Despite my doubts, I salute SSA for taking a step in the right direction. Let’s hope the agency can stay on track.

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