With a Smaller Workforce, Social Security Rolls Out Nationwide System to Manage Caseload

Next month, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will start rolling out nationwide systems that affect how the agency schedules appointments for initial claims for disability benefits.

The new systems are an attempt to cope with a demanding workload as the number of SSA employees has been severely reduced.

On March 7, the SSA will launch a National Appointment Scheduling Calendar (NASC) and National Workload Management (NWLM) for all field operations, digital services and processing centers. The systems will also allow the public to self-schedule initial disability application appointments.

An SSA employee told Federal News Network that the purpose of these changes is to “smooth over” staffing shortages. Last year the agency reduced its staff by more than 12%, about 7,000 employees, through voluntary incentives.

Additionally, many employees were transferred from SSA headquarters and regional offices to field offices.

Under the current system, SSA staffers process claims submitted locally, but under these new systems they will be taking on a nationwide inventory of cases.

This could make processing claims more complex and difficult for SSA employees, especially since Social Security often interrelates with state laws.

For example, the income limit for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and SSI supplements varies from state to state.

The same holds true for workers’ compensation. The rules for coordinating offsets between workers’ compensation benefits and Social Security Disability benefits differ by state.

How an individual state treats common law marriages can affect eligibility for Social Security spousal benefits.

Can already stressed and overworked SSA staffers be realistically expected to become experts in the laws of all 50 states?

“We are used to taking claims only for people in our area, so we expect to run into problems,” an SSA employee told the Federal News Network.

For certain claims, Social Security clients are required by law to produce original documents like drivers’ licenses or green cards—not photocopies. These are documents that individuals cannot be without even for a day. How will an Illinois resident accomplish this when their case is being handled by an SSA office in South Dakota?

On its own website, the Social Security Administration admitted that “employees shared a specific challenge: sometimes, when answering calls from outside their office’s traditional service area, they were unable to fully assist a very small percentage of customers due to system constraints.”

Dan Rosen, disability attorney at Nash Disability Law, relates that, “We have experienced firsthand many times the complications caused by rerouting phone calls.”

“For example, when we call a field office in Chicago, an SSA representative in Wisconsin may answer and can do little but pass along a message to the Chicago office, which often does not get returned. This shows on the surface that the SSA is answering calls, but it does little to help the public.”

The Social Security Disability process can be filled with red tape. If you need help, contact the local Chicago Social Security Disability lawyers at Nash Disability Law.

When you work with a disability attorney, there is no fee unless you win your case.