Government Peon
Metropolis, US
Female, 45
Sorry about that hiatus - I got sidetracked in life, but I'm back!
I work in the largest Social Security office in my area, working primarily with disabled individuals, but I have my hands in all aspects of what our agency does. Retirement, disability, survivors, SSN cards, the whole shebang.
I love what I do, and do my best to juggle the work which is far too much for one person to complete. I work with other hard workers, and some who are just taking up space.
Can't exactly answer this, since I've never been in management outside of the private business, but my strong educated guess is that it's highly political. Since I've been with the agency I've only seen a few, but at least 3 people come immediately to mind who were a complete waste of office space.
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First of all, how old is he? If he's 66 or over, we don't consider them disabled anymore - at this age it has converted to a retirement benefit. If he's a younger guy, try to gather as much info as you can about him through conversation - birthday (or at least age), place of birth, parents names, etc. and use the Social Security Fraud resources listed on our website: http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/48/~/reporting-social-security-fraud
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Sorry for the hiatus, I hope you stop back in someday to get this answer.
There have been several instances - usually it is with disabled individuals who are trying to go back to work. I love knowing that I am helping them to regain their sense of purpose in life!
That, and when you can help a little old lady... that's just the best :)
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That's a loaded question, because why does anyone DESERVE it? When you come right down to it, a person gets denied for only two reasons: 1) The person didn't pay the taxes required to be insured for benefits. 2) The person doesn't meet some other factor of entitlement, whether it be age, citizenship or lawful alien status, they weren't married long enough, they don't meet the medical rules for disability, etc. Yeah, I'm in the wrong line of work - I don't believe a person deserves to have the taxpayers support them simply by virtue of being poor. No, I don't think the system needs to be abolished, but if you don't meet all the rules, you don't "deserve" it. That said, one of the saddest things I see time and time again is people who are terminally ill, diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, 4 months to live, and they are denied because of their earnings. We don't even make a medical determination because they are still working SGA (see above for definition). Then when they quit, there is a 5 month waiting period and they're dead before they're ever due a payment.
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Mandatory truth serum at each interview. Seriously, it's all in the people. Interfaces to verify information with other agencies are all well and good, but there comes a point where we are going to become Big Brother. So, I guess my honest answer is this: TRAINING to produce skilled claim interviewers who know what to look for and how to probe out the truth. And slowgrind - I'm not ignoring your question, I want to think on it a while longer. I'll get to you, I promise!
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First of all, you're not necessarily entitled to disability at all; this is one of the biggest misunderstandings in my opinion. Assuming you've been paying SS taxes and are eligible by non-medical standards, they will then evaluate your case by looking at multiple factors: age, education, and work history.
You may never be able to work construction again, but based on your background, you may reasonably be expected to work a desk job. Another person may not have that same history, and their case may be decided differently.
Example - I took a claim from a 26 year old hairdresser who had to have one of her hands amputated - pretty difficult to style hair one-handed! She was denied based on the fact that she had a basic college education and it was reasonably plausible for her to 'start over' at her age.
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Again, sorry for the long wait for an answer!
In my office, all of the area funeral homes fax over a form called an SSA-721 Funeral Director's Notification of Death on everyone who comes through their doors.
Other times, people call in and let us know that their family members have died - if they were receiving benefits, we suspend them until we have actual proof.
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