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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Lifeguard
Are most public pools just gross lakes of bodily fluids?
Border Patrol Agent
Do you ever feel sorry for the illegals you catch trying to cross the border?
Magician
How do you feel about magicians on TV who reveal how tricks are done?
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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I thought and thought and thought about this, then forgot about Jobstr and just now spent 15 minutes trying to remember my login, which email address I used, etc.
I still don't have an answer. I find all of it fairly appalling - people stealing from their fellow man is reprehensible!
One I recently heard about a woman who receives disability, her kids receive SSI (kid's welfare disability), she was working part time, getting paid by the State for being her mother's PCA - it turns out that she wasn't even living in the same state as her mother. They were both charged with multiple counts of fraud against not only SSA but the individual states as well as Medicaid fraud.
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