Statement
of John Riordan, AFGE, before the Committee on Government Reform
Subcommittee on Government Management, Information and Technology, May 18, 1999 |
Mr.
Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to address the
topic of Customer Service at the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs by the
Department of Labor.
My name is John Riordan. I am First Vice President of the American Federation
of Government Employees, AFL-CIO, Council 220 which represents approximately 25,000
Social Security Administration employees in field offices throughout the country. I
have been employed by the Social Security Administration for over 25 years and as a union
representative, I have represented many SSA employees who have been |
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< Ms.
Dianne McGuiness
of SSA, testifying at subcommittee hearing
McGuinness said OWCP personnel threatened to deny her claim if she |
sought
help from her congressional representatives. When she gained access to her file
after many unsuccessful attempts, she discovered it was missing information, and included
information from another person's file, she said. OWCP relied on a medical opinion
that conflicted with her own doctor's, though the OWCP doctor examined her for less than
four minutes, she said.
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injured on the job
and who have applied for workers' compensation. I am currently representing four
employees. None of these employees are receiving compensation benefits at present although
they applied for benefits many months ago. I encounter difficulties contacting agents
because of the voice mail system. You are no longer able to speak with an agent. Instead,
I have to leave voice recorded messages. When I receive no response, I have to write to
them even though I work in the same building (201 Varick St., New York City) where they
are located. They imposed a strict policy restricting visitors to their offices a couple
of years ago. I want to recount briefly an incident which occurred on Sept. 16, 1998 when
I accompanied a customer who wanted to deliver some documents to OWCP office at 201 Varick
St. The customer who I accompanied is Dianne McGuinness who testified earlier before the
Subcommittee.
Ms. Dianne McGuinness came to my office and we reviewed some of the documents
she wanted to submit to OWCP. Ms. McGuinness wanted to deliver her appeal of the denial of
the continuation of her Workers' Compensation. I was at that time President of AFGE Local
3369 which represents SSA FO employees in New York City, Long Island and Westchester
County. We took the elevator from the 11th Floor to the 7th Floor where OWCP is located.
The door to the office was locked and there was no mail slot. While searching for a place
to deliver the appeal, a man appeared at the end of the long corridor and started
shouting. I tried to ignore him but Ms. McGuinness said to me that he was shouting at us.
As the man approached he was still shouting and indeed it was directed towards us. We
attempted to explain to him why we were there but he didn't stop talking to us so he could
hear our response. He told us to leave the building immediately. He said we had to have an
appointment to be there. I told him that I had called to make an appointment earlier but
no one responded to our calls. Ms. McGuinness and I told him that we were federal
employees. The man responded that he didn't care whether or not we were federal employees
and that he would call the security guards to remove us if we did not leave. Ms.
McGuinness had made an appointment through the Senator's office to deliver the appeal, but
she was not allowed to tell the man this because he would not let her talk. The man was
visibly upset and disturbed by our presence. Ms. McGuinness asked him if he was Mr. Kenneth Hamlett (the NY Regional Director OWCP) and he said he
was. Ms. McGuinness introduced herself to him and Mr. Hamlett replied, "Oh, Ms.
McGuinness, we're going to get you back to work real soon." I introduced myself to
Mr. Hamlett. I told him that I worked in the building and was not told that the 7th Floor
was restricted. We asked Mr. Hamlett to accept the appeal and he took it. But Ms.
McGuinness asked him to sign a receipt. He did. I was shocked to learn that the man
shouting at us was the OWCP Regional Director.
Two days later, Sept. 18, 1998, Mr. Hamlett called me in my office to hold a
conference call with Ms. McGuinness. Mr. Hamlett told us that Jonathan Lawrence, District
Director, and Kevin Kates, Senior Claims Examiner and another claims examiner were on the
call with him. However, only Mr. Hamlett spoke during the conversation. Mr. Hamlett
angrily stated that his staff was presently engaged in responding to Congressman Ackerman
and others concerning Dianne McGuinness. He accused Ms. McGuinness of calling all over the
country. Mr. Hamlett said he had heard from his head office about her calls. Ms.McGuinness
asked him if she could see her file and Mr. Hamlett responded that he would furnish her
the part of the file she does not already have via mail. However, Mr. Hamlett said she
would not be permitted to visit the office to review her file by going to Room 740. Mr.
Hamlett said that Ms. McGuinness would be referred to a referee for a decision on her
disability. He said he made his decision without the use of the appeal Ms McGuinness had
presented to him Sept. 16. He said that Ms McGuinness's appeal was not ripe.
Ms McGuinness asked him about her physical therapy being disallowed and Mr.
Hamlett said he made the decision based on medical evidence. I asked him to continue the
physical therapy at least until OWCP makes a decision on her pending disability and he
said no. I did not understand his reasoning to stop the physical therapy prior to the
decision of the referee. Even the second-opinion doctors had recommended that she be
provided with physical therapy for at least 12 weeks. Mr. Hamlett replied that she was
injured too long ago to benefit from physical therapy. It was only effective early in the
injury, he contended. I said that his decision was inconsistent with the medical evidence
and that physical therapy should be supported until there is a decision on the disability.
Mr. Hamlett said no.
Ms McGuinness asked if she could participate in the selection process of the
referee. Mr. Hamlett said that he selected the referee and that Ms McGuinness can have no
participation in the selection process. Ms McGuinness protested stating that regulations
permit her to participate in the selection process. Mr. Hamlett said no they don't. Mr.
Hamlett stated that he had alerted the building management that anyone found on the 7th
floor without an appointment with his office would be escorted out of the building.
During the entire conversation, Mr. Hamlett spoke in an angry and loud tone
of voice. Ms. McGuinness asked him not to shout. Mr. Hamlett maintained his angry and loud
tone throughout our conversation. Mr. Hamlett concluded the call by stating that he would
send Ms McGuinness her file from June 21, 1996 to the present, i.e., the part of the file
she did not already have.
I also want to comment on two other issues that are serious drawbacks in
dealing with OWCP for employees I have represented. The first is that it takes too long to
receive payment after filing a claim after having submitted complete and necessary medical
evidence. The earliest case which I have handled as representative was paid in about three
months. But the norm for the most cases I have handled is at least six months or even much
longer. Employees encounter severe hardship waiting to be placed in payment status.
Often there are delays because the wrong forms or obsolete forms were
completed or because employees were not given the correct forms in the first place by
their agency. For example, I have had many problems with the SSA personnel office who take
an inordinate amount of time to process and to send the employee's workers' compensation
claim to OWCP. The second issue, which I mentioned earlier, is the inability to reach
anyone at OWCP. The voice mail system is frustrating and often
does not work right. More often than not, there is no call back after leaving a message.
There is insufficient staff to process the workload and employees seem to have become
numbed by the backlog of cases they are not able to get to. I strongly recommend that you
support funding the agency for more personnel to improve customer service and to clear the
backlog of cases.
Status of three of the cases I am currently handling.
Case A is an employee with a carpal tunnel syndrome injury. He filed a claim
for his injury and it was approved. He later returned to work and asked for some
accommodations so he could perform the job without incurring injury. SSA denied him the
requested accommodation. He had to stop working again due to the pain of his carpal tunnel
and tendonitis injuries. He filed for compensation 11/17/98. He has submitted all required
medical evidence, but he is still awaiting approval of his claim and payment.
Case B is an employee who had a stress-related injury and she left work in
Sept. '97. She returned to work June '98 and continues to work on the job. Her claim was
approved by OWCP, but she is still waiting for payment.
Case C is an employee who was receiving compensation for an injury she
received in a fall while working. OWCP pressured her to return to work one day a week. She
did so but due to pain was unable to show up for the one day a week on most occasions. She
again filed for full compensation and OWCP not only denied that, they decided to deny her
entire compensation. Because the employee could not return to work, she filed for
disability retirement under OPM. I represented her before the MSPB and it was settled with
her claim approved. We appealed her denial of Worker's Compensation, and it was recently
reversed on appeal and awarded retroactively. This award covers the part-time claim not
the full-time claim she filed. She is awaiting payment. She continues to receive
disability retirement benefits while awaiting Worker's Compensation.
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