Obama Administration Caves In On Social Security Judges

From the New York Times: Thousands of poor Queens residents with debilitating conditions who were denied federal disability benefits would have their cases reconsidered, under a settlement proposal in a class-action lawsuit that accused judges of bias.
The lawsuit claimed that five administrative law judges with the Queens office that reviews claims for Social Security benefits had presided over hearings that trivialized the applicants’ physical and mental impairments and subjected them to harsh questioning that often brought them to tears. Now, in a settlement accepted by the plaintiffs and the Social Security Administration, the agency has agreed to remove the judges from those cases, allowing applicants — many of whom have been unable to work for years — to appear before new judges. As part of the settlement, the administration would enact new policies against bias and establish a special unit to monitor disability claims for the next 30 months. ....
The Queens office was one of the toughest in the country, according to data cited in the suit, turning away nearly half of all applicants. Its denial rate was more than twice as high as the rate in neighboring Brooklyn, where judges rejected 19 percent of applications. Many of the people denied benefits were immigrants.

The Social Security Administration declined to comment. As part of the settlement, the agency admitted no wrongdoing....

“When you go up against a situation like that, you just want to throw in the towel,” said Julia Juan, a plaintiff who appeared three times before Judge Nisnewitz and whose case has been up and down in the courts for four years.

“I’m so glad that other people won’t have to deal with that,” she said.   http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/nyregion/rejected-disability-claims-in-queens-may-be-reheard.html?ref=nyregion

Aww, too bad that some applicants had tough questions asked of them and they feel like bad while undergoing questioning. 

The applicants are asking that they receive a lifetime of payments courtesy of the U.S. taxpayers.  They ought to be asked tough questions and they feel hurt by the questioning, then too bad.

As far as the decisions, no one has proved they were cheated and that the decisions were wrong.

Further, with the huge increase of people claiming disability in the past few years because of the Obama economy, you know that many people are claiming fake disabilities so they so don't have to find a job after their unemployment compensation ran out.
No surprise this happened in New York City, home of the wimps and whiners.

So, it's too bad that the Obama administration folded and didn't back these judges but instead, sided with a bunch of whiners who had questionable cases to begin with.