Law Commons^™

Job Incidence Numbers In Social Security Disability Claims: A Case Study And Analysis, Kevin Liebkemann

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The Social Security Administration (SSA) processes numerous disabled worker applications each year. In adult disability claims, SSA employs a strict five-step sequential disability evaluation to decide whether a person is disabled. Many adult Social Security Disability claimants either win or lose at the fifth and final step, where an SSA adjudicator decides whether there is “a significant number of jobs (in one or more occupations) having requirements which you are able to meet with your physical or mental abilities and vocational qualifications.” This article examines the vocational evidence that SSA uses to decide the significant number of jobs issue. It …

The Impact Of Social Security Of Dependents And Financing Of Post-Secondary Education Of Dependents On Support Obligations In Particularly California Divorces After The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017, John R. Dorocak

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made alimony in divorce decrees and separation agreements entered into after December 31, 2018, neither deductible by the payor nor income to the payee for federal income tax purposes. Likely, that change in the tax law will result in less income to payees in a divorce and higher taxes for payors. In California, support in divorces is basically calculated by the software program Dissomaster. With payors facing higher taxes, such payors may look for possible sources of additional income for paying support. Payors may receive a credit in California against the support obligation …

Individuals As "Employees" Or "Contractors": Why It Matters What You Are Called When It Comes To Federal Taxes, Robert Eisentrout

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

When we file federal taxes, our individual tax burdens are affected by whether our employers and the IRS classify us as “employees” or “contractors.” Today, that distinction is not a neat one. Classifying workers as “employees” or “contractors” belies increasing similarities—like the ability to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic—between those classifications. With those increasing similarities in mind, this Note makes two arguments about the employee / contractor distinction in federal tax law. First, federal tax law draws an increasingly arbitrary and unfair line between employees and contractors given the modern substantive convergence of work done as an “employee” or …

Immigration Policy: A Look At Its History And Its Future, Melisa Fumbarg

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This comment will examine immigration in the United States, specifically by addressing questions involving the constitutionality of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and removal procedures. Part II will look at the historical background of immigration policy in the United States, including past amnesties and the latest reform, DACA. Part III will analyze DACA and why it was rescinded. Part IV will discuss one the most detrimental consequences of DACA being rescinded—deportation, and the constitutional limits of removal procedures. Part V will deploy some future predictions on immigration and the next steps Congress should take to ensure that there is …

Paternalism And The Rise Of The Disability State, David W. Engel, Jeffrey S. Wolfe

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

A Practical Look At Ending Homelessness, Aimee Majoue

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Modernizing Disability Income For Cancer Survivors, Ann C. Hodges

Hofstra Labor & Employment Law Journal

The medical progress in cancer treatment is worthy of celebration, as survivors of many cancers are living longer. This good news, however, comes with challenges for those survivors. Empirical evidence from researchers at cancer centers demonstrates the devastating impact that cancer has on employment, resulting in serious financial stress for survivors and their families. My previous research used this empirical data to recommend changes in employment laws to meet the need of survivors to maintain employment. This article builds on the prior research by using the empirical evidence of the employment effects of cancer to recommend changes in the disability …

Promoting Retirement Security For Low-Income Workers In Illinois: An Analysis And Lessons For Other States, Philip C. Aka, Chidera V. Oku, Murna Habila

Akron Law Review

This Article makes suggestions for promoting retirement security among low-income workers in Illinois with pointed lessons for workers in other U.S. states. Adapting a framework from a previous study by the principal author, the Article portrays retirement preparedness for low-income workers in Illinois as a function of changes in Social Security, employer-sponsored pensions, and personal assets—the famed “three-legged stool” of retirement income—synchronized with reduction of disparities between socioeconomic groups in education, healthcare, and housing. Many studies on retirement security focus excessively on the national level sometimes at the expense of the subnational phenomena that complicate retirement security and increase the …

Save The Social Security Disability Trust Fund! And Reduce Ssi Exposure To The General Fund, Daniel F. Solomon

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Adjudicasaurus Rex, Jeffrey S. Wolfe

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This article proposes a simple theme. While many issues plague the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs, only reform of the hearings and appeals process can solve the decades-long (and growing) hearings backlog. Only then, can the remaining questions regarding the solvency of the DI trust fund be meaningfully addressed. As it now stands, the ongoing backlog of pending hearings and appeals feeds the twin plagues of rising costs and increasing delay. These are the very issues that drove the federal courts in the passage of the Civil Justice Reform Act of 1990 (CJRA). This article provides …

Neuroscience And Health Law: An Integrative Approach, Stacey A. Tovino J.D., Ph.D.

Akron Law Review

Neuroscience is one of the fastest growing scientific fields in terms of the numbers of scientists and the knowledge being gained. In recent years, both the scope of neuroscience and the methodologies employed by neuroscientists have broadly expanded, from biochemical and genetic analysis of individual nerve cells and their molecular constituents, to the imaging of brain structure and function. Perhaps the most significant recent neuroscientific achievement is the ability of neuroimaging technologies, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), to image brain function. Clinicians and scientists use fMRI not only to map sensory, motor, and cognitive function, but also to study …

The Civil Rights Of Sexually Exploited Youth In Foster Care, Dale Margolin Cecka

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

With Marriage On The Decline And Cohabitation On The Rise, What About Marital Rights For Unmarried Partners?, Lawrence W. Waggoner

ACTEC Law Journal

This article draws attention to a cultural shift in the formation of families that has been and is taking place in this country and in the developed world.

Part I uses recent government data to trace the decline of marriage and the rise of cohabitation in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, the population grew by 9.71%, but the husband and wife households only grew by 3.7%, while the unmarried couple households grew by 41.4%. A counter-intuitive finding is that the early 21st century data show little correlation between the marriage rate and economic conditions.

Because of the Supreme …

Social Insecurity: A Modest Proposal For Remedying Federal District Court Inconsistency In Social Security Cases, Jonah J. Horwitz

Pace Law Review

This Article addresses a relatively narrow but consequential problem in the system: the inadequacy of federal judicial resolution of appeals from the denial of Social Security disability benefits. It addresses the problem with an equally narrow, and hopefully equally consequential, solution: granting a published district court decision in such a case the power of binding precedent with respect to the judicial district in which the opinion is issued. In so doing, greater uniformity, consistency, fairness, and efficiency would be brought to a process that is badly in need of all.

The Article proceeds in five parts. Part I provides some …

Retirement Security: Leveraging The Research And Development Tax Credit, Tristen J. Cohen

Marquette Elder's Advisor

The long-term health and stability of the social security program is currently being threatened by significant demographic shifts and petty political gamesmanship. The importance of the program combined with the significance of the chance of insolvency requires that some action be taken in the present to mitigate problems in the future. Congress can do this by decreasing benefits, raising taxes, or finding alternative ways to raise revenue. One such alternative is investing in program that will increase economic activity and productivity. This paper argues that the Startup Innovation Credit Act of 2013 leverages the research and development credit to create …

Symposium: The Legal And Ethical Implications Of Posthumous Reproduction, Trent Stechschulte

Journal of Law and Health

On March 22, 2013, the Journal of Law and Health of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law hosted a symposium entitled the “Legal and Ethical Implications of Posthumous Reproduction” in response to the United States Supreme Court case Astrue v Capato. In Astrue, Karen Capato used Robert Capato’s sperm to successfully conceive twins by in vitro fertilization eighteen months after Robert Capato’s death. Karen then applied for Social Security Survivorship Benefits on behalf of the twins, but to her dismay the Social Security Administration denied her application, prompting litigation on the twins’ behalf. The Supreme Court held that the posthumously conceived children …

Suspension Of Social Security Benefits To Incarcerated Felons, David Z. Nisnewitz

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Note: Bush V. Shalala And Pratts V. Chater: Social Security Disability Ping Pong And Contrasting Approaches In The Second Circuit: The Central Role Of An Active Alj, Jorge J. Vera Jr.

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Administrative Law Judges Under Fire: Association Of Administrative Law Judges, Inc. V. Heckler, David J. Agatstein

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

The Right To Cross-Examine Physicians In Social Security Disability Cases, Victor G. Rosenblum

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This Article examines the alternative readings and rationales of Richardson v. Perales regarding the cross-examination of reporting physicians in social security disability claim hearings. First, Part II compares the Sixth and Second Circuit's interpretation of the Perales rule, which supports the SSA's regulation and interpretation, to the Fifth Circuit's interpretation, which explicitly proclaims cross-examination, once duly requested, to be an absolute right. Part III questions whether the Perales Court's declaration that the SSA is “an [impartial] adjudicator and not . . . an advocate or adversary” remains empirically valid. Part IV discusses the SSA's recent assertions of management prerogatives that …

A Specialized Court For Social Security? A Critique Of Recent Proposals, Robert E. Rains

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Was The Third Circuit Off Base In Failing To Accord Chevron Deference To Social Security Administration's Interpretation Of The Statute's Definition Of Disability?, Victor G. Rosenblum

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Adjudications By Administrative Law Judges Pursuant To The Social Security Act Are Adjudications Pursuant To The Administrative Procedure Act , Robin J. Arzt

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Recommendations For A New Independent Adjudication Agency To Make The Final Administrative Adjudications Of Social Security Act Benefits Claims , Robin J. Arzt

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Tobacco Abuse And Disability Benefits: Response To The 2003 Meisburg Analysis, Kathryn A. Kroggel

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Toward A Unified And Reciprocal Disability System, Paul Armstrong

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Substantial Evidence Review In Social Security Cases As An Issue Of Fact, Morton Denlow

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Reconfiguring Social Security For The 21st Century, Susan A. Channick

Marquette Elder's Advisor

This article focuses on In the Matter of the Guardianship and Protective Placement of Jimmie L. v. Sauk County. The guardian in the case was appointed in one state, but the guardian desired to relocate to another state. The article also explores the use of the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act where issues arise in interstate guardianship.

Elderlaw: The Top Ten Social Security Questions, Andy Landis

Marquette Elder's Advisor

No abstract provided.

Social Security Reform: Creating Transformative Opportunities For African Americans, Pheobe Weaver Williams

Marquette Elder's Advisor

The Social Security retirement income program provides important security to nearly all workers in the U.S. Professor Williams reviews aspects of the Social Security system and proposes reforms in order to provide equitable protection.