Social Security Administration News

Chairman Daniel B. Maffei announced today the hiring of Linda S. Harris Crovella to serve as an Administrative Law Judge of the Federal Maritime Commission.Judge Crovella joins the Commission after serving as an Administrative Law Judge with the Social Security Administration in Richmond, Va. and Buffalo, N.Y. for the past six years. Prior to joining the Social Security Administration, she worked at the National Labor Relations Board as a Field Attorney, investigating and litigating unfair labor practice charges…

As in most if not all industries, the maritime sector experiences many more near-misses than actual casualties. And yet, information regarding near-misses is seldom shared outside the particular company or vessel/facility involved. This is a needless waste of valuable learning opportunities.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established the first formal confidential near-miss reporting system in the federal government in 1975. The Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) was transferred in 1976 to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for collection of information…

Representatives G. K. Butterfield (D-NC) and Walter Jones (R-NC) introduced bipartisan legislation this week that would make deserving World War II U.S. Merchant Mariners eligible for honorary veterans’ status and certain veterans’ benefits, Rep. Butterfield's office said in a press release. H.R. 1288, the World War II Merchant Marine Service Act of 2013,would expand the list of documents accepted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to prove service and to grant honorary veterans status to a forgotten segment of the World War II Merchant Marine, the Coastwise Merchant Seamen.

During the 70th observance of D-Day, 10,000 surviving World War II American merchant marines, the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots and U.S. Representative G.K. Butterfield will be pressing the Senate to pass legislation giving these veterans benefits they were promised but have been denied for decades. According to MM&P, a few weeks before the D-Day anniversary, on May 22, 2014, the U.S. House of Representatives approved H.R. 4435 – the Defense Authorization Act.

Judge Walter J. Brudzinski has been selected for the position of Chief, Administrative Law Judge, U.S. Coast Guard. In this capacity, Chief Judge Brudzinski will provide supervision and administration of the Coast Guard Administrative Law Judge program. Judge Brudzinski has more than 16 years of experience as an Administrative Law Judge and has been with the U.S. Coast Guard since 2003. Prior to his initial Administrative Law Judge appointment in 1996 with the Social Security Administration…

Don Horton of North Carolina started his career on barges during World War II at the age of 10. His father, mother, sister and brothers all worked on U.S. merchant marine coastwise tugs and barges during the war. In 1942 his eldest brother, William Lee Horton, Jr., was killed when a German U-boat attacked his tug, nine miles of the coast of Virginia. The Merchant Mariners Act of 1988 granted veterans status to merchant mariners who served during WWII. However, the small group of merchant mariners who served on tugs and barges…

The bill includes a major (and lengthy) title devoted to ballast water treatment. This would, if enacted, make it a national goal that, by 2015, ballast water when discharged into waters of the United States will contain no living (viable) organisms. This would constitute a ridiculously high standard and would be virtually impossible to test for. Ships would be required to have ballast water management plans approved by the US Coast Guard, but the agency would be given sufficient…

Paul I. Perez, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Steven J Trent, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Frank Cioffi, Resident Agent-in-Charge, Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), Lance Newman, Special Agent-in-Charge, Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), today announced the unsealing of indictments and the arrest of 14 individuals on charges that include social security fraud, possession of counterfeit alien registration card, and unlawful re-entry following deportation. This has been a yearlong investigation that culminated early today as federal, state, and local law enforcement began rounding up those individuals indicted.

Last year, United States deep-draft seaports and seaport-related businesses generated approximately 8.4 million American jobs and added nearly $2 trillion to the economy, according to a just-completed study by a Lancaster, Pa.-based business consulting service that specializes in port-sector economic impact studies. Based upon 2006 U.S. port cargo statistics and thousands of recent port-sector interviews, Martin Associates late this month completed an in-depth study into the economic impacts of coastal and Great Lakes ports, examining aspects ranging from jobs and wages to business and tax revenues. Of the 8,397,301 Americans working for ports and port-related industries in 2006…