Social Security Administration employees this year will receive an extra day off to celebrate Thanksgiving, according to a report from Federal News Radio's Mike Causey.The day after Thanksgiving AND Columbus Day AND President's Day?
SSA Commissioner Michael Astrue told nonemergency employees they do not have to report to work on Nov. 26, the Friday after Thanksgiving. Thursday is a federal holiday. Friday won't be considered a holiday for pay and leave purposes, but workers will receive their normal pay, according to Astrue.According to Causey's report, Astrue said SSA employees have "faced unprecedented workloads and unprecedented hostility from an increasingly stressed public. While many government agencies understandably have moved backward in this climate, you have moved forward."
It's not clear yet whether other agencies and departments will follow SSA's example.
Oct 26, 2010
Social Security Employees To Get Extra Day Off At Thanksgiving
From Government Executive:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
First time I've ever seen this, though my memory may be bad. Frankly, I always hoped they'd change Thanksgiving to the fourth Friday in November from the fourth Thursday. I always kept a skeleton staff on that Friday-typically a slow day anyway.
BTW, Columbus Day and Presidents' Day are established Federal holidays. Nice going for the Commish to give his troops an extra day. They work hard and deserve it.
"unprecedented hostility from an increasingly stressed public"
If credited as true,this suggest the government should give stronger efforts not an extra day off.
it is essentially a wash since Christmas and New Year's Day fall on Saturdays, there is no possibility of giving the day before or day after either as a holiday as sometimes happened when the holiday was a weekday. Of course, the Federal observance for those days this year is the Friday before. Thus, SSA will be closed 12/24 & 12/31.
It is my experience that beginning the week of Thanksgiving through President's day, the excuse "we are short staffed due to vacations" and other refrains re: the Holidays, will add a 5th month to the usual 4 months it takes the FO's, DDS's and ODARs to accomplish anything. So what's another day?
A lot of this end-of-the year slowdown is due to the "use or lose" rule, whereby if one carries over more than 240 hours of accrued annual leave, it's forfeited. Managers feel the need to allow too many of these employees off at the end of they year so that things are even slower than they would otherwise be. I've always felt that it's up to the employee to manage his or her leave, not the manager. If they don't take off enough during the year, their loss.
First time this day off has been given in my 35 years. Always just a skeleton staff anyways, so no real loss of productivity to the agency. actually a nice gesture by Astrue, whom I have certainly given more than my share of snipes.
Maybe a last breather before the new year and the coming budget cuts after the election.
Post a Comment