Crickets from Commissioner Saul.
No one expects a fully formed plan but the obvious first step is for him to get past his obstinacy so the agency not only allows but requires as much telework as possible. Merely recommending frequent hand washing isn’t leadership. Maybe Saul gets all his information from Fox News and still thinks Covid-19 is some hoax invented to damage Trump.
By the way, the union keeps saying Saul is rarely in his office. I have no way of knowing the truth behind this allegation. Does anyone out there have real knowledge?
43 comments:
Probably waiting for a Constitutional amendment so that he can ban brown people, Italians and Asians from SSA offices. Maybe I'm being unfair, but its hard to expect anything more rational from this administration after last night's dumpster fire of an oval-office address.
Social security employees should walk out enmasse and call full attention to this. They see this as a golden opportunity to damage the agency beyond repair.
The Commissioner spends most of his time in the New York regional office. His immediate predecessors spent most of their time in the New York and Denver regions. The last Commissioner who came to SSA Headquarters full time was Carolyn Colvin.
Regarding the hand washing and the Coronvirus, it is also notable that the current Commissioner ordered the agency to stop buying nasal tissue and hand sanitizer for Headquarters employees some months ago.
So to sum up - no tissues or hand sanitizer, employees together much more frequently because telework in curtailed, mo ingredients workers into the HQ campus from outlying buildings, and a new, extremely viral illness. It's the perfect storm for a disaster here at SSA.
It isnt just SSA, it is across the government.
It's crazy. Everything in my city is shut down except SSA. The ride in felt like a scene from the end of days.
And we still have old, sick people coming in for hearings, all sitting together in a waiting room.
The other agencies in our building are teleworking or taking admin leave.
The guidance is essentially, unless you have COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone with COVID-19, or just came back from a place like China, you still need to come to the office. The leadership here does not appear to understand the concept of prevention. There may be people at work already who have COVID-19 and don't know it, and the longer you continue to make people come in, the more risk of transmission you introduce to the workplace, and to wherever people go when they leave. Either they don't understand this or they don't care.
Cannot wait for President Biden to fire Saul for gross negligence. He is opening himself up to class action lawsuits by both employees and the public for keeping the offices open. I would think, for no other reason then the preservation of his wealth, that he would take action.
I'm curious if anyone is talking about telephonic hearings. We are old-fashioned and still largely demand in-person hearings for clients as a matter of due process, but with the current situation, it may not be worth the health risks, for us, the clients, and the ALJs.
There were Supreme Court oral arguments recently about whether the head of the CFPB serves the pleasure of the president or is entitled to stay for the entire five-year term (unless of course being fired for cause). The consensus seems to be that the court will say it's up to the president, which means Biden will be able to come in and fire whatever hack Trump installed there. But it will be interesting to see if the precedent established by the ruling means Biden will be able to do the same with SSA. Are there any court watchers out there who have followed this case and have a sense of how that might go?
Maybe we should all file Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuits en masse for Andrew Saul's negligence (or maybe even intentional acts) as a result of our being Injured by a fatal disease instead of working from home and staying healthy and safe. Hey Andrew, your employees do not work for the CDC and are not front-line workers in infectious disease environments.
Wake up and become a true leader for once in your silver-spooned life. Thank you.
My guess is that they don't want to shut down hearing offices and leave ALJs and attorneys without any work to do.
It’s absolutely rediculous. The elementary schools in my district closed because a teacher has the virus. Guess where I am today? In the office. I am not in the FO and used to telework two days per week with no issues. But now, I’m on transit, coming from a county with cases, into a county with cases when I could be at home, away from my coworkers with diabetes, compromised immune systems, and advanced age.
I have been exposed to it and was told to bring in medical documentation stating as such and how it affects me to perform my daily duties. Saul doesn't care. Gruber doesn't care. Let one of them or their family members get it.
you're right, he really wants everyone to die so he doesn't have to fire them.....idiotic
@10:55 has a decent point. As it currently stands, the commissioner can only be removed by the President for neglect in office or malfeasance of duty. A fully reasonable argument can be made that the current "do nothing" stance, which unnecessarily exposes employees to the virus solely to continue the charade that "we can't function with telework," would qualify. Especially for those employees who already telework for significant amounts of time, such as decision writers.
The last email we received about COVID-19 was on March 6th where the second sentence was, "For the general American public who are unlikely to be exposed to this virus at this time, the immediate health risk from COVID-19 is considered low." It also said to stay home if you are sick, cover nose and mouth with a tissue when sneezing or coughing, and wash hands frequently. Yes, at SSA we are taking every step possible to keep employees, and the public we serve, safe. We are washing hands and sneezing into tissues. Yeah, that's the ticket.
The ALJ union suggested telephone hearings be granted for claimants who ask for them out of concerns for the virus. SSA HQ said no.
I'm sure he is just waiting for marching orders from the Administration. He doesn't have the authority to buck the company line. Once he gets the word on what to do he will implement a plan. Hopefully, it won't be too little, too late. Unless it already is.
Please, please, please tell me that you are making this up.
My law firm said some ALJs are open to letting claimants and attorneys appear via phone. This is not ideal but worth a shot. Seems like disability claims may be more important now than ever.
Saul is just out of touch. At first, his ban of telework seemed like a new boss cracking the whip. Or, as some have suggested, he is trying to phase out employees to quit. Whatever the reason, Saul seems unprepared to lead a large SSA in this new world.
Getting rid of telework was never a good idea. It's like taking a step back. Now, it seems essential and the only way to move forward.
Better Call Saul if he is ever in the office.
The administration obviously isn't doing too much to stop executive branch administrative agencies from widening telework as MULTIPLE AGENCIES have widely expanded telework already.
It's that Saul and the rest of the reactionary gang are much more worried about keeping the numbers good and keeping telework withheld so that they can keep attrition high. That's so obviously at this point their primary concerns, with the health and safety (and continued living!) of their employees and the public we serve a distant concern, if it's even a concern at all to them.
This is unconscionable--our inaction is most surely going to result in more sickness and death. It's on their hands.
@3:00, I question your information. I was on the all-manager call yesterday when the Chief ALJ directly stated that ALJs should grant telephone hearings when requested. Also, HQ has no input on how individual hearings are held. Allowing telephone appearance is up to the discretion of the ALJ.
One of my partners was speaking with the chief ALJ where we practice. He says they've been in constant meetings, but nothing has been decided yet. Phone hearings are on the table.
Hogan and his team showed strong leadership today.
We heard today the higher ups are working on it, but nailing down all the variations on leave etc. is "complicated." Going to be even more "complicated" when a bunch of people get sick because they were sitting around sneezing on each otherfor hours in a waiting room.
If you know that you are sick then use your sick leave. If you have a compromised immune system then take normal precautions. If you think your only alternative is to telework, then I pity you if you have to go to the supermarket, bank, mall, place of worship, or any other public space.
The.point.is.the.cruelty.
In our office in HQ, there is NO hand sanitizer anywhere . My boss told me the other day "SSA DOES NOT PAY FOR THAT ANYMORE" Further, there is no soap in the break rooms , and no paper towels. IT is sickening. The lack of telework flexibility is nutty and irrational. I can't believe they don't add more telework for corona even just to CYA.
More broadly, I personally am shell shocked at how SSA executives are treating the field office employees as well as high GS HQ people with decades of experience. Chilling vibe. It is Saul and his folks-- no question in my mind.
Frankly, the low morale among HQ folks (and FO) is Like nothing I have experienced in 20 years, GOP or DEM ADMIN.
It has now also begun to trickle down to middle management. Even our once nice direct managers have become Saul's foot solders in an effort to punish their workers and treat them like cashiers at dollar general, from GS 2 to GS 15.
What is their goal? I have no idea.
Some guesses:
get people to quit, de-professionalize the bureaucracy, be cruel b/c they have no morals, gut the DI program in stealth ways, and get people to think the OASI program is too generous so they can cut it in the future?
keep safe out there
I wrote last fall that ending telework at the beginning of cold and flu season, was a terrible idea for SSA.
I didn't expect this disaster with the coronavirus but even without this, Saul's decision was reckless, cruel, reactionary, and dangerous.
So many people die from the flu and car accidents. ,One of my coworkers was killed in an accident driving to work at SSA.With telework these incidents can be reduced, and one doesn't catch the flu (or coronovirus) at home alone working.
Saul should not be allowed to continue as Commissioner. His reputation is shot, he is despised by SSA employees,.He has done enough damage already.
This is getting crazy. I am in the Atlanta region. We have cases in Ga, specifically the metro Atlanta counties. Our governor and community is doing a fantastic job. SSA is located in a federal building with about 4500 other federal workers. Many of them are now teleworking but we are not. I feel like it’s sort of crazy to keep the building open, especially since the governor has asked state employees to telework, the mayor asked city employees to stay home, 250,000 kids are going to be out of school, events are canceled, sports are postponed and most federal employees are able to telework. Coca-Cola, Sun Trust bank, Turner Broadcasting, Google Atlanta, Mail Chimp to name a few corporations with headquarters here have all asked their employees to obey the governors wishes and stay home. SSA is fully equipped to telework. We did it for 6 years before Saul. I’m fact the building closed during the Super Bowl here, but now SSA leadership is putting everyone at risk coming in when we could be quarantining ourselves the hundreds of thousands of other people here.
I work at PC7 and the stress and the rumor mill makes it very difficult to work,
Late this afternoon the rumor was that an employee in PC7 had tested positive for coronovirus, and that 5 day per week telework would be instituted next week,
If this is true, it would be so much easier to implement emergency 100% teleworks if our regular telework had never been terminated last fall.
The CEO of a local grocery store chain emailed customers to address the virus, yet nothing from Saul.
One of the rumors we heard today was that the agency VPN wasn't ready for all telework-ready employees teleworking at the same time. If that's true, that's a catastrophic failure of Continuity of Operations planning.
"Allowing telephone appearance is up to the discretion of the ALJ."
Technically, with the regulation change, it's up to the HOCALJ as they have to approve the manner of appearance of witnesses, including the parties involved. I've had multiple requests already for this accommodation for the claimants and/or reps, and I have had to get my HOCALJ to sign off on my approval. It won't be an issue in my specific office, but I can see how an unreasonable HOCALJ in another office could cause problems.
@ 8:16
I didn't know Saul posted here. Welcome sir!
the OHIO DDS is closing MOnday for 3 weeks.
I assume folks at Woodlawn follow this blog closely. Please, for the love of God, share this article with Commissioner Saul, which is considered by the experts to be the definitive piece on COVID-19:
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
You know when they mention that hospitals will need to decide who gets oxygen and who dies? Those unluckly ones who will die due to shortages are our elderly and disabled beneficiaries!
Mr. Saul, you have the power to save many thousands of lives by closing the field offices immediately. Do it.
Thank you
Obviously if everyone who is able to telework is not put on mandatory telework and field offices are not closed to the public at a minimum, it results in gross negligence.
From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 6:04 PM
Subject: COVID-19 Update
A Message to All SSA Employees
Subject: COVID-19 Update
I know that you are anxious for additional information about our evolving plans to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Events have been rapidly changing. We are working to quickly update you as things evolve, as there are many issues we must consider for both you and the public.
Based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and local public health authorities, we will be taking steps to provide mitigation for our offices in heavily affected areas in Seattle, WA, New Rochelle, NY, and Santa Clara County, CA, and we are finalizing changes on several topics, including the expanded use of telework to continue service during this difficult time.
Andrew Saul
12:14 "One of the rumors we heard today was that the agency VPN wasn't ready for all telework-ready employees teleworking at the same time."
If this is true then it's a disaster for many beneficiaries and SSA workers too. It means it is currently impossible to keep SSA functioning at a level anywhere close to normal. All related to Saul's inexcusable decision to terminate telework last fall, and not getting us telework ready. .
Saul's Emali to employees today had a vague statement about restarting telework. But it isn't clear whether it will be reinstated nationally or just to areas with a lot of coronovirus. Also it sounds like it will just be reinstated temporally.
My thinking is that he will never admit he made a mistake in curtailing telework , and he will also try to end it again as soon as he can.Never mind that the coronovirus may abate then come back even worse in the fall.
You cannot have a telephone hearing without the express prior approval of the HOCALJ. Our office doesn't HAVE an on-site HOCALJ. We have no soap in the bathrooms - an ALJ went and bought it. Our Purell was 8 years expired.
People are going to DIE because of this lack of leadership, incompetence and lack of planning.
I don't have strong enough words for how angry this makes me.
Telework is not possible for all employees. My field office wasn't in the initial pilot, therefore we do not have the equipment, mainly soft phones, to properly conduct business from home. How can the agency mandate telework for all if we aren't able to conduct business. Those of us in more rural areas, satellite internet at home prevents us from even having the option to teleworks. While I disagree with the Agency's decision to end telework, the union gave up the fight for this in the latest contract. Employees a re quick to blame the Commissioner for this decision, they need to look at their Union representation too.
Without question, Saul is a poor leader with no concern for the employees or the public we serve. But what about the spineless OCALJ? Or even local management. Local management should step up and make decisions on what is best for their staff in their communities. Do the right thing, spineless wimps.
Wake up SSA employees. This Administration cares about you as much as they care about disability claimants.
Trump's proposal to cut the payroll tax is a clear signal of what he wants to do with SSA in his second term.
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