From a POMS Transmittal Sheet:
... The Social Security Administration (SSA) disbanded the Office of International Programs, which was responsible for negotiating and implementing bilateral Social Security agreements, and merged the office into various components throughout SSA Headquarters. SSA transferred the certificate of coverage workload to the Office of Central Operations, Office of Earnings and International Operations. The Office of Data Exchange and Policy Publication absorbed the totalization negotiation and implementation workloads and was renamed the Office of Data Exchange, Policy Publications, and International Negotiations (ODEPPIN). ...
Many people have work careers that span more than one country. Preventing situations where such people end up without social security benefits in any country is important to all nations. Many American companies have employees overseas. Many overseas companies have employees in the United States. Avoiding double taxation of wages for social security is important to all nations. All of this will become more and more important as time goes along. "America First" only gets you so far. We need more bilateral social security agreements. We're lacking agreements with Mexico, India, Argentina, the Philippines and Israel, to name just a few countries. This isn't about giving anyone, especially foreign nationals, special benefits. It's basic equity for Americans who spend part of their employment careers working outside the U.S. and for American companies who do business overseas.
Interesting. OIO used to be a place to put managers/execs who needed to be sidelined for whatever reason (usually internal politics). Not always, but a popular spot, except it used to have some nice travel perks for a select few. The work was specialized enough to seem to require experts in a single organization. Almost sounds more like a reorg to show elimination of "unneeded structure" than something done that will have better efficiency. But hey, what made sense XX years ago may indeed no longer make sense in 2020.
ReplyDeleteOr, it sounds like the typical bureaucratic shuffle seen frequently in government agencies. But, these days, we have to look for more reasons to hate Trump, don't we?
ReplyDeleteGetting results back from OIO. Took 9-12 months. If it required getting information from another country took longer. I remember tracking on MDWs. Maybe this will speed process up.
ReplyDeleteThis really sounds like a nightmare to manage. "Data exchange, policy publications, AND international negotiations?" It's one thing to consolidate and reorganize like offices, but this really sounds like a lot of random jobs were just smashed together to "reduce layers of management."
ReplyDeleteThe same thing recently happened with the Office of International Operations, which merged with the Office of Earnings Operations to form the new OEIO.
So now with OIP gone, there is no office dedicated to negotiate totalization agreements or write policies for people outside the United States. With OIO gone, there is no office dedicated to foreign claims.
I hope this is just overconsolidation run amok and not an intentional effort to harm "foreigners."
It was pc to remove the international title. I was in London once and there was a notice that SSA would be at the embassy the next day and available. Not a bad gig! We used to deny people overseas a hearing. Do we still do that as no hearings are in person at present so the technology is there. Thanks to Charles for the constant stream of information. It is invaluable.
ReplyDeleteHave to consolidate as SSA's budget isn't increasing. All those mid-high graded central office jobs are coming to an end.
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