From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2022 8:58 AM
Subject: Reentry Update
On Wednesday, I shared that we reached agreement with our three labor unions. I have additional updates to share about timing.
We are planning reentry and the implementation of new telework schedules for most employees on March 30, 2022. This date allows us to ensure that the necessary measures are in place to keep you and the public safe, is consistent with our union agreements, and gives us time to provide you with appropriate notice of return.
I appreciate your patience while we continue to work through the reentry process. In early February, your managers will talk with you about telework eligibility and the days for your position, as well as explain next steps including when and how to request telework.
We anticipate that field offices will restore increased in-person service to the public, without an appointment, in early April. As we expand the availability of in-person service, we will continue to encourage the public to go online, call us for help if they cannot complete their business online, and schedule appointments in advance. Customers who walk in without appointments may encounter delays.
We will begin limited in-person hearings in March with our management judges and plan to expand in-person hearings in the spring and early summer based on required notice to affected claimants.
Please plan according to the dates above. We will continue to monitor the course of the pandemic, and our reentry plan allows us respond to changing pandemic conditions.
I will continue to share updates as we move forward with our preparations for reentry.
Kilolo Kijakazi
Acting Commissioner
14 comments:
This makes absolutely no sense. It appears that the plan is to immediately revert to pre-pandemic operations in early April, but with a twist...about 50% of the FO staffs will be working from home every day.
RECIPE FOR DISASTER!!!
Typical for SSA...the telework will be a nightmare coupled with walk-in traffic which cannot be accommodated. Recipe for disaster indeed!
It's almost like the agency is intentionally creating a cluster in order to justify terminating WFH later this year.
Why allow people to walk into the FO without an appointment? This is a recipe for crowded lobbies an waiting rooms. And Covid spreading to others in the waiting room and possibly to the SSA FO employees too.
Yeah, Kijakazi's inexperience and/or lack of knowledge about FO operations is on display here. Is the concept of a phased reopening entirely lost on her? I would have expected this kind of decision from Saul, not from her.
Maybe she is not articulating the plan well and there is actually more nuance to it. However, at least on the surface, that does not appear to be the case.
If this does blow up in the agency's face, and it will, she and AFGE negotiators will share the blame.
AFGE proves useless once again if there are unlimited walkins in April at the FOs
question...why did the agency have to negotiate with the unions on going into the office. It seems they could just tell people to report to the office without these negotiations. Did they actually have a duty to bargain or are they just bending to union pressure?
It's time to go back to business as usual. Or as close to it as we can get. I've enjoyed working from home for two years. I would love more, but I never expected it to last this long. Most of the country has moved past COVID. It's time we did too. Vax or don't. Mask or don't. Everyone has the ability to be as protected as the choose to be. It's no longer about COVID. It's about bargaining and grinding axes. I'm over it. Time to move on. I hate it, but that's reality and the public deserves better than what we are giving them right now.
This is a stupid idea. Omicron is still raging and it will not be under control by March. Really dumb to jeopardize the health and well-being of the people who work at SSA.
In fairness Omicron should be behind us by early April. It is already "over" in South Africa after eight weeks.
8:38 Business as usual? Open your eyes. Covid is very bad right now.
The vaccinations are not as protective as we had thought.
Most office workers have not returned to the office (last I saw was 40% nationally) . People are even avoiding restaurants again
It is anything but business as usual.
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Unless the situation improves, I hope that SSA reconsiders this rash decision prior to March 30.
@10:22 PM The drop in cases is nearly as steep as the climb everywhere Omicron has been, and it's already underway in many parts of the US. Unless there is another variant that can get by the already widespread natural immunity, and it isn't even milder than Omicron, COVID will be of very little concern by April. The wisdom of allowing in-office visits without an appointment is still in question, though, because of the time that it tends to waste, and the staffing issues that seem to be only getting worse.
8:38 here. 10:22, I was for the initial shutdown. I was for masking. I’m for the vaccine mandate. We can not continue forever. What we have now is what we will have go forward. If you are vaccinated your risk is of death or serious illness is very low. Based on their actions, most all of our country have accepted that.
We can't just pretend like this stuff is gone. Will we have the right masks? Has anything been done to ventilate these old buildings? Before covid, people would line up in the hall at the local field office. Hearings will be a little easier, because they can be scheduled at a set time. Judges who liked to have all their claimants come at the same time will be discouraged from doing this.
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