Feb 8, 2022

What's Going On At OIG?

Ennis

      Back in October there was a report of serious employee dissatisfaction at Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG), centering on actions taken by the agency's Inspector General, Gail Ennis, a Trump appointee, that were viewed as hostile to the workforce.

     There may be no connection whatsoever but OIG's production of reports seems to have dropped down to near zero over the last two months. While I'm sometimes critical of OIG's reports, they're still vital to good management at Social Security.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Morale at SSA is at an all-time low. So, why would one expect anything different at the OIG part of the agency?

Anonymous said...

@12:24

Because often the OIG component within SSA is at odds with the agency, given their role to investigate fraud, waste, or abuse.

Anonymous said...

You raise a good point about SSA’s OIG. I looked at their website and not only are there fewer audit reports, but the reports that have been posted recently are very different from their prior work. I didn’t see any recent, in-depth audit reports like they used to issue. In some reports, I can’t understand what is being reported, and others are so superficial that they don’t even seem like audits. I also looked at the best places to work report from recent years and noted that SSA OIG’s morale has dropped significantly since this IG was appointed. In searching for information, I also found that, a few months ago, the law enforcement union reported a “no confidence” vote in this IG.

https://bestplacestowork.org/rankings/detail/?c=SZ05

https://www.globalgovernmentforum.com/union-demands-action-against-us-inspector-general-in-telework-spying-row/

With all this public information, how can congressional oversight committees, such as the Senate Committee on Finance, not know there is a problem? And where is the Council of IGs, which has a duty to oversee OIG problems. Is anyone looking into it? Or is it possible that, unlike you, they don’t really want strong oversight at SSA? Is this another Federal executive that the White House needs to ask to step down because of the way she is treating her employees?

Unknown said...

I am doing a multiple-episode podcast on the situation with Ennis. If you have first-hand experience with her, I would be interested in speaking with you about your experience.
-- Walter Shaub