Jan 30, 2025

A Poll For Social Security Employees Only

 

65 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give me an actual buyout, backed with Congressionally appropriated funds, and I’ll consider it. This “deferred resignation” isn’t fooling me. I’ll be much better off getting fired and collecting my Congressionally appropriated severance pay and unemployment benefits, thanks.

Anonymous said...

I am taking the offer. I was going to retire this year anyway. I'd be crazy not to accept 8 months of administrative leave, at full pay. Then I can retire with a higher pension too, with that much added service time. And a lump sum for annual leave accrual.

Anonymous said...

Anyone remotely considering this needs a payee stat! This offer is so disingenuous and just fake news!

Anonymous said...

SSA needs to tell us
1. Which positions will be excepted from the offer, and from receiving the 8 months administrative leave promised in in the offer?
2. If we don't take the offer, what is the date when we have to return to office 5 days per week? (Or does O'Malley's 5 year agreement protecting current telework levels still stand?)

It is impossible to make an informed decision without this information.

Anonymous said...

I’m in the same position as you. Submitted my reply to ‘resign’ yesterday.

Anonymous said...

Interesting, so you believe, with no formal paperwork or approval mechanism that they will honor the agreement and actually pay you the salary, knowing full well that Twitter employees and most everyone that ever had a contract with trump were never paid.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps this is a litmus test to see if federal employees are the best and brightest the country has to offer. (joke! I worked for ssa for five years before I bailed, i honestly cannot understand how anyone stays)

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of early Covid days. A lot of stuff going on and radio silence from management

Anonymous said...

That’s by design.

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Yes, but I just turned 62 and was planning.to retire shortly. So, nothing to lose.

DEANNA CUMMINGS said...

The return is 2/24 which management has yet to announce

Anonymous said...

Seriously considering it. No details on what happens to your accrued leave. Will the extra months count as service credit if they pay us in Admin Leave? I do find it curious that they want a response 1 day before the final RTO rules are out.

Anonymous said...

What correspondence was sent back once you replied resign to the email? Says you will get a response within 48 hours.

Anonymous said...

Until approximately 2010 or so, SSA was a good agency to work for. Coworkers were fun, management was bearable and I enjoyed helping the public.

Anonymous said...

I think 2/24 was what they were going to announce, but they had 2nd thoughts because the new OPM guidance said they should consider existing union contracts. In SSAs case the last contract says 5 more years of telework.

Anonymous said...

Got the following response about 12 hours after I replied, ‘We received your email response. We will reply shortly.’

Anonymous said...

The individual that is leading the buyout.

The administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, Michael Whitaker, resigned from his position on January 20 after repeated demands from Elon Musk that he quit, leaving the agency without a Senate-confirmed leader during a major crisis in the wake of the D.C. plane crash.

Musk called for Whitaker’s resignation in September after the FAA chief proposed fining Musk’s company SpaceX over $600,000 in civil penalties for failing to follow license requirements during two launches in 2023. Whitaker told a congressional panel at the time that fines were “the only tool we have to get compliance on safety matters.”

Anonymous said...

The better question is if one will take the early out if the buyout money is not allocated by Congress? SSA management is still determining who is exempt from the early out.

Anonymous said...

I'll take the early out, before I'll return to the office 5 days a week.. This isn't the 1980's with people commuting to crowded offices and overbearing supervisors 5 days a week. Republicans need to get with the times. Telework is the way of the future whether Musk likes it or not. People are generally more productive working from home and coming into a sweatshop office isn't productive or necessary.

Anonymous said...

One of the most legit and generous offers I have ever seen in my SSA career. Definitely worth taking.

Anonymous said...

Why not do some research and see how the generous Twitter buyouts worked out under Musk.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Elon is trying to figure out how to pay for the buyouts without congressional approval.

Musk is reportedly telling people that he’s begun sleeping in the offices of the Department of Government Efficiency.

Anonymous said...

"If they were offering me a guaranteed check for seven months that I could take to the bank, I might consider it," they said. "But it's difficult to trust promises that aren't legally binding.

Anonymous said...

This falls under what do you expect category…

"I voted for Donald Trump twice, and on January 20th, I had hope that he would fulfill his promises," one federal employee told Business Insider. "However, when I received this email at 5:35 pm EST, that hope disappeared."

Anonymous said...

Just got an email from Human Resources. Nearly all of SSA’s field staff is ineligible for President Elona Musk’s phony make-believe buyout program.

Anonymous said...

Jesus people are morons. He couldn’t have been more clear that this is exactly what he was going to do.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we can lose some deadwood at HQ. . .

Anonymous said...

Have you kinda missed the fact that literally every major business sector is returning to the office? Like all of them in every sector? Like literally all of them.

Anonymous said...

You might want to set up a new poll as the deal just changed. SSA has declared it lawful and will honor the terms. In addition, it can be combined with a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) or 'early out' for those eligible. I'm guessing that changes the Calculus quite a bit.

Anonymous said...

thats a shame, every filed office worker and PC worker should have taken it. That would have been a way for the workers to prove the agency needs real help.

Anonymous said...

How about Payment Center? Any word?

Anonymous said...

Wrong. A relatively small handful have done so, and made headlines because of how relatively unusual it is and how negative its impact has been on talent retention, particularly among female employees with children.

Anonymous said...

Phony buyout and Elon?
No……

Anonymous said...

Any front line position is not eligible, including payment centers, hearing offices, teleservice centers, and field offices. I suspect the number of actually eligible individuals based on the email is minimal.

Anonymous said...

Congress has the sole authority to allocate the money. Keep the dream alive!

Anonymous said...

SSA can’t decide whether it’s lawful. And the text of their email was, word for word, dictated by Musk and his ignorant cronies at OPM. That’s why all agencies sent essentially the same exact email to their staff at the same time earlier this morning.

Anonymous said...

The email kinda kills once and for all whether they care about the contracts. They could be waiting to announce 2/24 because of logistics. Especially HQ logistics will be a nightmare.

Anonymous said...

Let's be cautious on these emails. Make sure they are from the ACOSS or an actual agency component with a real signature and not an Elon email.

Anonymous said...

I hope they enjoy all the winning they’ve brought upon themselves, just like I hope all the Hispanic men who voted for him enjoy watching all their loved ones get jailed and deported.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the offer essentially has been rescinded to most of SSA employees. As per the email, "employees who work in the listed offices for the following components are not eligible: in the Office of Operations (DCO), field offices, teleservice centers, program service centers, workload support units, and the Office of Central Operations; in the Office of Hearings Operations (DCHO), hearings offices and National Service Delivery organization; in the Office of Analytics, Review and Oversight (DCARO), Office of Quality Review (OQR) field sites and the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO); and in the Office of the General Counsel (OGC), the Office of Program Litigation." Just curious what group of SSA employees are eligible? This also tells me that if you are in one of the exempted groups that we will not be on the chopping block once OPM and OMB release their report of which agencies to cut. Sorry to all you hopeful retirees who were promised a vacation and then had the rug pulled out from under you. How I wish it were true. While the rest of the government has a possible early out, SSA will always be the odd one out that keeps its employees until all the juice is squeezed... and then some.

Anonymous said...

New Email from Human Resources, SSA front line positions are ineligible for the offer. Also there will be an SSA early out, but front line workers are not eligible for that either.

RTO 5 days per week will happen soon, but they don't know the exact date yet, their RTO plans are being reviewed for approval.

So front line workers will have no option except RTO, quit, or take regular retirement if they are eligible. (The last category applies to myself, . I'm retiring rather than RTO.)

Anonymous said...

OK, good. Now get in there and process my WEP/GPO payments, vaca is on! Ha! Joke lighten up...but process my GPO

Anonymous said...

I literally cannot believe the individual that commented at 2:55pm. Work feels like a warzone right now. Federal employees are being attacked and disparaged left and right. Many employees are fearful for one reason or another. We WILL stay focused on the mission. But have a damn shred of human decency. On top of the fact that there’s no funding to handle these changes we anticipate further staffing losses based on the clown show at the top. This comment is so insensitive. What an out if touch jerk.

Anonymous said...

wonder what the repercussions will be for those the took the offer that wasnt extended to them since they have been found to be unloyal?

Anonymous said...

Field office told me today there will be a delay in receiving benefits that had been subject to GPO, because their computer system will still put me in GPO. Has not been been updated yet.

Anonymous said...

President Trump on Friday signed a memo barring agencies from reaching agreement on new union contracts in the final days of a president’s term and seeking to unwind contracts that he claims were designed to hamstring his return-to-office mandate, though it’s unlikely that the document will produce any results.

Trump, Elon Musk and congressional Republicans in recent months have railed against then-Social Security Commissioner Martin O’Malley for signing a contract last November with the American Federation of Government Employees locking in existing telework policies until 2029. And the Education Department similarly entered a new contract with AFGE effective Jan. 17.

Anonymous said...

Aides to Elon Musk charged with running the U.S. government human resources agency have locked career civil servants out of computer systems that contain the personal data of millions of federal employees, according to two agency officials.

Since taking office 11 days ago, President Donald Trump has embarked on a massive government makeover, firing and sidelining hundreds of civil servants in his first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy and installing more loyalists.

Anonymous said...

There will be no repercussions whatsoever for them. Things are bad at SSA now, but let's not get paranoid.

Anonymous said...

Yet the idiots capped the bar at 30 days. Because using a calendar and counting above 30 is just too damned hard if you’re Donald Trump or his stupid South African surrogate.

Anonymous said...

You are right, 11:34! Since O'Malley's agreement was more than 30 days before Biden left office, that means I should be allowed to continue to telework for 5 years. The executive order doesn't apply to SSA. If SSA plunges ahead with this radical RTO 5 days a week anyway, AFGE should get a restraining order.

Anonymous said...

The Trump administration has a novel idea for federal workers who take its payout offer: Go work for corporate America instead.

"We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so," the Office of Personnel Management's FAQ page now says. "The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector."

Anonymous said...

Some attorneys in OGC are eligible, just not Program Litigation. Other than that, I have no idea who is eligible. I have been waiting for a VERA for 2.5 years, and now that we finally get VERA approval, I'm excluded.

Anonymous said...

The goal here is to destroy all federal agencies. They are starting with OPM. I believe they have already infiltrated SSA so I assume once they see how things go with the mass firings in OPM that will be used as a template for everyone else including us. There doesn’t seem to be any notion of replacing what they destroy so wrap your head around that. I’m guessing that retirement and disability programs will no longer exist once they drain the funds. Sorry to sound so dire but based on what POTUS is saying this is where we are headed.

Anonymous said...

We're trying to reduce government," Trump added, noting that he didn't know how many people had taken the offer but that it would become clear on Feb. 6, when the offer expires.

"Nobody knows how that's going to turn out," Trump said. "Everybody's replaceable, and we'll get very good people to replace them if it turns out to be more than we thought it could be."

Anonymous said...

I hope they change their mind and allow us to take VERA. I am desperate to get out of Government service but am too close to retirement 18 months to quit. If a VERA is offered please do not stand near the door cause I May just trample you.

Anonymous said...

Musk, Trump, and SSA management are destroying the morale at SSA.
Friday, we first received an OPM Email which said we should take the resignation offer and start working at a "higher productivity private industry job. "
Then two hours later, SSA sends us an Email which says most of SSA is front line and they have requested OPM to exclude us from the offer, which OPM agreed to do.
Next, the Email informs us that we can no longer telework and soon will work from the office 5 days per week.
And the last piece of bad news is that there will be no early out for front line SSA employees.
Enough! Luckily, I qualify for regular retirement, and I'm out of there. This was the last straw. But others are left with few options.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what is happening on the Medicare side of the world. Losses there could cause problems for consumers and providers. Life and death type stuff.

Anon said...

Let's replace Trump and Musk.

Anonymous said...

The latest draft contract includes a provision for the agency head to rescind the offer and forces you to waive legal recourse and union representation. I'm certain that changes the calculus.

Anonymous said...

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25512251-deferred-resignation-agreement/

9. By signing this agreement, the parties acknowledge that they have entered the agreement knowingly, voluntarily, and free from improper influence, coercion, or duress. Employee understands that this agreement cannot be rescinded, except in the sole discretion of the[AGENCY HEAD], which shall not be subject to review at the Merit Systems Protection Board or otherwise.

12. Employee forever waives, and will not pursue through any judicial, administrative, or other process, any action against [AGENCY] that is based on, arising from, or related to Employee’s employment at [AGENCY] or the deferred resignation offer, including any and all claims that were or could have been brought concerning said matters. Employee unconditionally releases [AGENCY] and its present and former employees, officers, agents, representatives, and all persons acting by, through, or in concert with any of those individuals, either in their official or individual capacities, from any and all liability based on, arising from, or relating to the matters that Employee may have against them, including any and all claims that were or could have been brought. Consistent with applicable law, Employee similarly waives any claim that could be brought on Employee’s behalf by another entity, including Employee’s labor union.

Anonymous said...

According to multiple news sources, including CNN, MSNBC, and FoxNews, so far approximately 60,000 federal workers have signed the offer.

Anonymous said...

@9:52 Welcome to the comments section, Elon. Isn't it ironic that 80% of X (formerly known as Twitter) employees took the ripoff deal, but only a low single digit number of civil servants were that gullible. And frankly, you're exaggerating that low single digit number.

Anonymous said...

Office of Operarions (SSA Field Office) employees cannot take the offer for the severance or early out options. Although everyone I know said they would not have taken it even if we could. We are not as stupid as people would like to paint us to be.

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh, he is fulfilling his promises. He said he would end telework and ale the government smaller. He has always said awful negative things about federal employees. Who on earth would vote for him????