Reopening Applauded

      Representative Adriano Espaillat is a Democratic member of Congress from New York City. He's a senior Democratic Whip. Here's an excerpt from a letter he's recently written to the Acting Commissioner of Social Security applauding the announcement that field offices will soon start reopening:

As a result of the nationwide shutdown and office closures, my constituents have been met with numerous challenges accessing vital resources such as retirement insurance, disability insurance and the social safety net, which they rely on. The digital divide, long wait times over the phone, massive backlogs, and the lack of in-person service has led to a 15 percent decrease of SSI applications over the past year, which is deeply concerning considering that many residents rely on these services for their livelihoods and survival.

Assuring that our seniors are given the resources and care they deserve is a top priority, and it is essential that as we continue to build back from this devastating pandemic, that our seniors, persons with disabilities, and communities of color are not left behind.

 

Field Office Closures Have Had A Devastating Effect

     From Jonathan Stein and David Weaver writing in The Hill:

The Social Security Administration's (SSA’s) 1,200 field offices have been closed for the last 20 months, with devastating effects for disabled Americans. Pre-pandemic, more than 43 million Americans were served at SSA field offices; the people most in need of walk-in, on-demand services included people with low- or zero-incomes, housing instability, limited English proficiency, or significant physical or mental disabilities that were themselves barriers to access. With office closures, their inability to file applications and appeals and to correct bureaucratic errors has led to historically unprecedented declines in people receiving Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits.

In fiscal year (FY) 2021, SSA's awards of SSDI benefits to disabled persons and their family members were down 25 percent relative to FY 2019. SSI disability awards, granted to people without much work history, were down even more, with a 30 percent decline.

Had SSI awards continued at the pre-pandemic level, there would have been 280,000 more SSI awards over the last two fiscal years. In the pre-pandemic years of FY 2017-2019, SSDI awards were declining only modestly; had that trend continued, there would have been 270,000 more SSDI awards in the last two fiscal years. ...

The decline in awards has continued to the present period. SSDI and SSI awards for September 2021 were down 34 and 42 percent, respectively, from the figures for September 2019. ...

It is crucial that office reopening allow for walk-in service. Many current or potential SSI beneficiaries lack reliable access to internet or have limited minutes available for their phones. ...

Last, but certainly not least: It is 11 months into the current administration, and there has yet to be a nomination of a Social Security Commissioner. Many of the needed changes in policy and personnel at SSA can only be made by a Senate-confirmed commissioner, and time is running out to act before the next election. ...

The Public Wonders Why The Field Offices Are Still Closed

      Clevelanders question why Social Security field office is still closed.

Reopening Plan

      Vague though it may be, Social Security has released its reopening plan. It certainly allows many employees to continue working from home every day. No one has to come into the office daily.

     I don't know how this is going to work. I'm pretty sure that there will be be far, far too much demand for in-person service at the field offices to allow field office employees to work from home three days a week. How do ALJs conduct all the hearings they are supposed to conduct coming into the office one day a week? Things I've read suggest that many ALJs think that most claimants will continue to accept telephone and video hearings in the future. That's incredibly naive. I don't care how wonderful you think telephone or video hearings are. I know better. My opinion and that of my clients matter. The self-serving opinions of public servants don't matter in this instance. Cramming video hearings down the throats of unwilling claimants won't be politically feasible after the pandemic is over. We're getting back to something like normal or there's going to be hell to pay.

Republicans Want Field Office Reopened

      Sixty-one members of Congress, all or almost all of them Republicans, have written a letter demanding that Social Security field offices be reopened.

Draft Senate Appropriations Bill

Senator Leahy

      Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, has released a draft Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 appropriations bill (see page 293) covering Social Security. The top line number in his version is virtually the same as the bill that has already passed the House of Representatives, a $1 billion increase for Social Security over FY 2021.

     As is normally the case, the draft report on the bill, an explanation of the bill which isn't officially enacted, contains recommendations for the Social Security Administration. These aren't binding but agencies take them seriously. Here's what's in the draft Senate bill for Social Security:

Delayed Disability Payments.—The delayed payment of Social Security Disability Insurance claims can create a significant burden on claimants. The Committee requests a briefing within 90 days of enactment on the issues that can result in delayed payments, and the polices SSA has implemented, or has considered, to streamline the disability payments’ process. 

Disability Hearing and Initial Claims Backlogs.—The Committee commends SSA for the progress it has made reducing the average disability hearing processing time and the disability hearing backlog. The Committee recommendation combined with investments in recent years will help SSA stay on schedule to eliminate the backlog in fiscal year 2022 and further reduce the average disability hearing processing time. At the same time COVID–19 has created significant challenges for SSA, and has contributed to a growing backlog of initial disability claims. The Committee recommendation will support additional hires for Disability Determination Services to help address the growing backlog and an estimated increase in initial claims. The Committee requests a briefing within 60 days of enactment, and quarterly thereafter, on its progress towards reducing initial disability claim and hearings processing times and backlogs. 

Field Offices Closures.—The Committee remains concerned about decisions to permanently close field offices and the impact on the public. The Committee encourages SSA to find an appropriate balance between in-person field office services and online services for beneficiaries. While the SSA’s Inspector General reviews decisions to close field offices, the Committee directs SSA to take every action possible to maintain operations at the offices under review. 

Occupational Information System [OIS].—The Committee is aware that SSA continues to operationalize OIS using BLS ORA data, O*NET, and other DOL-derived occupational statistics. The Committee commends SSA’s progress in implementing OIS, and directs SSA to provide an update in writing to the Committees on Appropriations and Finance within 60 days of enactment detailing the status of implementation, to what extent OIS is fully operational, a timeline for moving from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles entirely to OIS, and an action plan to accomplish said timeline.

     This is almost completely different from the House version which discusses the regulations allowing Administrative Appeals Judges to hold hearings, judicial independence of ALJs, backlogged claims processing, the attorney fee cap, telework and telephone hearings. The differences between the two draft reports will be sorted out in the legislative process so there will be one final report on the bill.

     The current continuing resolution that keeps Social Security and other agencies running ends in early December. I don't think that appropriations have been as contentious this year as most. I hope we can get something passed by that early December deadline.

MDW Mess

     From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

Objective 

To determine the effectiveness of the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) controls for resolving high-priority requests sent via the modernized development worksheet (MDW) process.

Background 

Because SSA’s processing centers (PC), teleservice centers, and field offices have different processing roles and systems access, SSA employees are often required to contact other offices to request case processing assistance. Employees use MDWs, manually designated as either routine or high priority, to send requests for action to other field offices or PCs. Per SSA policy, high-priority MDW requests should be limited to situations that involve awards and disallowance of claims; start- and stop- payment actions; appeals; congressional inquiries; and public-relations issues. According to SSA’s policy, employees should follow up on unresolved high-priority requests after 20 calendar days. 

From SSA’s Processing Center Action Control System, we identified 121,376 benefit records with high- priority MDWs pending at PCs as of January 28, 2020. Of these, 82,439 (68 percent) had MDWs that were pending for at least 60 days. We reviewed a random sample of 100 benefit records with high-priority MDWs pending at least 60 days.

Findings 

SSA does not have effective controls for resolving high-priority requests sent via the MDW process. As a result, SSA made improper or delayed payments and inflated PC backlogs, which impeded efforts to improve customer service. For 51 of the 100 sampled benefit records, SSA did not resolve the high-priority MDWs or resolved them longer than 60 days after field office and teleservice center employees sent them to the PCs. ...

For the remaining 49 benefit records, employees (1) resolved the high-priority MDWs but did not clear them or (2) made incorrect inputs on MDW requests. We estimate SSA’s management information was inflated by over 40,000 high-priority MDWs, which further decreased the effectiveness of the MDW process. ...

     So much to unpack here. Note that the systems used by the payment centers, teleservice centers and field offices don't really talk with each other very well so Social Security had to come up with the MDW process but that's not really working so well. It sounds like the system has almost completely broken down if it ever worked to begin with. Even when the MDWs are "resolved", often there are errors in the "resolution." And, oh yes, note the special treatment for "public relations issues."

     This isn't a video game. Real people suffer lengthy delays in the payment of benefits owed them. Many of these problems never get resolved without frequent external pressure from attorneys representing claimants.

SSA No Longer Insisting On Seeing Original Identity Documents

      From Emergency Message EM-21056: 

... While mail continues to offer an additional channel for the public to communicate with us, you must discourage customers from mailing important documents that they should keep secure and maintain in their possession, such as driver’s licenses, passports, or immigration documents. If they prefer, customers may choose to mail us secondary evidence of identity and less sensitive material. ...

Reopening Plans Are Up In The Air

     The Washington Post reports that plans to reopen federal offices are up in the air across the board, including at Social Security. 

     I'm amazed the reporter got someone on the phone at Social Security's field office in Fayetteville, NC. I need to ask them how they did it.

What A Horror Show -- The Most Damning OIG Report I've Ever Seen

     From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) (footnotes omitted):

... We have initiated two reviews to assess SSA’s management of mail and controls over its processing of Social Security card applications during the COVID-19 pandemic....

 Key Concerns Related to the Agency’s Policies and Oversight of Mail

• SSA has no performance metrics and does not maintain management information on the volume of incoming, outgoing, or pending mail. Consequently, the Agency does not have sufficient information to enable it to adjust staffing levels to ensure mail is processed timely.
  

• SSA lacks comprehensive policies and procedures to track and return original documents—including driver’s licenses, birth certificates, passports, and naturalization documents—that customers provide as proof of eligibility for benefits or a Social Security number card.

Effects of Inadequate Internal Controls over Mail Processing

• Some offices had backlogs of workloads that involved original documents. For example, one PSC [Program Service Centers, where benefits under Title II of the Social Security Act are processed]had more than 9,000 unprocessed original documents it had received as early as November 2020. We found that some of these documents were necessary to establish individuals’ eligibility for benefit payments.  
• Some offices had backlogs of unprocessed applications for new or replacement Social Security cards. For example, one field office had 677 unprocessed applications dated as early as July 2020. We also observed a Social Security card center that had over 9,000 unprocessed applications dated as early as May 2021. As a result, individuals have yet to receive their original documents or Social Security number card. 
• Some locations had backlogs of remittances or un-negotiated benefit checks. For example, one PSC had 247 unprocessed remittances or un-negotiated checks dated as far back as November 2019. Financial institutions are not obligated to cash uncertified checks that are more than six months old, which leaves the Agency at risk of not being able to collect the remittance check funds. 
• There were large quantities of undeliverable mail at some PSCs. For example, at one PSC, auditors noted more than 200,000 pieces of returned mail, some of which were over one year old. Some of these pieces may require action, such as suspending or terminating beneficiaries’ payments.  
• While all SSA facilities were locked, some offices stored original documents in unsecure locations, such as desks and bins. In addition, employees at three offices informed us the U.S. Postal Service or special carriers left mail or packages, which may have included original documents or personally identifiable information, outside the offices in publically accessible areas after business hours and over the weekends. 
• Approximately 50 percent of field office managers reported they are overwhelmed by mail duties, and approximately 20 percent stated they are unable to keep up with mail workloads. Some office managers also told us they did not have adequate in-person staffing to keep up with mail duties while offices remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. ...

     Update: This OIG report is already drawing attention from Fox and CNBC. Expect more media coverage. This is exactly the publicity needed at a time when Social Security's operating budget for FY 2022 is under consideration.

Lots Of Interesting Language In Draft House Appropriations Committee Report

      The draft House Appropriations Committee report on the Labor-HHS Appropriations Bill, which includes administrative funding for the Social Security Administration, is out. This hasn't been voted on even in committee, much less on the floor of the House of Representatives or the Senate. The report contains language showing appropriation amounts, which, if adopted, would be mandatory but it also contains a good deal of what we may call recommendations. Agencies aren't under a legal obligation to act on those recommendations but they always have to pay attention to them and often act on them. There is more of this sort of language than I can ever recall seeing for Social Security. Here are some excerpts from this draft (emphasis added): 

... LIMITATION ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES 

Appropriation, fiscal year 2022      $11,219,945,000 

Budget request, fiscal year 2022    12,341,896,000 

Committee Recommendation        12,219,945,000 

Change from enacted level         +1,000,000,000 

Change from budget request       -121,951,000 ...

The Committee provides an increase of not less than $650,000,000 to support frontline operations in field offices, teleservice centers, and program service centers. In addition, the recommendation includes the increase requested in the budget to replace losses and build capacity at the State Dis-ability Determination Services (DDS) agencies that make disability determinations for SSA.Within the recommended funding level, the Committee provides $89,500,000 for SSA to mail paper statements to all contributors aged 25 and older not yet receiving benefits ...

 The Committee considers the Final Rule ‘‘Hearings Held by Administrative Appeals Judges of the Appeals Council’’ (85 Fed. Reg. 73138, December 16, 2020) to be an unjustified erosion of due process for individuals who are appealing a denial of Social Security or SSI benefits. ...In light of the harm that would be caused by this policy change, the Committee strongly urges SSA not to exercise this authority ...

The Committee continues to be deeply concerned about the impact of Presidential Executive Order 13843 (July 10, 2018) on the judicial independence of adminstrative law judges (ALJs). The Order eliminates the competitive hiring process for ALJs and has the potential impact of converting independent adjudicators to political appointees, undermining long-standing principles of fair and unbiased consideration of matters of vital importance to the American people. ALJs must be independent decision-makers and it is the Committee’s expectation that SSA maintain the highest standards for appointment of ALJs. ...

The Committee recognizes that the pandemic disrupted progress SSA made with its initial disability claims backlog, and remains concerned about the adverse impacts disability claim hearings backlogs have on an individual’s ability to access their Social Security benefits. Accordingly, the Committee urges the Commissioner to prioritize the hiring of additional administrative law judges and requisite staff to adjudicate backlogged claims. In addition, the Committee directs the Commissioner to continue to prioritize efforts to reduce wait time disparities across the country by directing resources and workload assistance, as necessary, and to provide the Committee annual reports on efforts to reduce the hearing backlog for Hearing Offices in the bottom twenty of national ranking by average processing time. ...

The Committee is concerned about the time it takes SSA to effectuate favorable SSI and/or SSDI disability determinations and directs SSA to submit a report to the Committee within 180 days of enactment of this Act, on SSA’s procedures for paying past-due and ongoing benefits after a claimant has been found disabled.  ... 

The Committee believes that quality representation in matters with SSA assists claimants and beneficiaries, and can also help SSA work more accurately and efficiently. The Committee continues to support direct payment of fees to representatives, encourages the Commissioner to raise and index the cap on fees payable via fee agreement, and requests that the Commissioner add a Performance Measure on timely and accurate payment of representative fees to the Fiscal Year 2022 and subsequent Annual Performance Plans. ...

The Committee reiterates its support for well-managed telework programs in the Federal workplace, which have demonstrated benefits for human capital as well as continuity of operations. The Committee expects SSA to implement telework policies that support these goals while also strengthening service to the American public, including in-person service in community-based field offices. The Committee directs SSA to submit a report within 90 days of enactment of this Act detailing the agency’s telework policies and identifying any positions for which telework has not been provided or has been reduced from pre-October 2019 levels,along with the reasons for any telework reductions. ...

The Committee understands that during the COVID–19 pandemic, SSA is providing claimants with the option of a video hearing, a telephone hearing, or a postponement if the individual would prefer to wait until an in-person hearing is available. The Committee expects that once the COVID–19 pandemic ends, SSA will resume in-person hearings.

Democratic Member Of Congress Calls For Field Offices To Reopen

      From some newspaper in Maine:

Social Security offices in Maine have been closed since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 ...

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine 2nd District, is calling for the SSA to open its doors.

“The current unavailability of most in-person services at SSA field offices … creates difficulty for people who lack broadband access, have certain disabilities, or are otherwise more comfortable with in-person service,” wrote Golden in a recent letter to the administration.

“In light of the public’s need to access SSA services in a timely and convenient way, I request that SSA expedite its OMB-mandated reentry planning to increase staffing at field offices to enable a wider set of in-person services, and to end the requirement for people to part with their original identification documents.” ...

     Social Security employees should not think that because the Democratic Party is friendly with their union that there will be no pressure to reopen the field offices from Democrats in Congress. There's going to be increasing bipartisan pressure to reopen. Representative Golden is just one of the early ones to chime in.

Show Us The Numbers

      Social Security's budget justification for the next fiscal year included numbers indicating a big productivity decline at its Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) during the pandemic. I would guess that the agency has productivity indices for other components. If there are such productivity indices, it seems to me that the agency should release them to the public. I think they would be crucial information which should be used in making decisions on when and how Social Security reopens its offices. If they don't show productivity declines, the continuation of extensive telework is justified. If they do show productivity declines, agency employees and their unions shouldn't make a fuss when telework goes back to pre-pandemic levels or, at least if they do, they shouldn't expect much sympathy from others. However, even if field office productivity indices show no decline as a result of telework (which I doubt), the field offices must reopen to to the public. It's abundantly clear that there is a strong public demand for this level of service. The Social Security Administration exists to serve the public.

How Much Should Be Done?

      From Fedweek:

An audit has illustrated issues that arose with the partial reopening of SSA field offices, including a lack of contact information on visitors and no guarantee that visitors who later learn they have the Coronavirus or have been exposed to it will report it back to the agency. ...

The audit found that on average, some 2,200 employees and some 1,600 visitors have been in the offices daily. However, the IG found that the agency “does not maintain contact information” for all visitors to those facilities nor for contractors such as security guards and cleaning staff. ...

     Does contact information matter if the employees coming to the field office are vaccinated? Aren't employees assuming the risk if they have refused vaccination? 

     I'm gotten to the point where I really don't care too much what happens to those who refuse vaccination except for that tiny number of people who have a genuine medical reason not to be vaccinated. There’s only so much we can do to protect people from their own folly.

We Need Social Security Employees Back In Their Offices

      You can read many comments to this blog asserting that Social Security employees have been just as productive working from home as they were in the office. Some even assert they're more productive. This could be true of some components of the agency but I think it needs to be made clear that this is emphatically not the case when it comes to the agency's field offices and its payment centers where claims for Title II benefits are processed. 

     To assess how well these components have fared with employees mostly working from home you have to look first at workload. Workloads are down considerably. SSI claims, which are taken and implemented by the field offices, were down 29% for the time period July 2020 to April 2021. For that same time period, Title II disability claims, which are taken by the field offices and implemented at the payment centers, were down 17%. Yes, retirement claims haven't been down, but come on, we all know those take little time to process. It's the disability claims that take all the time. Despite this major downturn in workload, backlogs have soared at the field offices and payment centers. 

     The explanation given by some posting comments on this board for the soaring backlogs is that they can't get the work done because they normally get a lot of work done using overtime and there's been little overtime this fiscal year. While a lack of overtime certainly isn't helping, it doesn't explain the soaring backlogs. Total workyears, including overtime, for Social Security itself (not including the Disability Determination Services) were down from 64,056 in FY 2019 to 61,553 in FY 2020 and to 60,905 in FY 2021. That's a very significant 5% decline in workyears from FY 2019 to FY 2021. However, remember that workloads for the field offices and payment centers declined significantly over this time period. You should also know that the agency has been able to shift overtime hours from hearing offices to other components as hearing office backlogs have declined.

     Social Security employees and their unions can give whatever explanations they want but I'm on the receiving end of the agency's services. It's obvious to me that field office and payment center backlogs have soared during the pandemic even though workloads are down. I can't think of any rational explanation other than lower productivity caused by most employees being on 100% telework. 

     I'm not interested in hearing: 

• What about ventilation?
• What about variants?
• Telework is the future.
• Social Security can cut the office space it rents if employees can all work from home forever.
• Commuting is dangerous and difficult.
• Andrew Saul is a jerk.
• Lots of employees are going to quit if they're forced to return to the office.

     Enough already! The work isn't getting done. The current situation isn't sustainable. Allow employees some telework but Social Security employees need to get vaccinated and to get back to the office.

Service Delivery During And After The Pandemic

      From the New York Times:

When the pandemic struck last year, the Social Security Administration shut down its national network of more than 1,200 offices as it scrambled to protect the public and its employees from the coronavirus. ...

The agency is slowly bringing back workers in accordance with safety guidelines established by the federal government.

But operations are not likely to look the same as they did prepandemic, and a segment of S.S.A. workers may continue working remotely, a significant shift for the agency, which paid benefits to 69 million Americans in 2019. ...

Social Security’s consideration of a larger role for telework is a sharp departure from its stance in November 2019, when it ended a work-from-home pilot program. ...

There has been a sharp drop in applications for S.S.I., and for disability insurance. ...

While a great deal of routine Social Security business is now transacted via its website, field office staff provide in-person assistance on complex matters, in particular on applications for disability insurance and S.S.I., says Manasi Deshpande, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

“Especially for people with lower socioeconomic status, being able to get in-person information and assistance with the application is critical to their decision to apply,” Dr. Deshpande said. “Without it, they just don’t apply.” ...

In the 10-year period Dr. Deshpande studied, Social Security closed 118 field offices, a cost-cutting move. She estimated that during that period, a total of 786,000 applicants for disability insurance and S.S.I. were discouraged from applying.

The impact of closing all field offices during the pandemic has been far greater, Dr. Deshpande said. “You’d probably need to multiply the estimates from the paper by a few times to see the effect of closing all the offices,” she said. “The 10 percent decline we measured took place with neighboring offices absorbing some of the applicants. It’s likely a much larger effect with all the field offices closed.” ...

Agency data shows a 29 percent decline in S.S.I. awards from July 2020 to April 2021 compared with the same period a year earlier, and disability awards are down 17 percent over that period. Taken together, up to 330,000 people will miss out on these benefits over a one-year period, according to an analysis of agency data by David Weaver, a former associate commissioner in Social Security’s Office of Research, Demonstration and Employment Support. ...

Social Security has a $1.5 billion budget for “program integrity,” but Congress limits that spending to reviews of disability awards that are aimed at removing people from the benefit rolls.

“A more common sense definition of program integrity would include the idea of making sure that people who are eligible for benefits are receiving them,” Mr. Weaver said. ...

Express Interviews

      From Emergency Message EM-21041:

A. Purpose
This Emergency Message (EM) provides Field Offices (FOs) and Social Security Card Centers (SSCCs) information regarding the nationwide implementation of the Express Interview (EXI) process. In addition, this EM provides instructions for scheduling appointments, conducting interviews, and documenting interviews, as part of the EXI process. This process was established to address the challenges the public has faced in providing enumeration and documentary proofs, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

B. Background
Effective May 28, 2021, FOs and SSCCs nationwide will begin offering the new EXI option. EXIs are brief interviews, lasting approximately 5-7 minutes, which allow eligible individuals to apply for an original or replacement Social Security Number (SSN) card and submit necessary evidence in person.

While this initiative is primarily intended to assist customers who need an SSN card, EXIs are also available for purposes of gathering evidence needed for processing claims and other workloads, as well as for individuals who meet certain limited, critical situations.

 C. Express Interview Criteria

In order to qualify for an EXI, individuals must:

· meet existing limited, critical appointment criteria such as:
o original cards for individuals age 12 or older;

o replacement cards for individuals who need to update or correct their information, such as name, date of birth, or citizenship, or to obtain income, resources, medical care or coverage, or other services or benefits (e.g., filing a tax return, applying for housing, or seeking an Economic Impact Payment);

AND

· be unable to use our automated services (e.g. enumeration at birth, enumeration at entry or enumeration beyond entry) or online SSN replacement card service (iSSNRC).

Individuals also qualify for an EXI if they are unable or unwilling to mail original evidence documents.  ...

Field Office Addresses And Phone Numbers

      I happened upon a spreadsheet of Social Security field office addresses and phone numbers. This sort of information isn't as easy to find as you might think so I thought I ought to post a link here.

Bipartisan Unhappiness Over Effects Of Field Office Closures

      From Oswego County Today:

 U.S. Rep. John Katko (R, NY-24) today led an effort calling on the Social Security Administration (SSA) to implement new and flexible options for Central New Yorkers who need to submit required documents during the ongoing pandemic.

This effort comes in response to calls Katko has received from Central New Yorkers who have been impacted by the continued closure of SSA field offices in Central New York. Rep. Katko led this bipartisan effort alongside U.S. Reps. Abigail Spanberger (D, VA-7), Dusty Johnson (R, SD-AL), Lauren Underwood (D, IL-14), and Elise Stefanik (R, NY-21).

For more than a year, over 1,500 Social Security field offices across the country, including the locations in Syracuse, Oswego, and Geneva, have been closed to the public due to the ongoing pandemic. Field office closures have particularly impacted Central New Yorkers who need to show original documents, such as a driver’s license, to process SSA claims, obtain a replacement SSA card, or access benefits. ...

     If you're a field office employee, steel yourself. The field offices will reopen to the public before the end of the summer. If things stay on their current trajectory, by July 1 most businesses in the country will have reopened. Baseball games will be played before full crowds. There will be outdoor and indoor concerts before full audiences. It will be impossible to keep the field offices closed for long once we get to that point. Field office employees can talk all they want about ventilation and cubicles being too close together and Covid variants and so on but the public won't care. Andrew Saul is jerk but the agency will be within its rights to reopen the field offices once we get a higher percentage of the population vaccinated. I would guess that the agency will go back to something like telework as it was before Andrew Saul came along but the field offices aren't going to stay closed indefinitely.

From The Senate Finance Committee Hearing

      I've watched today's hearing before the Senate Finance Committee. There's certainly a lot of concern about people having to mail their drivers licenses or passports to Social Security. The response from Social Security's witness, Grace Kim, on this issue was basically "We're looking into it" but there was no commitment to do anything different, only to get back to the Committee within two weeks. The problem is that this is just the issue that the Senators are hearing the most about from their constituents but there's a much bigger problem with people who need in-person help filing claims, particularly SSI claims. There's no option for them to get the help they need.

     Kim was asked about when field offices might reopen. Her responses didn't include any sort of timeline. She said Social Security would have to wait on guidance from the White House.

     Kim was asked about negotiations with the employee unions. She said that there were negotiations over the agency's workplace safety plan but not about anything else.  I was surprised that there were not more questions on this. The unions want to redo contracts that were imposed upon them during the Trump Administration.  This would certainly happen if President Biden could appoint a new Social Security Commissioner.

     Here's a couple of tidbits from the written Kim's written statement:

... Limiting visitors has also resulted in an influx of incoming mail and phone calls. To illustrate the magnitude of this increase, before the pandemic, field offices scanned and uploaded about 150,000 paper documents weekly for processing. Offices are currently scanning and uploading approximately one and a half million paper documents weekly. In FY 2020, the unit time for the 47 million field office actions increased by 20 percent in part due to scanning, copying, indexing, and returning mailed documents, which significantly reduced our productivity. ...

Similarly, field offices are now handling three times as many phone calls as they did pre-pandemic. We are on track to answer over 60 million calls in our field offices in FY 2021—up from 20 million calls handled in FY 2019. ...