Got A Little Carried Away

      From a Washington Post article titled Trump administration races to fix a big mistake: DOGE fired too many people:

… At the Social Security Administration’s call center in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, IT workers were told by managers in mid-April that they needed to request a transfer or face possible firing, said Barri Sue Bryant, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 2809. Nearly all of the 40-plus workers in that office did so, sending their laptops and spare equipment to the agency’s Baltimore headquarters and awaiting a new assignment while the union attempted to explain to leadership how essential these employees were, Bryant said.

 “We are critically understaffed in all of our departments,” Bryant wrote in an email to leadership. “Having systems and employees down is not contributing to the goals of this agency.”
But management would soon find out on their own.


A specialized scanner that can quickly input forms and scan barcodes broke down and was unusable for a day. A customer service representative who was supposed to answer the 800 number couldn’t take calls for three days while her computer was in disrepair.
“It really sent everyone for a loop,” Bryant said.


After three days, the agency told the union the decision had been reversed. The employees got back their equipment and resumed their normal jobs in Wilkes-Barre.
 

Asked about the IT workers, Social Security provided an emailed statement from an unnamed official, whom it declined to identify. The statement did not address the reassignments but criticized “the fake news media, specifically the Washington Post” for “pushing a false narrative about Social Security. The truth is that President Trump is protecting and strengthening Social Security just like he promised.” …

This Guy Is A Star Manager?

      From Federal News Network:

… SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano told managers in a largely unscripted 90-minute address Wednesday that he has no plans for a Reduction in Force, but said AI will be a “great enabler” that helps employees handle a growing workload with its lowest headcount in 50 years.

“I have no intent to RIF people,” Bisignano told managers. “If I wake up and find out we can do all our work with 20,000 people — which I can’t see that right now — we’ll be 20,000. If I wake up and say, ‘We need 80,000,’ we’ll be 80,000. I’ve got to determine what the right staffing level is.” …

“We’ve got a lot of turmoil. I think we reassigned a lot of people,” Bisignano said. “I guarantee you, we’re going to get the job done, and my dream is to not have to let people go,” Bisignano said. “If we can’t get the job done, that’s a different problem. You guys don’t want people who don’t give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, do you?” …

When it comes to rolling out new tools, Bisignano said his first tech priority is to deploy AI on the agency’s phone lines.

“The phone has to have artificial intelligence to do the work. We can all do this in a year, and then your jobs will be more enriching,” he said. “The reason we get so many phone calls is because half the people have to call twice.” …

Bisignano said he’s open to asking the Trump administration money for IT modernization, or more employees to lead his tech modernization plans, if the agency doesn’t already have the resources to do it. …

“A previous commissioner likes to talk about why we’re going to break this thing — why this thing can’t work. ‘It’s like the least amount of people we’ve ever had, it must break,’” Bisignano said. “You can’t just throw stuff out with me and make something up.” …

     There’s a lot one could say about this. There’s the casual assumption that technology will save the day when’s there’s zero proof that it will or that you can afford it if it can. I’ve had the misfortune of trying to deal with a couple of large financial institutions lately. Whatever AI they were using was little more than annoying. Want to know account balance or payment due? They may be able to help you with AI. Anything else, forget it.  Can anyone point me to ANY large institution that has a well functioning AI system that really does the job of answering their phones for anything other than the simplest transactions?  He completely underestimates just how complex the calls coming in to Social Security actually are. The insinuation that employees aren’t giving an honest day’s work doesn’t endear you to agency employees who are working their tails off. He’s spouting off as if he understands the work and the workers when he doesn’t. 

Who Needs A Guy Like This?

     From the Washington Post:

Edwin Jackson’s government work was finding jobs for military veterans and then making sure those vets succeeded. Like this:

Representing the Social Security Administration at a job fair in Maryland, Jackson meets a paralegal and steers her toward a position at his agency. Then she asks, “Can you help my husband, who’s active-duty military?”

Sure, Jackson says. The woman brings over her husband, whose body language reads, “This is pointless.”

“I can’t work for Social Security,” the man says. “You can’t give me work in my field.”

“What’s your field?”

“I’m a sniper.”

Jackson replies immediately: “Okay, I got a job for you.”

“You didn’t hear me; I’m a sniper.”

Jackson tells the man about his own Army service during the Vietnam War, when Jackson met sniper school graduates and saw how effective they were at designing and planning missions in intricate detail.

“You’re a project manager,” he tells the sniper. “You know the mission and lay it out in every detail needed to succeed.”

Jackson got the man a project manager position at a federal agency. And the government got itself an efficient worker even as it repaid its debt to the sniper for risking his life.

“He was going to count himself out,” Jackson told me. “Sometimes vets need an extra layer of help. You have to help them look at life through a different lens. We owe them that.” ...

 

Profile In Courage

      Ms. magazine has a nice piece out titled “Profiles in Courage: Michelle King Refused to Hand Over Your Data to DOGE. Then She Lost Her Job.” It’s worth a read.

Former Associate Commissioner Speaks Out

      From NPR:

… Laura Haltzel was the former associate commissioner for the SSA's Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics in the agency's Maryland headquarters. Rather than volunteer for reassignment and face more uncertainty, she decided to take an offer of early retirement.

Haltzel said there are problems with the expectation that workers in roles like hers would be able to quickly jump in and replace the thousands of frontline workers that have left. She called the plan a "sort of mythical idea."

"We've lost an extreme amount of expertise and knowledge that we simply are not going to get back," she said. "Let's say somebody in my team, who is a statistician, [you] suddenly turn them into a claims processor. It takes two years of training for someone to become proficient at taking a Social Security claim because of the complexity of the law. That is not something that you can simply plug somebody into overnight and keep up at the same pace as it had been operating previously."

"People are taking reassignments out of fear that they will have no jobs because the entire economy in the D.C. area now is affected by a loss of employment across the federal landscape," she said. "And for all of these individuals to find new jobs in the private sector, that's simply not a reality, particularly from the Social Security Administration, for which there is no private equivalent."  …

Haltzel said she's deeply concerned about the loss of expertise that has left the SSA in recent weeks. She said her former team, which analyzed whether the agency was doing a good job serving beneficiaries, has been cut by more than half.

"I hope that we're able to sustain a basic minimum of knowledge in order to maintain the functioning of the agency," Haltzel said. "But frankly, given that they have no control over who takes the reassignments and who simply retires and leaves, they could lose individuals where we are one person deep in knowledge. And once that knowledge is gone, it is gone. These people will not come back." …

Stretched “Beyond All Recognition”

       From Government Executive:

Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek this month instructed staff to prepare to convert wide swathes of his agency to the revamped Schedule F, a move that experts say would stretch even the Trump administration’s wide definition of “policy-related” jobs “beyond all recognition.”

The Trump administration last week began moving forward with implementation of the newly-renamed Schedule Policy/Career, a new job classification within the federal government’s excepted service for career federal workers in “policy-related” positions. Employees reclassified into the new job category would be stripped of their civil service protections.

In an April 7 internal email obtained by Government Executive, the acting commissioner took a sweeping view of the role of policy at the independent agency.

“For SSA, policy-making positions encompass a wide range of responsibilities, including shaping regulations and sub-regulatory guidance, overseeing administrative law, managing contracts, guiding information resources management, and integrating research into decision-making,” he wrote. “Individuals in these roles often develop and implement both formal rules and informal policies, interpret and apply laws, and influence how SSA operates.” …

Employee groups and Social Security experts were taken aback by Dudek’s maximalist approach to implementing the new job category. Reclassifying the Office of Hearing Operations entirely into Schedule Policy/Career would impact upwards of 20% of the workforce represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, including jobs that start at as little as $40,000 per year.

“If this email constitutes SSA’s full decision, then the agency has contorted the term ‘policy-influencing’ beyond all recognition,” said Rich Couture, a spokesman for AFGE’s Social Security Administration general committee. “AFGE bargaining unit employees at SSA dutifully apply policies and procedures, established by agency leadership, in the performance of their duties for the American people every day. The employees are not policy-makers . . . The agency cannot take a chainsaw to necessary civil service protections to thousands of SSA workers in an attempt to solve a problem Employee groups and Social Security experts were taken aback by Dudek’s maximalist approach to implementing the new job category. Reclassifying the Office of Hearing Operations entirely into Schedule Policy/Career would impact upwards of 20% of the workforce represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, including jobs that start at as little as $40,000 per year.

“If this email constitutes SSA’s full decision, then the agency has contorted the term ‘policy-influencing’ beyond all recognition,” said Rich Couture, a spokesman for AFGE’s Social Security Administration general committee. “AFGE bargaining unit employees at SSA dutifully apply policies and procedures, established by agency leadership, in the performance of their duties for the American people every day. The employees are not policy-makers . . . The agency cannot take a chainsaw to necessary civil service protections to thousands of SSA workers in an attempt to solve a problem that doesn’t exist.” doesn’t exist.” 

     Sorry about the weird typography. Some weirdness in the original that I can’t undo. 

A New “Fork In The Road”

      I have seen multiple reports that some Social Security employees have received a new “fork in the road” email offering incentives for them to resign and an implied threat of firing if they don’t take the offer. I have no idea how many agency employees received these messages. It’s obvious that they want to reduce staffing but don’t want to be seen as firing people.

Hear, Hear. Seriously, Listen To This

      Take a listen to this 31 minute podcast interview with Laura Haltzel, a former Associate Conmissioner at Social Security who left the agency over the horrible changes brought about by the Trump Administration. Her testimony about the horrible pressures placed on agency employees is especially striking.

     Haltzel should be lauded for her bravery in speaking out. The Trump Administration has dealt with its critics in extraordinary brutal ways.

Only About 3,000 SSA Employees Have Accepted Buyouts

     From MSN:

The Social Security Administration’s plans to reduce its head count have resulted in more than 2,000 workers so far. 

Of the 2,674 employees who accepted the voluntary separation incentive payment — which provides workers with a one-time payment to leave government service — before the March 14 deadline, 2,477 employees are confirmed to be eligible, the Social Security Administration said.  ...

 Employees could have also participated in the Deferred Resignation Program, or DRP, which was available until Feb. 12 to any employees in “non-mission critical” positions. Those workers — 345 eligible employees accepted the offer — were placed on paid administrative leave until Sept. 30. After that, they “must leave the agency,” the SSA said on its website. ...

Workers are also moving within the agency. The SSA offered employees the opportunity to “volunteer to be reassigned from a non-mission critical position to a local field office, teleservice center, processing center, payment center, workload support unit, or hearing office,” which also had a March 14 deadline. More than 2,200 employees will be reassigned on a “flow basis” and will receive training for these position changes, the SSA said. 

    I don't want to see the agency losing any good employees but this report is much better than I feared. 

    Here's the agency's announcement on this.

Will You Have A Desk? A Parking Place? Childcare?

From: ^Human Resources Internal Communications <Human.Resources.Internal.Communications@ssa.gov>
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2025 5:01 PM
Subject: Bargaining Unit Employees - Return to In-Person Work

 A Message to All Employees

Subject:  Bargaining Unit Employees - Return to In-Person Work

On Monday, January 20, 2025, President Trump issued a Presidential Memorandum (PM) requiring all employees to return to work in-person full time.  This message serves as your official notice that your telework agreement will be suspended effective March 16, 2025, with all employees expected to return to work in-person full time on March 17, 2025. 

The Office of Personnel Management Guidance on exempting military spouses from agency return to work plans only applies to employees who are homestationed (i.e., are working from their residence under an approved homestationing agreement).  For that reason, employees who are military spouses with existing telework agreements must also report onsite to their official duty station full time beginning March 17, 2025.  Employees must return any agency equipment taken to their telework location to their SSA office location.  Employees who have signed up for VSIP are exempted.

Reminder: As shared in the March 3, 2025 Non-bargaining Unit Employees - Return to In-Person Work and Cancellation of Expanded Flexible Bands HRIC, the Office of Human Resources will send more on placement of employees with homestationing agreements into onsite official duty stations in the near future. Employees with homestationing agreements should continue to hold for further guidance.

The return to work in-person does not currently apply to employees under approved reasonable accommodations (RA) authorizing telework, temporary work at home by exception (WAHBE) agreements for medical reasons, or temporary compassionate assignments (TCA).  In addition, employees in the Office of Hearings Operations and Office of Financial Policy and Program Integrity may remain in their current telework posture. 

If your location has a space limitation issue, your supervisor will notify you to provide the next steps.  As a reminder, any episodic telework is granted on a case-by-case basis and only in situations where the requested telework will benefit the agency.

Any expanded flexible bands are cancelled as of March 17, 2025 as well.  Employees must follow the flexbands in agency policy (see Personnel Policy Manual S610_3) or their collective bargaining agreements. 

We understand that this transition will require an adjustment to employee work/life arrangements.  Supervisors should be liberal with the approval of leave over the next 4 weeks to accommodate the changes.  We encourage employees to review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) the agency has prepared on return to office topics.  The Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is also available to you using Access Code: ssaeap or 1-877-549-9528.

10,000 Social Security Employees To Leave?

      From CBS News:

Inside The Work Of A Claims Rep

     E. Tammy Kim at The New Yorker has a great piece going inside the work life of  a current Social Security claims rep. The reporter was not supposed to have this kind of access.

    I'm sure you've seen some cartoons from The New Yorker but you may not be all that familiar with the magazine. I've been subscribing for more than 50 years. I can tell you that articles in The New Yorker have an national agenda setting impact well beyond what most people could imagine.

An Emotional Martin O'Malley Talks Of The Hard Times For Social Security Employees

    I can't figure out a way to embed the video here but go to this link. Thank "X" for the download problem.

Early Afternoon Roundup -- News Coming In Hot And Heavy

     Here's your early afternoon roundup of Social Security news:

• Federal officials have taken down that list of federal properties for sale but a new list is "Coming Soon."
• AARP is urging its members to contact their representatives in Congress to tell them that Social Security must be protected.
• 152 House Democrats have written the Acting Commissioner of Social Security to express "grave concern" over office closings and workforce reductions.
• No link on this but House Democrats plan to introduce three bills tomorrow to keep Social Security offices open, block DOGE access to Social Security data and to compel the President to account for DOGE activities at Social Security to this point.
• Jack Svahn, former Commissioner of Social Security, thinks that Congress won't act on Social Security's long term funding problems until things become critical. He's right. There's no point wringing your hands over it today. Nothing will happen for several years. 
• A current Social Security employee talks movingly about the trauma being inflicted on agency employees.
• A retired Social Security employee writes about the cuts at his old agency. 

    By the way, if the response from House Democrats to the crisis at Social Security seems tepid to you, just what do you think that the minority party in both Houses of Congress can do? Seriously, what would you have them do? I can suggest one thing -- force a government shutdown unless the White House agrees to end the madness throughout the government -- but they're doing that. Expect a government shutdown next week.

Don’t Let Them Panic You

      A press release:

Social Security Announces Options to its Workforce

The following message was sent to agency employees today:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) will soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions. Through these massive reorganizations, offices that perform functions not mandated by statute may be prioritized for reduction-in-force actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions, directed reassignments, and reductions in staffing. The agency may reassign employees from non-mission critical positions to mission critical direct service positions (e.g., field offices, teleservice centers, processing centers). Reassignments may be involuntary and may require retraining for new workloads.

VOLUNTARY REASSIGNMENTS
Employees interested in voluntarily being reassigned to a mission critical position should indicate their interest here Reassignment Questionnaire by March 14, 2025.

VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVES
Employees who do not wish to undergo the restructuring process may elect to separate from federal service through retirement or resignation. To further support employees considering these options, SSA is offering the following to ALL EMPLOYEES:

VOLUNTARY EARLY RETIREMENT (VERA) OR “EARLY OUT”

• Availability: VERA is now available to employees in all components and positions, with no exclusions. Please see eligibility criteria below.
• Separation Window: VERA is available from March 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. Employees not eligible now or who wish to retire later in the year under early out may do so, but may be subject to restructuring activities. Employees who are not yet eligible for voluntary early retirement, but who would like to apply later in the calendar year should alert management of their intent to do so and work with their servicing benefits specialists to process their cases as their dates become due. All eligible employees taking early retirement must separate by December 31, 2025.
• Eligibility: To be eligible for early out, employees must:
• Have 20 years of creditable service and be at least 50 years of age or have at least 25 years of creditable service at any age (this must include 5 years of civilian service).
• Must be serving under a non-time-limited appointment.
• Have been continuously on SSA's rolls at least 30 days prior to January 17, 2025.
• Cannot be in receipt of an involuntary separation decision for misconduct or unsatisfactory performance.
• Note: Retirement may affect your Federal Health Insurance eligibility. Please contact your Servicing Personnel Office (SPO) with questions.

VOLUNTARY SEPARATION INCENTIVE PAYMENTS (VSIP)

• Availability: VSIP will be available until noon EST on March 14 to all employees electing to separate from service across all components and positions agencywide. VSIP is limited and available on a first come basis. VSIP may be paid for an optional retirement (full retirement age), voluntary early retirement (VERA), or resignation. VSIP is not available to employees who are participating in the Deferred Resignation Program.
• Eligibility:
  • Employees must:
  • Be serving in an appointment without time limit;
  • Be currently employed by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government for a continuous period of at least 3 years;
  • Be serving in a position covered by an agency VSIP plan (all SSA employees are covered in the agency plan);
  • Apply for and receive approval for a VSIP from the agency making the VSIP offer; and
  • Not be included in any of the ineligibility categories listed below.
  • Employees in the following categories are not eligible for a VSIP:
  • Reemployed annuitants;
  • Have a disability such that the individual is or would be eligible for disability retirement;
  • Have received a decision notice of involuntary separation for misconduct or poor performance;
  • Previously received any VSIP from the Federal Government;
  • During the 36-month period preceding the date of separation, performed service for which a student loan repayment benefit was paid, or is to be paid;
  • During the 24-month period preceding the date of separation, performed service for which a recruitment or relocation incentive was paid, or is to be paid; and
  • During the 12-month period preceding the date of separation, performed service for which a retention incentive was paid, or is to be paid.
• Separation Window: Employees must opt in by March 14 and separate from the agency no later than April 19, 2025.  Employees may be placed on administrative leave through April 19, 2025.
• How to Sign Up: Employees must complete the VSIP Sign Up as soon as possible, but no later than March 14, 2025 noon EST. Please let your manager know immediately if you sign up for VSIP.
• Note: Completing the form does not guarantee VSIP.
• Incentive Payment: Payments will be the following amounts for the grade level of your permanent position. All payments are subject to taxes and normal deductions from income. Employees are strongly encouraged to read the rules for VSIP payments.

Up to GS 8	$15,000
GS 9 – 12	$20,000
GS 13 and up	$25,000

OPTIONAL RETIREMENT
Employees who have reached their full retirement age may apply for optional retirement at any time. Employees serving under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) should see the OPM eligibility information for FERS, which is generally 30 years of service, plus reaching minimum retirement age. Employees serving under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) should refer to the OPM eligibility information for CSRS, which is generally 30 years of service and age 55. Additional provisions and options are available for both FERS and CSRS.

RESIGNATION
Employees may resign from federal service at any time. Employees who resign would be eligible for a payout of their annual leave and may be eligible to apply for a Deferred Retirement when they reach their minimum retirement age. Please see the attached table explaining the differences between resignations and retirements and the benefits that would apply.

OBTAINING FURTHER INFORMATION
General retirement information is available on the Benefits Portal. The Benefits Portal also includes information about accessing the GRB Platform, which provides calculators for computing estimated retirement benefits. We strongly encourage employees to use the retirement calculators in the GRB Platform to obtain initial annuity estimates and to request an official annuity computation. You may also contact your SPO (listed below) with questions.

     Note that employees have the option of asking reassignment to a “mission critical” position which are those in field offices, teleservice centers and processing centers. That certainly sounds like those already in a “mission critical” position have little to fear. Remember they are deliberately trying to induce panic. Make smart decisions.

     There’s also this from the Washington Post:

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Office of Personnel Management to rescind directives that initiated the mass firing of probationary workers across the government, ruling that the terminations were probably illegal, as a group of labor unions argued in court.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered OPM to rescind its previous directives to more than two dozen agencies, including the Department of Defense, the Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science Foundation and others identified in a lawsuit. The ruling — a temporary restraint on the government that will be revisited in the coming weeks — is one of the biggest roadblocks so far to President Donal Trump’s effort to slash the federal workforce.

     And this lawsuit about OPM’s powers is far from the only theory being pursued to block the layoffs. DOGE has done a terrible job of minding the details and it is hurting them in court.

50% Staff Reduction Coming?

    From The American Prospect:

The Acting Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA) requested in a meeting on Tuesday that managers present him with a plan for a 50 percent reduction in staff, a mass firing that could affect tens of thousands of employees across the country. ...

 “I’m getting conflicting reports on what was discussed in that meeting,” said Rich Couture, spokesperson for the Social Security General Committee of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), adding that some reports indicated that field offices would be spared. But one manager present at the meeting indicated that the 50 percent trim was at all levels. And cuts that have dribbled out over the past several days appear to impact field offices where a majority of SSA employees work. ...

In an email to the Prospect, SSA would not confirm any reductions in its workforce beyond the abolition of two small internal offices announced this week. “We have not set any reduction targets, however we will continue to pursue efficiencies within the agency and align like missions,” an SSA spokesperson said. “We have no further information at this time.” ...

    Anything like this would, of course, render the Social Security Administration immediately incapable of carrying out any of its functions. This might not be popular with voters.

Never Mind

 

A Message To Staff

From: ^Human Resources Internal Communications 

Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2025 10:57 AM

Subject: Time Sensitive: 'Accomplishments' Assignment

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject: Time Sensitive: ‘Accomplishments’ Assignment

You should have received an email yesterday from the sender “HR” requesting that you reply to that email with 5 bullets about your accomplishments last week. This email is a legitimate assignment and should not be reported as spam. You must take the action requested by the deadline.

Things to do:

Review your work over the last week and identify the most impactful mission-critical work accomplishments that advances our public service mission, as well as the Administration’s priorities. This is an opportunity to highlight the important work you do that helps impact the lives of those we serve.

Reply to the email from HR with 5 bullets describing your accomplishments:

Don’t include any sensitive or confidential information, including details that aren’t available to the public.

Where relevant, include the specific SSA programs or operational priorities that your accomplishments support.

Include your immediate supervisor in the cc line of your response.

Deadline:

Your response to the HR email is due no later than 11:59pm EST on Monday, February 24, 2025.

Only 41 Employees Given Job Ultimatum

      From Government Executive:

The Social Security Administration on Thursday gave 41 probationary employees in the agency’s headquarters and regional offices the choice to be reassigned to frontline agency work or to get caught up in the ongoing governmentwide purge of recently hired or promoted workers….

Rich Couture, spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees’ Social Security General Committee, which represents more than 40,000 SSA employees, confirmed the initiative and said while the union appreciates giving probationary workers who weren’t subject to the agency’s exemptions a chance to stay employed, the agency needs more workers, not fewer.

“We are grateful that the probationary employees on the front line were not terminated,” he said. “With 10,000 new beneficiaries each day and a 50-year low in staffing, now is the time to be adding to our frontline staff . . . Should all [of the 41 probationary employees] accept reassignment, we still need to prevent attrition and add 20,0000 new hires to be able to deliver Americans their earned benefits efficiently and accurately.”

Can Anyone Confirm This?