The Odd Couple

      From a piece in Business Insider on Leland Dudek and Frank Bisignano:

… Bisignano's confirmation is awaiting a full Senate vote, which is expected after the chamber votes on nominees for multiple diplomatic positions.  …

Some who spoke with BI expressed surprise that he would join the Trump administration. An archived biography from First Data, where he served as chair and CEO, said he's "a strong supporter of diversity" and helped create affinity groups for women and LGBTQ+ employees at the company. He's donated to candidates on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, records show. In May 2019, Bisignano gave $125,000 to the Trump Victory PAC and another $83,900 to the Republican National Committee. …

A person who has spoken with Dudek said they believed some of his bluster might be a smoke screen. They said Dudek, like previous commissioners, said he feared that the system was on the brink of collapse and worried about people not receiving their benefits — a similar sentiment to what Dudek expressed in a recording obtained by ProPublica. They feel that he thinks he's doing damage control and running interference between DOGE and everyone else.

"It felt like a bunch of 6-year-olds with too much sugar had been put in charge of the agency and were just kind of running all over the place, randomly disconnecting and reconnecting things in different ways," the former SSA manager said.

Some of the decisions at Fiserv that played out on Bisignano's watch appear to have rankled some of his employees. A former Fiserv client project manager said that return-to-office policies rolled out late last year under Bisignano contributed to his decision to leave. The former manager described the culture as "a bit of a sweatshop." …

Bisignano "loves his reputation for fixing things," said one person who worked closely with him, "not for burning things down." …

     I’m pretty sure that if he knew now what’s he’s going to learn in the next few months that Bisignano would not want to be Commissioner of Social Security. The impressive knowledge and skill which he has demonstrated in his previous career will be completely inadequate to the task because he’s faced with a truly impossible task. 

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.

Telework Ending For Non-Union Employees On March 5 But The Notice Was Sent To All Employees

 Subject:  Non-bargaining Unit Employees - Return to In-Person Work and Cancellation of Expanded Flexible Bands

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 terminated effective March 4, 2025 with all employees expected to return to work in-person full time on March 5, 2025.  Additionally, all expanded flexbands for non-bargaining unit employees are cancelled.  Non-bargaining unit employees must follow the flexbands in agency policy (see Personnel Policy Manual S610_3).  Employees must return any agency equipment taken to their telework location to their SSA office location. 

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.

Any outstationed employees with an assigned SSA office location must also begin working at their assigned agency location full time as of March 5, 2025.  Their telework agreements are terminated as indicated above.

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 may reapply for an episodic telework agreement or a TCA for temporary, short-term needs.  Additionally, 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.

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.

Supervisors will upload a copy of this telework termination notice to employees’ e7B files.

Trump Administration Won’t Abide By Union Contracts On Telework; AFGE Plans To Fight Back

      From Federal News Network:

A memo Monday, signed by OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell, directed agencies not to implement any provisions of collective bargaining agreements that “purport to restrict the agency’s right to determine overall levels of telework.”

The memo also called any telework provisions in union contracts that limit an agency’s ability to set telework policy “likely unlawful and unenforceable,” and stated that setting telework eligibility is a “management right.”

“Provisions of collective bargaining agreements that conflict with management rights are unlawful and cannot be enforced,” the memo states. …

“Union contracts are enforceable by law, and the president does not have the authority to make unilateral changes to those agreements,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “AFGE will not let the lawless actions of this administration or any agency go unchallenged, and we will use every option available to us to defend our contracts and support the hardworking civil servants who serve our country with honor and distinction.” …

Nasty Congressional Hearing With O’Malley

      From The Hill:

Martin O’Malley, the former Social Security commissioner who is now seeking to chair the Democratic National Committee, took the brunt of House GOP anger over federal telework policies – and a number of other topics – in a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on Thursday [actually Wednesday].

Republicans primarily took aim at O’Malley’s role in overseeing a late 2024 deal between the Social Security Administration (SSA) and its workers’ union, the American Federation of Government Employees, that will lock in the current levels of telework for union employees until October 2029 – beyond the end of the Trump administration.  …

O’Malley’s bid to be chair of the Democratic National Committee was also brought up multiple times by Republicans, with some bringing up topics far removed from the issue of federal telework. 

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who has become a leading anti-transgender voice in Congress,  asked O’Malley to define what a woman is.

“You’re going to ask me to define what a woman is?” O’Malley asked. “I’m talking to a woman right now, a distinguished woman … I think you’re kind of denigrating the purpose of this hearing.”

A Christmas Question: Can You Overturn It?

      From the Baltimore Sun:

… Martin O’Malley has been called to testify before the House Oversight Committee next month about an agreement he signed to allow some Social Security employees to work remotely through 2029.

O’Malley signed the agreement in late November, two days before leaving his Social Security Administration position.

James Comer, a Republican representative from Kentucky who serves as the chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, wrote in a letter to O’Malley that his agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees to guarantee a minimum amount of telework for 42,000 Social Security employees through 2029 “will tie the hands of your successor at SSA for the duration of the next administration, and beyond.”

Will Frank Bisignano Telework?

Coming back to Social Security?

     You may remember that former Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul tried to end telework at Social Security while he was teleworking himself. He never moved from New York City to the Baltimore area. That didn't go over well with agency employees.

    The newly nominated Commissioner of Social Security is the CEO of Fiserv which is based in Milwaukee. However, Bisignano never moved from his hometown of New York City when Fiserv moved its corporate headquarters to Milwaukee raising the question of whether Bisginano will move to the Baltimore area if he is confirmed as Commissioner. I don't think that we can say he's teleworking at Fiserv. There may be good reasons why the CEO of a financial services company would be located in New York City but after Saul you have to wonder whether Bisignano intends to move. Trying to end telework for everyone else when you're teleworking yourself isn't a good look. In any case, if you're serious about being Commissioner of Social Security you should be living and working in the Baltimore area.

    I hope this issue comes up in Bisignano's confirmation hearing.

Does Frank Bisignano Realize What He's Gotten Himself Into?

     I'm surprised that Frank Bisignano wants the job as Social Security Commissioner. He's now the highly paid CEO of a very successful corporation. It's his niche and apparently he's very good at it. Is he aware of the problems he'll face at Social Security?

• If he thinks he'll lead Social Security out of its long term financing problems, he's deluded. Senators of both parties will demand that he promise that he will stay completely away from long term financing issues. He can't be confirmed without making such promises. For that matter, I'm pretty sure that Trump would want him to stay away from such issues. Also, if he actually looks into the political thicket surrounding it, he'll want nothing to do with Social Security "reform." Let Elon Musk take that bullet.
  
• If he thinks he can in any sense "transform" Social Security, he's deluded. There's no simple fix, technical or otherwise, for Social Security's service delivery problems. There's not even a complicated set of fixes that don't take a lot of money and time. It's highly unlikely that he'll get more money.
• If he thinks that he'll have an advantage because he knows nothing about Social Security and won't be held back by old ideas, he's deluded. In any job, it helps to know how things are already set up, what the obstacles to change are, and what ideas have been tried before and how they worked out. The people who came before you weren't fools (except for Jo Anne Barnhart). Social Security isn't a Gordian knot and Bisignano won’t have have a sword.
  
• If he thinks that the real problem at Social Security is that federal employees are stupid and lazy, he's deluded. That sort of arrogance would lead to indifference, if not joy, in losing the experienced, hard-working employees who keep the Social Security Administration afloat. Not every agency employee is a star but they mostly do their jobs ably. There just aren't enough of them.
  
• If he thinks that ending telework will make Social Security significantly more effective, he's deluded. I've been around long enough to know that telework makes little, if any, difference. If telework ends, some percentage of employees will quit. My guess is that it won't be that high a percentage but that's just a guess. Nobody knows. Losing even a few experienced people will hurt an agency that's as bad off as the Social Security Administration. The commonly held view that Social Security is simple is simply wrong. For example, there's not just one type of Social Security disability benefit. Depending upon how you count them, there are as many as seven (remember that blindness is a separate category under both Title II and Title XVI)! And don't get him started on the windfall offset! It'll blow his mind. It takes long training and considerable experience for an employee to become competent.
  
• If he thinks he can transform the Social Security Administration with new IT, he's deluded. When the companies that Gisignano has led have needed to spend money to acquire new IT systems, all he's had to do was to convince a complaisant board of directors to approve the money. The money was available since the companies were profitable. The situation at Social Security is entirely different. Convincing the White House to approve additional funding will be hard enough. Convincing Congress is much more difficult. Martin O'Malley is a born lobbyist. How far did he get? Is Gisignano any kind of lobbyist?
• If he thinks that fighting employee unions will make the Social Security Administration more effective, he's deluded. The unions can be a pain in the neck but they have just about no effect on productivity. Spending energy fighting them isn't worth it. They're not the enemy.
  

Biden Administration Tries To Lock In Telework At SSA

      From Bloomberg News: 

A Biden administration appointee has agreed to lock in hybrid work protections for tens of thousands of Social Security staff, part of a slew of organized labor efforts that complicate President-elect Donald Trump's efforts to reshape the federal workforce.

 

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 42,000 Social Security Administration workers, reached an agreement with the agency last week that will protect telework until 2029 in an updated contract, according to a message to its members viewed by Bloomberg.

The new deal, signed by President Joe Biden’s just-departed SSA Commissioner Martin O’Malley, will let workers “maintain current levels of telework,” AFGE chapter president Rich Couture wrote. …

  

A US president "can't just set aside lawfully signed collective bargaining agreements, without the unions' agreement," Indiana University law professor Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt said via email. "The US government has to live up to its agreements, too.

"

Telework Thread

     I'm tired of deleting comments from readers who try to post their views about telework in response to every post I make, whether telework is relevant to what I posted or not. So, here is a post about telework. I don't have anything to say about it. Unlike most of my readers I don't have strong feelings about it. I just want to let readers speak their minds about telework. Have at it. Make endless, tedious, pointless comments if you want and let the comments on the other posts be about those posts.

Yesterday's Hearing

     The hearing yesterday before the Labor-HHS Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee went about as I expected but there were interesting details.

Robert Aderholt, Subcommittee Chair

    Robert Aderholt, the Chair of the Subcommittee, spoke first. He said he was happy that Commissioner O'Malley had already come to his office to discuss the agency's appropriation. He said that less than half of agency heads did this, which I find surprising. He also said that this was the first House Appropriations Committee hearing on Social Security in a decade. I knew it had been a long time but that's even more than I imagined. Note to future Commissioners, including Acting Commissioners: Meet with Appropriations Committee members on as regular a basis as you can.

    Aderholt went quickly into Republican talking points which basically amount to pressure to force an end to telework and a demand that the agency manage its way out of its service delivery problems. In particular, he didn't like the amount of overtime at Social Security and thought that it was being abused by employees. Maybe there are problems with overtime but if it there are, it's just the normal sort of management issue that you find at any large entity. It's hardly responsible for any work backlogs, nor is telework. Just about every entity employing white collar employees allows telework. If you don't allow it, you have a hard time holding onto your employees or hiring new ones.

    The other Subcommittee members divided along party lines in predictable and somewhat depressing ways. My limited experience with Congressional hearings in past decades was that they were nowhere near as partisan as this.

     There were many questions along the lines of “Can’t you use AI so you can give better service inexpensively?” The Commissioner’s answer was basically “We hardly have the money to maintain the systems we already have so we can’t possibly afford new AI contracts.”

    It grated on me that Commissioner O'Malley kept saying he had "turned around" Social Security. He's a politician so you expect some hyperbole but saying that the agency has been "turned around" is over the top. O'Malley has done a good job in the short time frame he's had but actually "turning around" the agency was impossible without more time and more money.

    In the end, I hope I'm wrong but I would be surprised to see any additional money for Social Security coming out of this Subcommittee.

    Republicans will get a chance to see whether a Trump appointee as Commissioner can manage the agency out of its service delivery problems. I don't have high hopes of anyone even being nominated for the position for many months, if not years, into the future. Given the quality of the man Trump appointed in his first term in office, I'm not expecting a transformational leader.

Not Good News For Those Who Love Telework

 

    From WISH-TV:

A former Social Security Administration employee has been charged with one count of wire fraud after officials say he defrauded the organization for over three years. …

According to court documents, Christopher Markham, 40, had been employed by the administration and assigned to an office in Anderson. 

Between February 2019, and June 2022, documents say Markham “made it appear” he was teleworking his full-time job for the SSA during regular workdays. But instead, he was working as a home inspector for his own company, Markham Inspection Services. 

Markham continued to collect his full federal salary and benefits from the SSA at the time, attorneys said.

The release says Markham “routinely” performed home inspections, making it appear as though he was teleworking while working for the SSA, while hiding that he was not performing administrative work by allowing his wife and mother access to his Social Security Administration computer to send emails. …

A Message From The New Commissioner To Agency Employees On Telework

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast <Commissioner.Broadcast@ssa.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2024 2:31 PM
Subject: Increasing Our Onsite Presence

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject:  Increasing Our Onsite Presence 

Every morning for the last 32 days, I’ve been going to work at headquarters or catching pre-dawn flights to Social Security Regions across our country. 

I do this to hear from — and learn from — as many of you as possible, as soon as possible, about what’s really going on.

And while the best ideas for improving our operations always come from those on the frontlines, some decisions must ultimately fall to the Commissioner.

So, let’s acknowledge this truth:

The Covid pandemic and shutdown changed the nature of work. There is no private sector company or public agency in the world which has since found the perfect balance between onsite presence and telework.

But because I understand any new adjustments to our telework policies will affect you personally, I wanted to give you as much advance notice as possible so you can make adjustments in your own balance between work and life.

After much listening and deep consideration of currently available evidence, I have decided that the following policies will be effective across the Social Security Administration beginning April 7, 2024.

Here’s WHAT’S NOT changing:

• Field Offices will remain open to the public five days a week.
• Employees in field offices, teleservice centers, and program service centers (including the Office of Central Operations) will continue their current balance of onsite presence and telework. 
• Employees in hearing offices, hearing centers, and case assistance centers will continue their current balance of onsite presence and telework. ALJ hearings will continue to be held five days a week by teleconference, videoconference, or in-person, at the option of claimants and their representatives.
• Employees in the Office of Appellate Operations and the Office of Quality Review will continue their current balance of onsite days and telework.
• Employees with nonportable workloads and those ineligible for telework will continue their onsite presence.

Here’s WHAT IS changing:

• In our headquarters and regional offices, we will be moving to “core collaboration days.”  We do this in order to better serve the American people, to better support our new trainees, and to better support and train our frontline workers in their mission.

Therefore:

• I will be present onsite at the Baltimore Headquarters (or in regional or area offices) five days a week.
• The Commissioner’s Office will be onsite four days a week with one day of telework optional.
• Because servant leaders make themselves present and accountable to the people they lead, Deputy Commissioners, employees in headquarters components, regional offices, and area director offices will increase their onsite presence to three days per week with two days of telework optional.
• Employees in the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) will increase their onsite presence to two days per week — with greater presence for top level executives at the discretion of the CIO.

Our return to a greater onsite presence not only gives us more opportunity for collaboration, engagement, and innovation, but it also brings us into alignment with other federal agencies across government, who have been increasing their own onsite presence.

Conclusion:

In the coming days, you will receive more information from your managers about logistics like signing up for a transit subsidy, updating your parking badge, making your desk arrangements, and more.  Facilities will also be working to expand cafeteria and onsite food options on core collaboration days.

As we improve the quality of our data to measure our effectiveness across the complex components of the Agency, we will continue to adjust in order to reach the best possible balance within individual units. These decisions will honor both the letter and the spirit of our Union agreements. And these decisions will be based on the mission of SSA using the best available evidence, not fear.

Our mission is the security of the men, women, and children of our Nation.

Thank you for your dedication, and I look forward to seeing you in-person if I haven’t already.

Yours in solidarity,

Martin O’Malley

Commissioner

More In-Office Work For Some Managers

    From Federal Times:

The Social Security Administration announced Monday that the agencies’ managerial corps will be required to work in-person four times per two-week pay period, starting in the coming months.

A spokesperson confirmed the announcement applies only to senior executives effective Oct. 2 and managers and supervisors with a headquarters duty station on Nov. 6. The agency did not elaborate on why that decision was made. ...

OPM Memo On Telework

     From Government Executive:

The Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday announced that it will end the use of maximum telework as part of the federal government’s operating status next month, following President Biden’s planned expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

The public health emergency is set to expire on May 11. In a memo to agency heads Tuesday, OPM Director Kiran Ahuja announced that as a result, the federal government’s HR agency will no longer recommend that agencies remain “open with maximum telework flexibilities” as part of a governmentwide operating status. ...

Ahuja stressed that although OPM’s recommendation for maximum telework was ending, agencies should still balance the Office of Management and Budget’s call for “substantially increased meaningful in-person work at federal agencies” with the benefits associated with continued use of workplace flexibilities, including increased productivity, employee engagement and recruitment and retention of workers.

 “OMB’s memorandum informed agencies of an expectation to increase meaningful in-person work while still using flexible operational policies,” she wrote. “Agencies should continue to strategically use telework and remote work policies in support of their workforce plans moving forward while capitalizing on the benefits of meaningful in-person work.” ...

[T]he memo did not assuage the concerns of House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., who compared the memo to a decades-long policy on LGBTQ+ Americans serving in the military. ...

    Cut the endless comments on the merits of telework. Don't you guys get tired?

Union Negotiations Start On Monday

     Joe Davidson at the Washington Post reports that negotiations between the Social Security Administration and its largest employee union, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), are scheduled to begin on Monday. According to the Post:

... At Social Security, labor relations still are hung over from the anti-union days of the Trump administration. President Donald Trump used executive orders to sharply weaken the ability of unions to bargain with agencies, including through the unilateral imposition of contract provisions. Union leaders say current Social Security leaders don’t want to give up that authority.

A key example is telework, which Republicans claim there is too much of in the federal workforce. Restrictive telework policies were implemented under Trump and the agency now “doesn’t want to give up its power,” [Rich] Couture [of the AFGE] said in a telephone interview. “It doesn’t want to give up its discretion.”

He added, “they won’t guarantee a telework program or telework levels. They won’t negotiate with us over telework, despite at one point promising to do so. That’s a huge issue that they have shown zero actual interest in fixing with us.”

Another key issue is the “very dire situation in terms of service delivery and how much it’s deteriorated in the last couple of years …” Couture said, “stemming from overwhelming workloads, low employee morale … a lack of competitive pay and benefits.” ...

Telework Debated

     From Government Executive:

Officials from the Biden administration on Thursday defended federal agencies’ approach to workplace flexibilities like telework and remote work from skeptical Republicans, who have grown more stridently against the concept of hybrid work environments in recent months.

In testimony before the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on government operations, Office of Personnel Management Director Kiran Ahuja said flexibilities like telework and remote work, where possible, are central to the administration’s effort to revitalize the federal workforce and improve agency efficiency. 

“One lesson we have learned throughout the pandemic is that workplace flexibilities, such as telework and hybrid work schedules, can promote resilience of federal government operations in the face of disruptions, enhance productivity, and improve employee morale,” she said. “During this time, we have seen the private-sector labor market—and what workers expect from their jobs—change quickly. Private-sector employers have had to quickly learn how to respond to employee needs. Federal employers must do the same to attract and retain talent in this tight labor market.”

But Republicans on the committee criticized the idea of providing additional “perks” to “bureaucrats,” and blamed teleworking workers for service backlogs at agencies like the IRS, OPM and the Social Security Administration. ...

 

House Appropriations Releases Report On Bill To Fund SSA

     The full House Appropriations Committee has approved its version of the appropriations bill covering the Social Security Administration. There were no amendments affecting Social Security. The report that accompanies such bills has been released. These reports typically contain precatory language that agencies generally try to follow even if they are not legally required to do so. Here's some excerpts that affect Social Security (beginning at page 310):

• ... Within the total recommended increase, the Committee expects SSA to direct not less than $630,000,000 for field offices, teleservice centers, and program service centers, and $190,000,000 to replace losses and build capacity at the State Disability Determination Services (DDS) agencies that make disability determinations for SSA.
• In addition, 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 ...
• Hearings.—The Committee continues to consider 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. As part of a beneficiary’s right to an impartial appeal process, an on the record hearing, conducted by an impartial judge with decisional independence, must be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act to ensure due process, without agency interference, or political bias. Replacing this appeals step and the role of independent administrative law judges (ALJs) with SSA employees jeopardizes the independence of the process. 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 requests SSA submit to the Committee within 90 days of enactment of this Act a plan for reducing the initial and reconsideration claims backlogs, and continue to submit to the Committee quarterly reports on disability hearings backlogs until SSA has eliminated the hearings backlog and achieved its monthly average processing time goal. The Committee urges the Commissioner to prioritize the hiring of additional staff at the DDS agencies to determine initial claims and reconsideration appeals, as well as ALJs and requisite staff to adjudicate backlogged hearings claims. ...
• The Committee remains concerned about the time it takes SSA to effectuate favorable SSI and/or SSDI disability determinations and requests a briefing on the issue withing 30 days of receiving the report on Disability Determinations as requested in House Report 117–96. ...
• The Committee directs SSA to submit a report to the Committee within 180 days of enactment of this Act exploring the feasibility of using employee incentives, including an agency student loan repayment program, to improve recruitment and retention for qualified candidates across the agency. ...
• The Committee recognizes the essential role that field offices play in the public’s ability to access SSA benefits and services and strongly encourages the Commissioner to take every action possible to maintain operations at existing field offices. ...
• The Committee understands that the Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) relies on legal assistants to conduct a broad range of work supporting hearings and reviewing work of its administrative law judges, and urges SSA to examine the position descriptions of legal assistants, pay and actual work conducted, to ensure that job classifications and compensation are commensurate with current duties. ...
• 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 appreciates that the Commissioner is raising the cap on fees payable via fee agreement, and encourages the Commissioner to index the cap to account for inflation in future years. ...
• The Committee reiterates its support for well-managed telework programs in the Federal workplace and understands that SSA is in the process of evaluating how telework affects service delivery during the reentry evaluation period of March 30 through September 30, 2022. Within 90 days of enactment of this Act, the Committee requests a briefing on how the results of that evaluation will be used to measure and monitor the impact of telework on customer satisfaction, service availability including continuity of operations, workloads management, employee experience, stewardship, and environmental considerations. ...

    Note that we are a long, long way from having a final bill. The Senate has to act. The filibuster in the Senate gives the minority a veto over appropriations bills. The House of Representatives may be in Republican hands by the time there is final action.

Contractor Problems Contributing To Social Security Phone Issues

    Social Security's telephone systems have been down this week. It's been essentially impossible to call in. I don't  get the impression that the agency is all that concerned about this. They haven't even put out a press release. Maybe by this point the difference between nearly impossible and impossible have become so slight that it hardly matters to them any more.

    There's an employee union podcast on reopening at Social Security, specifically at the teleservice centers, which says that there are MAJOR technical problems with new telecommunications contractors which are significantly affecting agency telephone service. There's a fair amount of whining on the podcast that would appeal only to union members but mixed in is real info on the agency's telephone problems. Talk about strategies to make sure agency employees can work in their pajamas everyday, forever, isn't going to win the union many friends nor are many likely to buy into the notion that Covid will still be a dire public health threat by late this month when agency employees start returning -- part-time -- to their offices. However, my point in posting this is the information in the podcast about the serious technical problems.

    Note that no matter how bad the contractor problems may be, Social Security lacks the manpower to answer its phones anyway!

Heavy Telework Usage At Social Security Compared To Other Agencies With Predictable Results

     From a recent report by the Government Accountability Office GAO:

 

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... The Social Security Administration (SSA), for example, reported that it faced challenges transitioning the work of its call center operators to a telework environment. According to SSA, nearly 4,000 of its customer call center agents did not telework prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. SSA explained that it was in the initial stages of replacing its telephone infrastructure at the onset of the pandemic and the transition to maximum telework required the agency to re-engineer the way it used current technology to provide all customer call center agents the ability to answer calls until its new agency-wide telephone system could be installed. When SSA transitioned to maximum telework in March 2020, the agency said it had enough equipment for only about one-third of these agents to perform their duties while teleworking.

SSA officials told us that call center agents without remote equipment were placed on administrative leave or weather and safety leave. Additionally, it took a couple of weeks for the agency to provide the customer call center agents on leave with the essential equipment that allowed them to telework. However, SSA officials reported that internet connectivity issues created challenges for employees receiving calls on its 800-customer service number. As a result, SSA operated with a limited number of employees available to respond to the 800 number calls from the public. This resulted in longer-than-normal call-wait times. SSA officials said that by June 2020, they had equipped employees with necessary technology to answer the increasing number of calls while teleworking.

SSA’s Office of the Inspector General reported that only 27 percent of teleservice center employees were answering calls on the national 800-number in mid-March of 2020. As of October 2020, according to the report, nearly all call center employees were answering calls, with approximately 1 percent on weather and safety leave who were unable to answer calls remotely due to internet connectivity issues. The report also stated that while SSA reduced the amount of callers receiving a busy message, this was partially enabled by reducing hours for the national 800-number. ...