Problems With Retirement Earnings Test

     From The Social Security Administration’s Enforcement of the Earnings Test, a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:

The earnings test is a provision of the Social Security Act that requires that SSA withhold payments from beneficiaries who are under full retirement age (FRA) if their earnings exceed a certain limit. ...

SSA did not accurately or timely pay beneficiaries subject to the earnings test. As a result, we estimate SSA:

• inaccurately calculated approximately 47,000 of the 294,000 earnings-test overpayments established in FY 2021, totaling more than $148 million;
• inaccurately paid approximately 9,000 beneficiaries approximately $29 million based on estimated earnings that were more or less than their actual earnings; and
• did not timely pay approximately 176,000 beneficiaries approximately $81 million in monthly benefit increases. ...

    And to think that the retirement earnings test used to apply to all retirees regardless of age.

Overdue

    From Joe Davidson at the Washington Post:

The Democratic chairman of a powerful Senate committee on Wednesday called on President Biden to fire the lead watchdog for the Social Security Administration, pointing to stalled investigations and plunging staff morale.

In a letter sent Wednesday to the White House, Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said promises by Inspector General Gail Ennis to “establish a culture that welcomes debate, collaboration, and transparency … appear to have been hollow.”

“I urge you to remove her,” Wyden wrote. ...

Monthly OHO Report

 

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An Interesting Employee Benefit

     From a contracting notice posted by the Social Security Administration:

... The Contractor shall administer a reimbursement process for employees who choose to utilize SSA’s Pick Your Own Provider emergency backup dependent care program for temporary or short-term services for employees who are scheduled to work, and their regular care arrangements are disrupted. This will allow employees to continue working knowing that their dependents are being cared for in a safe environment. When employees use the Pick Your Own Provider program, they are required to locate their own provider and pay for all costs. The contractor will administer a process to reimburse employees a $100 flat fee for each day of emergency backup care provided.  Employees can utilize the Pick Your Own Provider program for a maximum of 5 days of emergency backup dependent care per contract period. ...

Headcount Inches Up

    The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has finally posted updated numbers showing the headcount of employees at each agency as of the second and third quarters on 2023. Note that these numbers do not tell the whole story. They don't account for part time employees nor for overtime. Overtime is a huge part of the story at Social Security. A Full Time Equivalent (FTE) report would cover that but we seldom see FTE reports.  Here are Social Security's numbers as of September with earlier headcount numbers for comparison:

• September, 2023 61,410
  
• June, 2023 60,726
  
• March, 2023  59,400
• December, 2022 58,916
  
• September, 2022 57,754
  
• June, 2022 58,332
  
• March, 2022 59,257
  
• December, 2021 60,422
  
• December 2020 61,816
  
• December 2019 61,969
  
• December 2018 62,946
  
• December 2017 62,777
• December 2016 63,364
• December 2015 65,518
• December 2014 65,430
• December 2013 61,957
• December 2012 64,538
• December 2010 70,270
• December 2009 67,486
• December 2008 63,733

Reaction To O'Malley's Decision On Telework

     Tom Temin at Federal News Network has a piece up on the new Commissioner's e-mail to staff decreasing telework for some employees. He is kind enough to refer to this blog by name as "reliable." He quotes several comments made to the post.

    Erich Wagner at Government Executive has a longer piece on the e-mail, particularly to the reaction of Rich Couture, chief negotiator for the American Federation of Government Employees, the union that represents most Social Security employees. Couture expressed relief at what O'Malley had done. The article says that only 4,000 bargaining unit employees would be affected by the announcement. Here's a quote from Couture:

AFGE is pleased to see [O’Malley] is maintaining telework at current levels, and it’s clear that the commissioner recognizes the importance of telework for workers and their work-life balance, as well as its importance for retention and recruitment efforts,” Couture said. “We’re still in a public service crisis fueled by understaffing and attrition, and one way to maintain staffing levels is by offering telework. A commitment to continuing current telework levels for those employees is critical to keeping the agency’s ability to serve the public intact by keeping our employees working here.

     After almost 100 comments, I cut off commenting on the original post since the comments had become so repetitive but, still, I don't think anyone mentioned something about O'Malley's e-mail that caught my eye. Before signing his name to the e-mail, the Commissioner included the phrase "Yours in solidarity." That word, "solidarity," has long been associated with labor unions.

Trying To Undermine Social Security From The Inside

     From Alex Lawson, writing for Common Dreams:

Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans have a problem. They hate Social Security, because it is popular, effective, and doesn’t make any money for their billionaire donors. But their voters love Social Security. Ninety-four percent of Republicans oppose benefit cuts.

McConnell understands the political dangers of being openly hostile to Social Security. So instead, he is plotting to sabotage it from within. The latest instrument of that sabotage is Andrew Biggs, a senior fellow at the billionaire-funded American Enterprise Institute. Biggs is McConnell’s pick to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB) ...

Biggs served as an associate commissioner of Social Security under former President George W. Bush and was instrumental in Bush’s push to privatize Social Security. ...

Biggs supports raising the retirement age, and has testified before Congress that people should work longer. ...

Biggs also wants to turn Social Security from an earned benefit into a poverty-level flat benefit. That means huge cuts for middle class workers who’ve been paying into the program their entire lives. It would destroy Social Security’s political popularity by turning it into a welfare program—a sitting duck for Republicans to make even larger cuts. ...

     Biggs came under serious criticism at the hearing on his nomination.

    The good thing about this nomination is that the SSAB isn't much of a platform from which to launch attacks on Social Security. For better or worse, it's pretty obscure. Also, while Republicans like to talk about privatizing Social Security, raising the retirement age or turning it into something they can deride as "welfare," they have virtually no interest in actually doing anything along these lines.

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