(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
DOGE and the Social Security Administration – Reporting from the Front Lines [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-27
For my sins, I am a front line employee of the Social Security Administration (SSA). For obvious reasons I will not get any more specific than that. There is a great deal of information, both good and bad, swirling around both in the press and various blogs/reddits/substacks about the impact of DOGE on us, so am writing to fill you in absent the BS. (Utilizing only information available publicly). The short dish is that we were mostly insulated from the impact of DOGE until last week.
While we did get the emails about the early out, we swiftly got advice from HR that most of us, over 90% of the workforce, were ineligible. We are “essential employees.”
As with everyone else, we got 5 accomplishments email over the weekend. We were initially advised to respond to the email, but were later given guidance that it was voluntary.
As of yet, there has been no change to the telework policy for employees with the Bargaining Units (BUs), which represent most employees – and all of those who are public facing. Most HQ and regional staff have returned to the office full time.
As of yet, there have been no mass firings of probationary employees, as has been the case with other agencies. The probationary employees within the BUs have been retained. A few dozen probationary employees in HQ and regional offices were given a fire or be reassigned ultimatum last week, and less than twenty of them were fired.
The new acting commissioner has eliminated two offices – Transformation, and Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. Several hundred employees have been placed on administrative leave pending firing/reassignment. The office of Analytics, Review, and Oversight has been absorbed into other parts of the SSA.
There are widely reported but poorly source drumors about an impending 50% staff cut. All appear to stem from an anonymous blog content here: socsecnews.blogspot.com/…Anonymous said...” On a 3pm EST call this afternoon the ACOSS told the DCs/execs that he wanted a plan to cut 50% of ALL staff, including frontline staff, to him by tomorrow afternoon. If anyone is retirement eligible, you should go and maybe spare some of your younger colleagues who are not eligible for even VERA from being fired. “Not touching Social Security” is not the reality of this administration. Looking for government to fail and be replaced by private industry appears to be the goal.” 6:18 PM, February 25, 2025
It is unclear whether this is a misunderstanding of another report that the Acting Commissioner is looking to cut the work force to 50,000, whether he is looking for a 50% cut in HQ and RO staff, or whether this is pure trolling in service of FUD or arousing public opinion.
The rumors of mass layoffs do not appear to square with the OMB memo from yesterday, which states:
For agencies that provide direct services to citizens (such as SocialSecurity, Medicare, and veterans’ health care), the agency’s certification that implementation of the ARRPs will have a positive effect on the delivery of such services. The certification should include a written explanation from the Agency Head and, where appropriate, the agency’s CIO and any relevant program manager.www.documentcloud.org/…
There are poorly source rumors here www.govexec.com/… that 5 of the 8 regional Social Security Commissioners will resign.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/2/27/2306648/-DOGE-and-the-Social-Security-Administration-Reporting-from-the-Front-Lines
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
