Management grills Social Security workers during tense shutdown meeting
As the United States As the government shutdown continues into its second month, agency leaders at the Social Security Administration (SSA) are increasingly worried about how the key government sector, which provides benefits to nearly 70 million Americans, will continue to operate.
WIRED obtained meeting notes from an SSA call Thursday to government field offices, where more than a thousand managers from across the country spoke with Field Operations Chief Andy Seriobas about the acute and devastating effects of the government shutdown. During the call, managers spoke candidly about employees who can no longer afford to drive to work and a crisis of confidence in the agency.
“People come to me and say they can’t put gas in their car and they can’t afford to come to work anymore and they have to find other jobs,” one of the employees said in this call. “Soon they won’t be able to afford to work at the agency.”
“My heart is breaking because I’m hearing all these things all over the country,” Sriubas replied. We had to close an office in California today because we didn’t have enough people to open the doors… nobody wants to close an office… but I also understand that people have to live their lives and when you lose your second full paycheck now, they have limited tools to do that.
Another employee tells WIRED that some field offices have set up food pantries to help colleagues on the brink. “People are angry and … betrayed,” they added.
Another employee said on the call, “I think I can speak for most of our employees when we say that now more than ever, employees feel somewhat betrayed by the federal government as federal employees because of what we’re navigating and how long we’re navigating.”
Most SSA employees are considered “exempt” from the shutdown, meaning they must continue working without pay or leave the agency altogether.
People can also take furloughs, but employees say they are nervous about asking for that option because they fear they won’t receive back pay when the government reopens. “I have employees who are skeptical and kind of afraid, frankly, to take time off because they’re not comfortable or confident that they’re going to be compensated after the time off is over,” one employee said on the call.
Different standards at the agency, which has roughly 51,000 employees, have also led to disagreements. While the SSA allows some employees to telecommute during this period, the number of days they are allowed to do so is limited. According to the employee contract seen by WIRED, “remote work will be infrequent and limited in duration, based on the agency’s unique workload needs or due to the requesting employee’s personal circumstances.” (One manager tells WIRED: “It’s become a big problem — and employees are talking to each other. We need a hard and fast rule.”
