A Little Update On What's Going On In SSA Land

     From Government Executive:

Amid growing concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, the Social Security Administration’s ongoing saga over telework has reached some finality this week.  ...

SSA’s Office of Hearings Operations (OHO) will shift to full-time telework this week, he said.

Some employees in SSA’s payment service centers began full-time telework last Thursday or Friday. Others in the agency’s tele-service centers already have or will begin telework Monday, said Rich Couture, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 215....

Employees at SSA headquarters and other regional operations offices are also teleworking, Couture said.

SSA did not respond to multiple requests for comment. ...

Couture said SSA didn’t yet have enough “soft phones,” the special systems that tele-service center employees need to connect into the agency’s phone network and remotely handle their work.

The agency will also roll out some new technology in the coming week, which will allow OHO employees to remotely assist and cover hearings done over the phone, Couture said. ...

The agency is planning to first ask SSA supervisors to come into the office to handle some tasks that can’t be handled remotely, Couture said. ...