SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul, at his confirmation hearing in October 2018. Saul has ordered employees to telework as much as possible, the agency notes.

SSA Commissioner Andrew Saul, at his confirmation hearing in October 2018. Saul has ordered employees to telework as much as possible, the agency notes. J. Scott Applewhite/AP file photo

Union: Social Security Is Withholding Information and Refusing to Bargain as Some Employees Return to Offices

Agency argues most employees are still teleworking to the maximum extent possible and there has been no major change in work arrangements that would require negotiation.

A union representing employees at the Social Security Administration accused the agency of withholding basic information and refusing to bargain over reopening procedures, even as some employees have been called back into physical offices.

The American Federation of Government Employees has been urging Social Security to bargain over how employees will return to the office since June, after managers at the agency began asking employees about whether they fell into so-called “high risk categories” for health complications related to the coronavirus. And in late June, union officials began receiving reports that managers have been calling small numbers of employees to field offices for part of the week to help out with nonportable workloads like mail and “dire need” cases that require face-to-face contact with the public.

“It seems like management is generally overwhelmed with the paperwork,” said Ralph de Juliis, president of AFGE Council 220, which represents Social Security Administration field office employees. “[Generally], the employees who have contacted me directly are going into the office for three or four days a week, although we don’t know how many days all of these employees are going in or every [field office] asking them to come in.”

Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules state that a workplace must be “free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm,” which AFGE says applies to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, regardless of whether an employee is considered high risk for complications from the virus.

“The [OSHA] General Duty Clause does not apply only to employees who have ‘underlying conditions,’ ‘instructions from certified medical professionals’ or ‘dependent care issues,’ ” wrote Bill Price, first vice president of AFGE Council 220, in a June email to management. “The clause does not state that the agency can take calculated risks with the lives of the employees—not when employees are currently working in a safe [alternate duty station], giving the agency a safe and available alternative which is both feasible and useful.”

Despite the fact that some agency employees have been instructed to return to the office, albeit on a part-time basis, the Social Security Administration has repeatedly said efforts to negotiate how employees return to physical work sites are “premature.”

“As noted in the June 16 message from Commissioner [Andrew] Saul, employees will continue to telework to the maximum extent possible,” wrote Jim Julian, associate commissioner for labor-management and employee relations, in a July email after employees were asked to return to the office. “The agency is not proposing to change current arrangements at this time. There are situations where limited numbers of employees are coming into the office to address nonportable workloads.”

And in August, the agency denied information requests related to how many employees have been asked to return to field offices, citing the lack of specific instances of litigation relevant to the request. But Federal Labor Relations Authority precedent states that agencies must comply with information requests in instances when a union is only “considering” whether to file litigation or a grievance. The agency did not respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, AFGE filed an unfair labor practice complaint, alleging that the agency has ignored its demands to bargain and that the agency unlawfully denied valid information requests. De Juliis said the union’s biggest concern is that the agency will slowly ramp up the number of employees required to return to physical offices without negotiating with the union and, crucially, without adequate safety measures in place.

“That’s our fear, that it’s going to be a little bit here and a little bit there, and they’ll say, ‘We’re not going to bargain, this is just a pilot test,’ and so our fear is this is how SSA is going to do everything [to fully reopen] without bargaining,” de Juliis said. “One of the things we need to bargain is to make sure there is social distancing and [there are] cleaning protocols in place. Right now, if you go to a grocery store, there’s an employee who wipes down all of the carts before another person can use them. Well, is that going to happen in all of the offices? Who will clean where members of the public have been before the next person comes in?”

Over the past two years, unions have largely avoided the unfair labor practice process in favor of grievances and arbitration, because the lack of a general counsel at the FLRA has halted all action on those complaints. While grievances grant unions the opportunity to receive adjudication before the FLRA, they can take a year or longer to get to that point. But with an election just months away, de Juliis said he hopes the union can get relief quicker this way.

“Our hope is that the FLRA [investigators] will say, ‘Yes, we’ll issue a complaint when we get a general counsel,’” he said. “And then after election happens there will be a different administration and we’ll have a new general counsel and new FLRA members who will say, ‘We have to fix all the wrongs that have been done . . . Plus, we have pending grievances now, and SSA has said they won’t do Zoom hearings and that we’ll have to wait until next year when we figure out how to bring arbitrators behind the firewall to use Skype or can resume face-to-face hearings.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.