SSA, AFGE reach deal to lock in current telework levels until 2029

The Social Security Administration and its largest union last week finalized a deal to instill the agency’s current telework policy in the parties union contract until at least 2029, roiling Republicans intent on ending the practice.

SSA and the American Federation of Government Employees first reached the deal after Election Day, and agency head review was complete as of last week. Under the agreement, which was first reported by Bloomberg News, most agency employees will continue to allowed to telework between two and five days per week, depending on their occupation.

Field office workers are allowed two days of telework per week, while most Office of Hearings Operations employees work between three and four days per week from home. Remote workers make up 1.3% of the agency's workforce.

In an internal message to members last week that was ultimately shared on social media, AFGE SSA General Committee Spokesman Rich Couture thanked former Commissioner Martin O’Malley, who resigned last week in order to run for chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and stressed that the current telework policy is a key tool in the agency’s fight against attrition amid declining budgets and a 50-year staffing low.

“This deal will secure not just telework for SSA employees, but will secure staffing levels through prevention of higher attrition, which in turn will secure the ability of the agency to serve the public,” he said. “This is a win for employees and for the American public.”

The news was less celebrated among congressional Republicans and a co-leader of President-elect Donald Trump’s planned government efficiency commission, Vivek Ramaswamy. Elon Musk and Ramaswamy have repeatedly said they would seek to roll back telework usage at federal agencies, if not end it entirely, and have suggested the move as a tool to shed federal jobs.

“Thousands of federal employees just landed a work from home deal ahead of [President-elect Trump] taking office,” said House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on X.

“These midnight-hour maneuvers by the Biden administration are illegitimate and will be scrutinized,” Ramaswamy posted on Twitter. “All new proclamations made by executive fiat can be reversed by executive fiat.”

While presidents can change personnel policy unilaterally, those changes generally cannot be immediately enforced if they conflict with an agency and union’s collective bargaining agreement—officials must wait until the designated time to renegotiate some or all of the contract. The same cannot be said for legislation passed by Congress, however.

On Friday, AFGE’s SSA general committee issued a statement defending the deal to preserve telework, which runs until October 2029, noting that the agency has seen a 6.2% overall gain in productivity this year, operating at current telework levels.

“It is well documented that changing our [telework] levels would accelerate an ongoing staffing crisis,” the union wrote. “More than a quarter of employees are retirement-eligible and 60% say they will seek other jobs if telework ends. Eliminating telework while the agency is already at a 50-year staffing low threatens Social Security operations nationwide, which would harm vulnerable Americans. Arbitrarily removing a highly effective telework program would be an intentionally fatal strategy for the Social Security Administration.”

And in an interview with Government Executive before his resignation last week, O’Malley too defended his approach to telework as a “model” for other agencies to emulate.

“It’s hard to look at our productivity gains and service improvements and conclude that somehow we’re all lazy,” O’Malley said. “The biggest drag on our service isn’t the telework/on-site balance, it’s reducing staffing to a 50-year low . . . These guys are doing everything they possibly can under the most unreasonable workload in the entire federal government.”