SSA cancels telework with just a weekend’s notice

The Social Security Administration last week gave the majority of its frontline workforce roughly three days’ notice that it was suspending their telework agreements en masse, in what union officials say may amount to a violation of their contract, just hours after its acting leader vowed to honor it.

At around 5 p.m. EDT on March 13, Social Security management emailed bargaining unit employees across the agency informing them that their telework agreement would be suspended effective Monday. Employees in the agency’s Office of Hearing Operations and its Office of Financial Policy and Operations were the only subcomponents exempt from the return-to-office mandate.

The Social Security Administration signed a collective bargaining agreement with the American Federation of Government Employees last November locking in existing telework levels until 2029, though the contract grants management the right to suspend telework when necessary due to operational needs. Under that contract, which aligned with previously signed contracts with the agency’s other unions, management has traditionally informed the union in advance of its reasoning for suspending telework and the expected duration of increased in-person work.

Rich Couture, a spokesman for AFGE’s SSA General Committee, said that absent that basic information, he is left to conclude that the agency is terminating employees’ telework agreements, in contravention of its contract. Though the Trump administration has instructed agencies to ignore telework and other union contract provisions—an apparent violation of federal labor law—Couture said he had received assurances from Acting Social Security Commissioner Leland Dudek just hours prior that he would uphold existing collective bargaining agreements.

“We had a meeting that morning . . . and I had to bring up the fact that bargaining unit employees in the Office of the Chief Information Officer that IT specialists were informed that their teleowrk agreements had been terminated,” Couture said. “His response was that he wasn’t terminating their telework, he was suspending it because of some short-term IT projects that were best served through in-person work and collaboration, and as soon as that was over within 60 to 90 days, telework would be reinstated. And he gave myself and the two other unions assurances that he would follow the CBA.”

On March 15, Couture said he followed up with the commissioner’s office, who responded via email that the agency needed more in-person manpower to account for the increase in field office foot traffic likely to result from the controversial decision to end the ability for beneficiaries to conduct identity verification and direct deposit information changes by phone. But that still not provide a timeline for the suspension’s duration or explain why employees outside of the agency’s field offices were recalled.

“My position is that until management fully corrects the record and act in a manner consistent with the parties’ course of dealing since 2022,” he said. “And until such time that they’ve provided adequate notice, including what the suspensions are for and for how long, I’m considering it an unlawful termination. What we have is an indefinite suspension of telework for everyone except OHO and the Office of Financial Policy and Operations.”

Union officials have warned for months that the end of telework at the Social Security Administration could cause a death spiral for the agency. The agency saw 10% of its workforce leave when it first implemented return-to-office in 2022, and Internal surveys have indicated that upwards of half of the workforce would begin looking for other jobs if the workplace flexibility is revoked altogether.

The Social Security Administration did not respond to a request for comment.