The Coronavirus is spreading in the United States and worldwide more every day and in response two leading Democratic lawmakers are urging Social Security to reverse its policy to disallow Social Security employees to work from home.
For several years Social Security has allowed some of its employees to work from home several days a week, but new Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul took steps to eliminate the agency’s telework program, but now with the Coronavirus spreading rapidly, there are calls for employers to allow employees to work from home, including Social Security employees, to help prevent the virus from spreading even more.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts) and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) sent a letter to Saul March 4, 2020 urging the commissioner to reinstate telework options to Social Security employees. In a press release from Neal’s office, the two democratic leaders said eliminating telework for Social Security employees who come face-to-face with the public every day does not make sense.
““With the spread and concern about the COVID-19 virus, we urge you to reverse the decision to eliminate or curtail telework options for SSA employees, including frontline field office employees,” the members wrote. “All federal agencies should have contingency plans in place in order to continue serving their customers and fulfilling their mission while keeping their employees and the American public as safe as possible. If SSA had a robust telework program, SSA would be well positioned to continue many public-serving operations while employees worked from home.”
Under Saul’s direction, Social Security ended the telework program in November of 2019. It took away the ability of close to 12,000 employees to work several days a week from home. To read the entire letter submitted to Saul click here.
