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By: FEDweek StaffIn a report that may add to political pressure to return more teleworking SSA employees to their official duty stations, the inspector general’s office there has raised concerns with backlogs and other issues related to the handling of physical documents passing to and from the agency, adding that there is a “heightened risk that SSA may lose sensitive documents.”
In visits to more than 70 field offices, program service centers and Social Security card centers through last month, auditors found backlogs including a field office with unprocessed benefits applications dating to July 2020; a card center with unprocessed applications dating to May of last year; and unprocessed remittances or un-negotiated checks dating to November 2019.
Half of field office managers “reported they are overwhelmed by mail duties” and a fifth “stated they are unable to keep up with mail workloads.” Meanwhile, because the agency does not fully track incoming, outgoing, or pending mail, it “does not have sufficient information to enable it to adjust staffing levels to ensure mail is processed timely.”
It said the agency also “lacks comprehensive policies and procedures to track and return original documents—including driver’s licenses, birth certificates, passports, and naturalization documents—that customers provide as proof of eligibility for benefits or a Social Security number card.”
Some field offices were storing original documents in unsecured locations such as desks and bins, and “employees at three offices informed us the U.S. Postal Service or special carriers left mail or packages, which may have included original documents or personally identifiable information, outside the offices in publicly accessible areas after business hours and over the weekends.”
One processing center had 200,000 pieces of returned mail, “some of which were over one year old. Some of these pieces may require action, such as suspending or terminating beneficiaries’ payments.”
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