SSA noted that agencies have been told to submit initial downsizing plans to OPM by March 13, adding that “No date has been set when a RIF might begin after OPM approves the plan.” Image: Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock.com
The SSA has said it will lay off some 7,000 of its 57,000 employees “with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services,” which will include offers of buyouts and early retirement.
Those incentives will be made “on a first come first serve basis” and will require employees to opt in and to separate from the agency by specific dates, an announcement said. Early retirement authority began March 1 and will extend through the calendar year, while buyouts will be available only through March 14.
Buyouts will require separation no later than April 19, and will not be paid to those who took the earlier government-wide deferred resignation offer promising continued pay and benefits through September 30. Also, in contrast to general buyout policy, the standard $25,000 maximum will be paid only to those in GS grades 13 and higher. It will be only $15,000 for those up through GS-8 and $20,000 for those in grades 9-12.
“Social Security anticipates that much of the staff reductions needed to reach the target of 50,000 will come from retirement, VSIP, and resignation. Additional reductions will come from reduction-in-force actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions. RIF also can include directed reassignments from one position to another position in the agency,” it said.
It noted that agencies have been told to submit initial downsizing plans to OPM by March 13, adding that “No date has been set when a RIF might begin after OPM approves the plan.”
The announcement makes SSA one of the first agencies to announce specifics under that directive, adding that a rumor that it would cut staff by as much as half “is false.” However, even before those cuts, SSA has been operating at the lowest staff level in years, at a time its workload continues to grow with retirements of the large Baby Boom generation.
The agency said it also will reduce its regional office structure from 10 to four and reduce the number of deputy commissioner level organizations. It earlier had announced the closing of its office of civil rights and equal opportunity and its office of transformation, putting employees on administrative leave pending their separation. It also broke up its office of analytics, review, and oversight and assigned its functions to other parts of the agency.
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How Do Age and Years of Service Impact My Federal Retirement
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