Capital Region Social Security workers are feeling the effects of staffing shortages as they work without pay amid a government shutdown.
Jessica Sweet is a social security claims specialist at the Social Security Administration’s Albany Office.
Some of Sweet’s day-to-day responsibilities include processing benefit applications, assisting people with obtaining new social security numbers, and setting people up with Medicare benefits.
Sweet says she is currently working without pay because of the government shut down at the beginning of the month.
She says the work is nonstop.
“In the Albany office in particular we have about 320 appointments a week, and we service between 600 and 700 walk-in people every week, those are people physically in the office,” Sweet said.
Sweet, who is also a member of the AFGE local 3343 Union, has been working at the office for seven years. She says the agency had already been grappling with staffing issues when the government shut down.
“Our retention rate since about 2020 hasn’t been fantastic, we’ve lost a lot of really good people,” Sweet said.
Sweet says the problem has been exacerbated under the Trump administration.
On January 20th, President Donald Trump ordered a hiring freeze through a memorandum sent to the executive branch’s department heads.
The Social Security Administration falls under that umbrella.
The freeze was extended by three months in April, then extended by another three months in July and was extended a third time earlier this month -- this time indefinitely.
“We have been under a hiring freeze for a very long time,” Sweet said.
With ongoing staffing issues, Sweet says the agency implemented a new system in June dubbed “call sharing.”
Under the system, people who call a SSA office may have their call re-routed to another branch if there is no one available to answer the phone.
“So, you may end up speaking to somebody who is not in your area, is not familiar with maybe the case, or the types of questions you might be asking,” Sweet said.
She says the call-sharing system creates more work – if she gets a case she is unfamiliar with, she typically has to do research to provide adequate assistance.
“A lot of our job is a little bit of detective work and putting the puzzle pieces together, I’ve had cases dropped on my lap that are ancient,” Sweet said.
Natoyia Drakes has been working in the same office as Sweet since 2021. She is also working without pay.
Natoyia echoes Sweet’s sentiment, saying call sharing was intended to reduce the amount of time people spend on the phone but is actually just pushing work around.
“It was said that call sharing was going to help offices but it seems like its just a disaster, another thing where they are throwing something at the wall and seeing if it sticks,” Drakes said.
Sweet and Drakes contend that while the staffing shortage in Albany is a problem, other offices, like Schenectady, are in worse shape.
Rennie Glasgow works in the Electric City’s SSA office. He is the vice president of AFGE local 3343 union and says his office has lost nine employees between January and April of this year.
He says those employees took a deal with the Trump administration after the Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE – formerly headed by Elon Musk – sent out letters giving workers the option to resign and receive a severance package.
“There are some individuals that just, once they came out with it, they said ‘you know what I can’t deal with this, this is too much for my family, this is too much for me, I’m going, I’m going to take it and go, and look for a different job,’” Glasgow said.
According to Glasgow, the number of lost employees represents a 33 percent reduction in the office’s workforce.
In combination with the current government shutdown, Glasgow says the reduction means workers who remain are doing as much as four times the amount of work with no pay.
And, because of the hiring freeze, the office is unable to replace those employees.
“It has brought on a heightened level of frustration to the individuals that are currently working,” Glasgow said.
Glasgow, who has been working at the Schenectady office for 13 years, says SSA management has also told staff that if they stop showing up, they will be marked as “absent without leave” and will not receive backpay when the shutdown ends.
For now, Glasgow says he has been trying to keep fellow employees at ease.
“On more than one occasion as the AFGE vice president, I have had to talk to people and try to calm them and try to let them understand, focus on your family, focus on your health, focus on what you have to do and try not to focus on the fact that you are not getting paid and you are working at this point,” Glasgow said.
Those interviewed for this story do not necessarily represent the views of the Social Security Administration.
