The Social Security Administration "eliminated" its civil rights office
"Please wait for instructions from the agency to ... report harassment."
The Social Security Administration “eliminated” the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (OCREO) on Tuesday, Law Dork has learned.
“The OCREO office has been eliminated,” the auto-response message read of a person who, as of Monday at least, had been a director in the office. “Please wait for instructions from the agency to request EEO counseling, report harassment, or guidance for reasonable accommodations.”
Tuesday’s change was justified in an announcement as eliminating a “duplicative office.”
The closure of the office echoed another abrupt set of changes announced by Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek on February 21 regarding the Office of Analytics Review and Oversight.
Tuesday’s announcement of the civil rights office’s elimination said that all employees of the office had been placed on administrative leave on Tuesday, although one source told Law Dork that the employees had been fired. According to the Baltimore Banner, an SSA spokesperson told the publication that “about 140 people in the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity have been placed on administrative leave.”
In the auto-response message from the person who had been a director in the office as of Monday, which was viewed by Law Dork, the message concluded, “Thank you, and good luck.”
Under a January 20 executive order from President Trump, federal offices were to “terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law, all DEI, DEIA, and ‘environmental justice’ offices and positions.” It was not clear if the elimination of OCREO was being justified as part of that directive, but, if so, it would appear to be a significant and troubling expansion of the understanding of that order.
In a statement, Dudek — who took over after Trump’s initial “acting” commissioner left the office under questionable circumstances — said, “Terminating the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, and reassigning statutory responsibilities performed by this office, advances the President’s goal to make all of government more efficient in serving the American public.”
The office’s elimination was quickly reflected in the agency’s organizational chart.
The office appeared on the SSA organizational chart as of February 19 that had been previously downloaded by Law Dork. Claudia Postell was listed as the deputy commissioner leading the office, and Tanya Lawrence was the deputy commissioner.
On a new organizational chart dated February 25 and available only as of Tuesday night, the office was gone. Neither Postell nor Lawrence appear anywhere on the new organizational chart.
A page describing the office’s functions that was still online on Tuesday night detailed several “centers” housed within the office. It was not immediately clear if they were “eliminated” as well, and if those employees were also placed on administrative leave.
In the SSA announcement, it said only that “SSA will transfer responsibility for processing Equal Employment Opportunity complaints, reasonable accommodation requests, and other statutorily required functions to other SSA components to ensure compliance with existing legal authorities.“
Unlike the Feb. 21 announcement regarding the Office of Analytics Review and Oversight, however, the Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity announcement on Tuesday did not say where the many responsibilities were being transferred, leaving questions about how EEO complaints would be initiated, harassment would be reported, and accommodation requests could be sought — and who was responsible for dealing with those questions.
This is a breaking news report. It was corrected and expanded after initial publication with information from an SSA announcement of the change, with the final update at 10:45 p.m. Please check back at Law Dork for the latest.
Watched this happen from inside the walls today. They seem to have neglected to mention that ocreo was responsible for ADA compliance. It also provided services like sign language interpreters, assistants for people with visual or physical impairments.
I cannot imagine how some of my co-workers will be able to function tomorrow without those services. My heart breaks for them and for the ocreo staff.
Clearly the Secret Service is wasteful and unnecessary, because Trump's mandate shows that he is universally beloved and no one would wish to harm him. Save that money!