Social Security Under Fire for Routing Callers to Offices That Can’t Help Them

The Social Security Administration’s national toll-free number becomes so overloaded on busy days that many calls from Los Angeles are routed to Pittsburgh, where no service operators speak Spanish, and calls from Pennsylvania coal miners about black-lung benefits are shifted to New Jersey, where the topic is a mystery, a congressional hearing was told Friday.

“You can always tell when an employee in my office has a Spanish (speaking) caller because they talk extra loud,” said Joy Sloan, a Social Security service representative from Pittsburgh. “It’s a frustrating and impossible task” when 20% of the calls dialed in the Los Angeles region between 2 and 3 p.m. are shifted to Pittsburgh on busy days, she told the House Aging Committee.

Work Force Being Cut

The Social Security Administration has been reducing its work force for five years, and last October it initiated a national toll-free service to maximize the use of available operators. In most parts of the country, Social Security abolished the local telephone numbers for its offices, replacing them with the single toll-free number, 1-800-234-5772.

When calls in one place get backed up, they can be routed automatically to any of the 37 tele-service centers.

However, the result is sometimes not hometown-like service.

“I’m not satisfied,” said Rep. Edward R. Roybal (D-Los Angeles), the committee chairman, angered because he had previously been assured by Social Security officials that bilingual telephone service representatives would be on duty throughout the country. “I want to see them in place in 30 days,” he said in an interview after the hearing.

Used by Beneficiaries

The nationwide line is used by persons seeking information about retirement and disability benefits, complaining about checks that did not arrive and arranging appointments at local offices.

On seven heavy calling days in March and five in April, 20% of the calls made in the Los Angeles region between 2 and 3 p.m. were routed to Pittsburgh operators. “Numerous calls from Spanish-speaking callers” could not be handled because no one in that office speaks Spanish, Sloan said.

Nor are there Spanish-speaking operators at service centers in St. Louis, Parlin, N. J., and Upper Darby, Pa., even though the Pennsylvania office must handle overflow calls from Miami, Roybal said.

Also, backed-up calls from Pennsylvania have been switched to the New Jersey office, which “has led to much bad and erroneous information” being given to miners, Sloan said. “Pittsburgh (representatives) know the black lung program, Parlin does not.”

Problems to Be Corrected

Social Security officials defended the telephone program, insisting that it generally has improved service to the 38 million beneficiaries. Problems caused by switching calls to inappropriate centers “will be corrected,” Jack McHale, project director for the telephone program, told the hearing.

Herbert R. Doggette Jr., deputy commissioner for operations, said that start-up problems “might be expected in any undertaking of this magnitude.”

Social Security offices “are now offering interviews by appointment to reduce waiting times, experimenting with extended office hours and offering to conduct most Social Security business over the telephone if a claimant or beneficiary prefers,” he said.

Cites High Phone Use

Doggette said that about 50% of Social Security claims are now “taken over the telephone by local offices versus only 15% in 1986, and in some areas over 80% of claims are filed by telephone.”

He cited recent studies by the General Accounting Office showing a high level of public satisfaction with Social Security services.

Roybal released a survey showing dissatisfaction and low morale among workers at five Social Security offices in the Los Angeles area. A majority of the 101 respondents said that their offices had insufficient staff.

Poorer Service Claimed

Roybal and another committee member, Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), said the quality of service is suffering as Social Security reaches its goal of cutting its payroll by 17,000 workers during a five-year period. The current budget calls for elimination of 2,000 jobs by attrition during fiscal 1990.

Ernesto Graham, who worked in the Social Security Administration for 14 years, told the committee that he resigned this month from the Boyle Heights office in Los Angeles in frustration over an “intolerable” working environment.

Personnel turnover is very high, and there is a shortage of secretaries and claims representatives, Graham said. “In the past three or four years, the job has changed dramatically for the worse,” he said.