Disability applicants looking for face-to-face help with someone from the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) may find it a little more difficult after the SSA decided to close all field offices throughout the country 30 minutes earlier. Have the debt talks and tough economic times affected your government benefits or service? Let us know in the comments below.
The SSA office located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for example, normally closes at 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Soon, the office will be closing at 3:30 p.m. The shorter hours will begin on Monday, August 15. The SSA reminds people, though, that often it can answer people’s questions or make appointments via its toll-free national phone number, which you can reach between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on business days.
The cuts in hours and service may be the first of many to come. Congress provided the SSA with $1 billion less in funding than President Obama originally sought. The earlier closing times is one way that the SSA hopes to cut costs by avoiding having to pay its employees overtime. As a result, disability applicants and other Social Security beneficiaries may find themselves facing even longer wait times to have their needs met. Those most in need may feel the effects of these cut backs more than others. Comment below on the impact you have felt from reductions in government services.
Troutman & Troutman, P.C. – Tulsa Social Security Disability attorneys
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