WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration on Wednesday asked its employees to work hard to clear a backlog of retirement claims after the agency pushed out thousands of workers earlier this year.
In an internal memo to operations employees obtained by HuffPost, a Social Security official said the agency has received more retirement claims than in any previous year, thanks in part to the ongoing retirement of baby boomers.
The backlog has grown to 575,000 pending retirement claims, with more than 140,000 of those pending for more than 60 days.
“I am calling for a sprint – a focused, concerted effort in all offices beginning today and lasting through the end of May – to address this growing backlog of pending retirement and survivor claims in our field offices and Workload Support Units,” Stephen Evangelista, deputy commissioner for operations, wrote in the email.
“I am calling for all offices to do their very best to increase their [Retirement, Survivors, Health Insurance] clearances by at least 10 percent daily through the end of May,” Evangelista wrote.
