Last Updated: October 8, 2026 Reading Time: 8 min

In an October 5 email reported by Federal News Network and Government Executive, SSA's chief human capital officer, Florence Felix-Lawson, told staff that alternative work schedules end starting November 16, 2026. Employees on a 4/10 or 5/4/9 schedule can keep it through Friday, November 13. The stated reason is staffing on the days employees are off and the effect on service to the public. Unlike the IRS, which rescinded its union contract before ending compressed schedules in July, SSA still recognizes AFGE, and Government Executive reports the contract runs to October 25, 2029. That difference is the whole rights story.

What SSA Said, and What It Did Not Say

Both outlets quote the same email. Federal News Network (Jason Miller, October 6): "starting Nov. 16 all alternative work schedules (AWS) will terminate," and employees on a 4/10 or 5/4/9 "may continue that schedule until Friday, Nov. 13." Government Executive (Jory Heckman, October 7) adds that an SSA spokesperson declined to comment further and referred the outlet back to the email. The schedules named are ten-hour days four times a week and eight nine-hour days plus one eight-hour day per pay period.

Three gaps matter. First, "all AWS" in OPM's vocabulary covers both compressed schedules and flexible ones (flextime, maxiflex, credit hours), but the email as reported names only the compressed patterns. Second, neither article mentions telework, which is a separate program. Third, the email came from the chief human capital officer. The Reddit threads that spread the news say the commissioner ended AWS; neither outlet ties the email to Commissioner Bisignano.

SSA's stated reason tracks one of the three statutory grounds for ending a schedule, a "diminished level of services furnished to the public." Neither outlet reports that SSA published a formal adverse-agency-impact finding.

The Law: When an Agency Can End a Schedule

Under 5 U.S.C. § 6131(a), an agency head who finds that a flexible or compressed schedule "has had or would have an adverse agency impact" must promptly determine not to continue it. Section 6131(b) defines that impact three ways: a reduction in productivity, a diminished level of services to the public, or an increase in operating costs beyond the reasonable administrative cost of setting the schedule up.

For employees in a bargaining unit, the schedule is governed by the statute and by the contract. Section 6130(a)(1) says a schedule covering represented employees is "subject to the provisions of this subchapter and the terms of a collective bargaining agreement." And 5 U.S.C. § 6131(c)(3) adds the procedure that makes SSA's case different from the IRS case. OPM's Handbook on Alternative Work Schedules puts it this way: if the schedule was negotiated, "the agency may reopen the agreement to seek its termination"; at impasse, the Federal Service Impasses Panel "will determine within 60 days whether the agency's determination is supported by evidence"; and "the AWS schedule may not be terminated until agreement is reached or the Panel acts." The statute counts the Panel's 60 days from the date the impasse is presented to it.

Panel precedent cuts both ways. In 2003 the Panel found the VA "has not met its statutory burden" and ordered a 4/10 schedule continued (03 FSIP 52). In 1998 it found an Army hospital's 5/4/9 schedule "has caused an adverse agency impact" and ordered it terminated (98 FSIP 27). The agency has to prove the harm, with evidence.

Whether SSA's contract itself provides the schedules, and what it says about management changing them, is the question the national grievance will turn on. The 2019 SSA-AFGE national agreement, effective October 27, 2019, does provide them: Article 10, Section 5 and its appendices set out the 5/4/9 schedule and, in some components, the 4/40. Section 6 lets management suspend a schedule after considering "bona fide operational needs," with notice "normally" 48 hours in advance and automatic restoration afterward. Article 10 of the 2019 text contains no express right to end a schedule permanently and does not mention 5 U.S.C. § 6131 or adverse agency impact. Its duration clause runs six years from the effective date and then renews year to year unless a party gives notice; the 2029 date Government Executive reports implies an extension or a successor agreement. Whether the text now in force is the 2019 text or a successor is not confirmed here. Ask your steward which agreement governs.

What You Can Push Back On

1. Ask your steward about the national grievance. AFGE's Rich Couture told Federal News Network on October 6, "We filed a national grievance this morning over the agency's illegal repudiation." Your local can tell you whether individual grievances are being held under it and what the contract's filing deadline is. Do not file your own grievance without checking that deadline.

2. The reopen-and-Panel requirement. If your schedule comes from the contract, the agency may reopen the agreement to seek termination, and an impasse goes to the Impasses Panel, which must rule within 60 days after it is presented. The statute also lets the schedule end when the agreement is renegotiated, expires, or terminates under its own terms. Short of one of those events or a Panel decision, the law says the schedule may not be terminated. This route belongs to the union, not to individual employees, and it does not reach supervisors, managers, or anyone outside the bargaining unit.

3. Ask for the adverse-agency-impact finding. None has been reported. The three statutory grounds are specific, and the Panel decides whether the evidence supports the agency's determination.

4. Disability accommodation. If your compressed or flexible schedule is a documented reasonable accommodation, request in writing that it continue as one. EEOC and OPM guidance on federal-sector accommodations says agencies should make "an individualized determination in each case," lists "modified or flexible work scheduling" as an accommodation, and calls reevaluation and modification "important steps in the on-going interactive process." One limit: the same guidance says commutes are generally outside the employer's control.

5. Credit hours, if flexible schedules end too. Compressed schedules have no credit hours; OPM's handbook says "there is no legal authority for credit hours under a CWS program." If SSA also ends flexible schedules, 5 U.S.C. § 6126(b) says an employee "no longer subject to such a program" is paid for accumulated credit hours, up to the 24-hour cap for full-time employees, at the then-current rate of basic pay. Track your balance now.

6. The hardship rule does not help here. The 10-day hardship decision in § 6127(b)(2) protects employees from being placed on a compressed schedule. It does not stop an agency from ending one.

What Changes on November 16: Pay, Leave, Overtime

Basic pay for the 80-hour pay period does not change. A full-time employee works 80 hours a pay period on every one of these schedules. What changes is the shape of the hours, and with it overtime and other premium pay under 5 U.S.C. § 6128 and, on flexible schedules, credit hours. FedTools built the comparison for a GS-9 step 5 in the Rest of U.S. locality, $69,954 a year in 2026, or $33.52 an hour under the 2,087-hour divisor in 5 U.S.C. § 5504.

8-hour standard (reported from Nov. 16) 5/4/9 compressed 4/10 compressed
Hours per pay period 80 (10 × 8) 80 (8 × 9 + 1 × 8) 80 (8 × 10)
Scheduled days off per pay period 0 1 2
Credit hours available Only on a flexible schedule None None
Overtime starts after 8 hours a day or 40 a week, ordered or approved (5 U.S.C. § 5542) The scheduled hours that day: 9 or 8 (5 U.S.C. § 6128) 10 hours that day (5 U.S.C. § 6128)
Leave charged for a full day off 8 hours = $268.16 9 hours = $301.68 (8 on the 8-hour day) 10 hours = $335.20
Holiday pay on a scheduled workday 8 hours The scheduled hours that day (5 C.F.R. § 610.406) 10 hours
A 40-hour leave balance covers 5 days About 4.4 days 4 days
Biweekly basic pay $2,681.60 $2,681.60 $2,681.60

FedTools computation on OPM's 2026 Rest of U.S. table and the rules cited in each row. Dollar figures are hours times the $33.52 hourly rate.

Over 26 pay periods, a 5/4/9 employee loses 26 scheduled days off a year and a 4/10 employee loses 52, plus one or two more commuting days per pay period. Leave accrual does not change: under 5 U.S.C. § 6129 a "day" is 8 hours for leave purposes on any schedule, so the same balance now covers more, shorter days. If SSA moves you to an 8-hour tour, a full day of leave ordinarily uses 8 hours, because leave is charged for the hours scheduled that day. SSA has said only that instructions are forthcoming, so confirm with SSA how it treats leave already approved for dates after November 16.

Before November 13: A Short Checklist

  1. Screenshot your current schedule, any credit-hour balance, and any accommodation paperwork.
  2. If your schedule is an accommodation, send the written continuation request now.
  3. Check approved leave for dates after November 16 and ask SSA how it will be charged; on an 8-hour tour, a full day ordinarily uses 8 hours.
  4. If you are on a flexible schedule, use or document your credit hours; the payout rule applies only if the program ends.
  5. Ask your steward whether to hold your individual grievance under the national one.

Plan Your Leave in 8-Hour Days

Run the Federal Leave Optimizer as two separate scenarios: once on your current schedule (4/10 or 5/4/9) with your regular day off, and once on the 5/8 setting, entering your use-or-lose and regular leave hours each time. The tool applies one schedule to the whole leave year, so it will not switch schedules on November 16 for you; read the dates after the reported change from the 5/8 run. The GS Pay Calculator gives the hourly rate behind your own leave-charge figures from your grade, step, and locality.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is SSA really ending alternative work schedules?

Yes, according to an October 5 email from SSA's chief human capital officer reported by Federal News Network and Government Executive. Alternative work schedules end starting November 16, 2026, and November 13 is the last day for employees on a 4/10 or 5/4/9.

Does this end telework too?

The reports do not mention telework. Telework is a separate program from alternative work schedules.

Does it affect flextime, maxiflex, or credit hours?

The email as reported names only the 4/10 and 5/4/9 compressed schedules, and SSA says instructions are forthcoming. Whether flexible schedules are covered is not yet clear.

Can SSA do this if alternative work schedules are in the union contract?

Under 5 U.S.C. § 6131(c)(3), when a contract provides the schedule, the agency may reopen the agreement to seek termination. Otherwise the schedule may not be terminated until the agreement is renegotiated, expires, or terminates under its own terms. If a reopening reaches impasse, the Federal Service Impasses Panel must rule within 60 days after the impasse is presented, siding with the agency if evidence supports its adverse-impact finding, and the schedule stays until the Panel's final decision. AFGE told Federal News Network it has filed a national grievance calling the move a repudiation of the contract.

Is SSA's union contract still in force?

Government Executive reports that SSA still recognizes AFGE and that the contract runs through October 25, 2029. That makes SSA different from the IRS, which rescinded its NTEU contract before ending compressed schedules.

Will my pay go down?

Basic pay for the 80-hour pay period does not change if your grade, step, and locality stay the same; you still work 80 hours on an 8-hour schedule. Overtime and other premium pay can change, because 5 U.S.C. § 6128 sets different rules for compressed schedules, and credit hours exist only on flexible schedules. You lose one scheduled day off per pay period on a 5/4/9 and two on a 4/10.

What happens to my banked credit hours?

Compressed schedules do not earn credit hours. If your flexible schedule ends, 5 U.S.C. § 6126(b) says you are paid for your accumulated credit hours at your current rate of basic pay, up to the 24-hour cap for a full-time employee or any lower agency or contract cap.

How is leave charged after the switch?

A day of leave costs the hours you were scheduled to work that day, so if SSA moves you to an 8-hour tour as reported, a full day ordinarily uses 8 hours instead of 9 or 10. Confirm with SSA how it treats leave you already had approved for dates after November 16. Your accrual does not change, because 5 U.S.C. § 6129 treats a day as 8 hours for leave purposes on any schedule.

My schedule is a disability accommodation. Does the blanket change override it?

EEOC and OPM guidance calls for an individualized determination in each case and lists flexible scheduling as a reasonable accommodation. Ask in writing that your schedule continue as an accommodation.

Can I use the hardship exemption to keep my schedule?

No. The 10-day hardship rule in 5 U.S.C. § 6127(b)(2), which runs from the agency's receipt of an employee's written request, covers being placed on a compressed schedule, not losing one.

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