Social Security Administration To Nix Alternative Work Schedules In November
The change will eliminate schedules that allow employees to complete their required hours in fewer than five workdays
The Social Security Administration (SSA) will end alternative work schedules beginning Nov. 16, requiring workers to transition to a standard five-day workweek, the Federal News Network reports.
The change will eliminate schedules that allow employees to complete their required hours in fewer than five workdays, including four 10-hour days and the 5/4/9 schedule, in which employees work nine-hour days for nine days and receive the 10th day off.
Florence Felix-Lawson, SSA’s chief human capital officer, informed employees of the decision in an Oct. 5 email. Employees currently using alternative schedules can continue doing so through Nov. 13.
Felix-Lawson said the agency believes a consistent five-day schedule will improve staffing and ensure employees are available to serve the public throughout the workweek.
“The American people depend on SSA to deliver on its mission every day, and that mission depends on a workforce that is present and available throughout the week,” Felix-Lawson wrote.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents about 35,000 SSA workers, is challenging the decision. Rich Couture, a spokesperson for AFGE’s general committee for SSA, told Federal News Network that the union filed a national grievance over the change.
AFGE argues that alternative work schedules have been part of negotiated labor agreements for decades, including its 2019 national agreement with SSA. The union also disputes the agency’s claim that the schedules have affected its ability to serve the public, noting that only a small portion of the workforce uses them.
The dispute comes as SSA continues to grapple with staffing and service challenges. AFGE has called for Congress to provide an additional $3 billion in funding and proposed hiring 20,000 employees to address workforce shortages and service delays.
It also follows a separate dispute over telework. Earlier this year, an arbitrator found that SSA violated its collective bargaining agreement when it ended telework for certain union employees beginning in March 2025. SSA appealed the decision to the Federal Labor Relations Authority.
Under federal guidelines, alternative work schedules can allow employees to complete their required biweekly hours in fewer than 10 workdays. For bargaining unit employees, those arrangements can be subject to negotiated agreements between federal agencies and unions.
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This is not a niche concern. According to Fortune Business Insights, hair extensions are a roughly U.S. $3 billion global market, and more than 70% of Black women say they have worn them in the past year. But look closer at who owns that economy. The Black community is overwhelmingly always just the consumer. We are far less often the manufacturers, formulators, brand owners, or investors deciding what goes into the product. That imbalance matters. When the people most exposed to a product are not the people making it, testing it, regulating it, or profiting from it, safety can become someone else’s afterthought.
Asbestos was once a miracle material. Lead was once in our paint. Every generation seems to discover, too late, that something it trusted was quietly harming it. This poses a question for our community: will we always be the ones who find out last? Or can we start asking, earlier and louder, what our products are made of?
That question is at the center of how I think about the future of manufacturing. Today, the conversation is almost entirely about location: reshoring, tariffs, where the factory sits. Those things matter. But as a licensed professional engineer and chemical engineer, I believe we are missing the more important question: not only where products are made, but what they’re made from.
Most of what surrounds us begins as petroleum: the foam in your mattress and sofa, the coatings on your walls, parts of your car, even the personal care products you use on your most intimate skin. Those same materials can start with plants. At COROL, the company I founded, renewable plant oils become bio-based polyols, the building blocks behind the foams, coatings, and adhesives found in everyday life.
The International Energy Agency projects that petrochemicals will drive more than a third of global oil demand growth through 2030, ahead of cars, trucks, and planes. We can build every factory across the country and still be tied to volatile oil markets and the geopolitics that come with them.
That is a supply-security problem and a carbon problem. Every oil price shock flows straight into the cost of the materials manufacturers rely on, and the carbon footprint of what we buy grows as petrochemical demand rises. Renewable, locally sourced inputs won’t solve every problem inside a product, but they can make the supply chains behind it more secure and far less carbon-intensive.
Here is what leaders are overlooking. North America already produces renewable resources that can become a new generation of materials. Plant oils, including soybean and canola oil, can be converted into polyols and other building blocks that replace petroleum-derived inputs in foams, coatings, adhesives and more.
Turning more of these resources into high-value materials at home would keep value in rural economies, shorten supply chains, cut carbon, and reduce our demand for petrochemicals.
Policymakers on both sides of the border should treat renewable, bio-based feedstocks as strategic manufacturing resources and fund the pilot-scale infrastructure that moves new materials from lab to market.
Manufacturers should ask suppliers what is in their inputs and where they come from, and start piloting bio-based alternatives now. Investors should back hard-tech founders, including Black scientists and engineers, with the patient capital industrial innovation requires. And our community should demand better from the start, not only after the damage is done.
For me, this is about legacy. I want our children to be the scientists, engineers, and founders who build the world they want to live in. At COROL, we are turning plant oils into bio-based polyols for foams, coatings, adhesives, and other everyday products. Our communities should not only consume products; we should help create them, test them, own them, and set the standards they must meet.
Cynthia Ene is founder and CEO of COROL, a sustainable chemistry company that develops high-performance, plant-derived bio-polyols to replace petroleum-based chemicals and reduce industrial carbon footprints.
Dr. Anita Allen, police chief of Mableton, Georgia
Dr. Anita Allen Makes History As The First Black Woman Police Chief In Metro Atlanta City
Dr. Anita Allen will lead Mableton’s new police department as the city prepares to hire 70 officers and 10 civilian employees.
Mableton, Georgia, is building its police department from the ground up, and Dr. Anita Allen has been tapped to lead the charge.
The city council unanimously approved Allen as Mableton’s first police chief during a special meeting Oct. 6, marking a major step in the city’s plan to establish its own law enforcement agency. Allen, who currently serves as police chief at Albany State University, brings more than 25 years of law enforcement and public safety experience to the role.
During a press conference, Allen said the assignment is about more than staffing a new agency. Rather, her ultimate mission is to build trust with residents.
“I want to bridge the gap, have community policing, have officers that can come out to the six districts to be able to have a relationship with our community, and so they can trust us, be heard, feel valued,” Allen said, according to Atlanta News First. “Your voice will be heard. We’re going to treat you with integrity and fairness, and we’re going to give you the utmost respect,” she said, adding, “Let’s get to work.”
The department is expected to hire 70 sworn officers and 10 civilian employees as Mableton transitions from law enforcement services provided by Cobb County. The city’s agreement with the county is scheduled to run through June 1, 2027, when the Mableton Police Department is expected to take over public safety operations.
The hiring push is already drawing significant interest. More than 1,500 applications have been submitted since recruitment opened on Oct. 1, according to city officials. The planned compensation package includes a starting salary of $66,000 for academy recruits with a high school diploma or GED, with salaries reaching as high as $81,500 based on experience and education. Officers are also slated to receive 14 holidays, take-home vehicles, and front-loaded paid time off, although the pay scale remains subject to city council ratification.
Allen said she is looking for recruits who bring integrity, professionalism, and compassion to the job.
“I’m looking for these officers with integrity and professionalism, have a compassion to serve, and also be able to come in and build relationships and bridge the gap in the community,” she said.
Allen previously served as president of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and has held leadership roles at Albany State University and Fort Valley State University, as well as with the Dougherty County Sheriff’s Office.
As Mableton prepares for its new agency, Allen and Public Safety Director Kerry Stallings will oversee hiring, training, and the development of policies and procedures. Training is expected to take place at temporary facilities over the next three to four months while the city works to identify a permanent headquarters.
“This is a historic day for the Mableton Police Department,” Stallings said.
Hatherleigh Behavioral Health Launches Free Mental Health Training
The initiative launched in recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week and ahead of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10.
Hatherleigh Behavioral Health has launched a fully funded mental health awareness training program designed to help everyday people recognize emotional distress and respond when someone may be experiencing a crisis, according to a recent press release.
The initiative launched in recognition of Mental Illness Awareness Week and ahead of World Mental Health Day on Oct. 10. The online, self-paced training is available through First Steps New York and is open to community members, families, educators, employers, and organizational leaders.
Designed for people without a clinical background or professional mental health training, the course takes less than an hour to complete. Participants learn how to identify behavioral, emotional, and physical warning signs that may indicate someone is struggling and how to initiate supportive conversations without judgment.
The program also covers crisis response and suicide awareness, including how to recognize signs that someone may be in immediate danger and take steps to connect them with professional resources.
“Mental health awareness belongs to everyone, yet financial barriers or complex clinical jargon often keep people from learning how to help,” a spokesperson for Hatherleigh Behavioral Health said.
“By opening up these fully funded training scholarships through First Steps New York during Mental Health Awareness Week, our goal is to empower ordinary people to make an extraordinary difference—turning everyday spaces into environments where mental wellness is supported, protected, and prioritized.”
Additional training modules address health and wellness, common misconceptions surrounding psychological well-being, and communication strategies for conversations with people experiencing emotional distress. Participants also learn about local and national support systems that can connect people with professional care.
The program is intended to give people outside the mental health profession practical tools they can use when a family member, friend, colleague, or community member shows signs of distress.
Participants who complete the curriculum receive a certificate of completion, which they can add to resumes, share with employers, or display on professional profiles such as LinkedIn.
The fully funded scholarships are available immediately. Those interested in participating can access the training and claim a free seat through FirstStepsNY.com.
Female AI Agents Got Paid Less According To New Study
A new study found workers rewarded a female-presenting AI agent 10.25% less than an identical male-presenting counterpart.
Artificial intelligence may not collect a paycheck, but a new study suggests the people working with AI can still bring workplace bias into the equation.
The study, titled Human-Like and Male? How AI Assistant Design Relates to Trust and Monetary Reward at Work in VR, involved 189 knowledge workers who completed tasks alongside different AI assistants in a virtual reality office. Participants then divided real money between themselves and the AI assistant that helped them complete the work. The result: Johanna, the female-presenting AI agent, received 10.25% less than Johan, the male-presenting agent. Johan was also perceived as more human-like.
Dr. Mary Hausfeld, a co-author of the study, said the technology itself did not explain the difference. “What is striking about our findings is that the technology behind these AI agents was exactly the same, but people did not treat them in the same way.”
Hausfeld said organizations should be careful not to assume AI is inherently neutral. “We often think of AI as being neutral, but the way we design and present these systems can activate those same assumptions and biases that exist in our interactions with other people.”
The study also found that although many participants said an AI assistant’s gender did not matter to them, their evaluations and monetary rewards indicated otherwise. Researchers found that more human-like assistants received greater trust and financial rewards than less human-like systems. That matters as AI agents move beyond simple chatbots and increasingly operate as digital coworkers, assistants, and collaborators. The design choices companies make could influence how employees perceive an AI system’s contribution—and potentially how much value they assign to its work. Hausfeld cautioned that these choices should not be dismissed as mere aesthetics.
“Such choices may affect how much people trust AI, how they judge its contribution, and even how they financially reward it.”
She also warned that organizations should consider the behavior their AI designs may encourage. “We don’t want to inadvertently reproduce existing inequalities in a new technological setting.”
The researchers published their findings in the Proceedings of the 14th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction. The study does not establish that female-presenting AI systems will always be valued less, and the experiment was conducted in a controlled virtual environment. Still, the results offer a fresh data point for companies deciding how human—or how gendered—their AI workforce should become.
White ‘Welfare Recipient’ In Arkansas Political Ad Sparks Debate
A campaign portraying a young white man as a lazy welfare recipient is receiving backlash from conservatives.
A fictional video-game-playing Medicaid recipient named “Brad” has become a controversial figure in Arkansas’ latest political fight.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders recently released the campaign ad featuring a young white man as an example of an able-bodied adult who chooses not to work. The imagery drew criticism from conservative commentators who questioned why the fictional recipient was white rather than Black. The backlash has also reopened a decades-old debate about the stereotype historically associated with Black women and welfare.
The ad promotes a new statewide mandate requiring adults between 19 and 64 years old to complete 80 hours per month of work, education, job training, or community service to maintain coverage in the Arkansas Health and Opportunity for Me Medicaid program, or ARHOME, starting Jan. 1, 2027. The federal Medicaid guidance says the requirement can apply to adults with household incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, subject to exemptions. Caregivers, pregnant people, people with certain disabilities, and several other groups may be excluded.
“Republicans don’t have the balls to do this ad with ‘Shaniqua’ as the villain,” posted Matt Walsh, a conservative writer, according to The Associated Press. “Even though that would actually be an accurate portrayal of the problem at hand.”
Likewise, Sean Davis, the co-founder of the Federalist website, argued that “our government has systematically discriminated against white men for decades now, and yet now has the audacity to dishonestly mock young white men as welfare queens.”
Huckabee Sanders, who is up for reelection, “stands by the ad,” Jordan Powell, her campaign manager, said. “We should never confiscate money from hard-working Arkansans to give it away to those who simply choose not to work at all.”
Ange-Marie Hancock, the author of The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the “Welfare Queen,” told the AP that the trope remains “chronically accessible” in the minds of some voters. “The longer race and gendered history really points to ideas that African Americans are lazy; they don’t do the right thing,” she said.
Robert Coon, a managing partner at Arkansas political consulting firm Impact Management Group, called suggestions that the ad should feature a Black recipient “overtly racist” and “inaccurate.”
KFF data shows that in 2024, about 38% of Medicaid beneficiaries ages 0 to 64 nationally were white and nearly 19% were Black. In Arkansas, the shares were about 57% white and 20% Black. The AP reported that about 60% of ARHOME recipients are white and roughly 18% are Black, based on recent Arkansas Department of Human Services data.
Barry Jefferson, president of the NAACP Arkansas State Conference, argued that poverty is more complicated than the stereotypes often attached to public assistance.
“We shouldn’t betray anyone because they are asking for help and they don’t meet your standards,” Jefferson said.
Meanwhile, Arkansas Democratic congressional candidate Chris Jones, who grew up in a family that relied on food stamps, told the AP that a welfare recipient is not “looking for a way out of work,” but “for a way forward.”
Michael Jordan Donates Historic $10M To UNC In Honor Of His Mother
The donation will also support the Jordan Family Scholars Program.
Michael Jordan is donating $10 million to the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill’s School of Social Work, the largest gift in the school’s history, in honor of his mother, Deloris Jordan, the News & Observer reports.
The donation will also support the Jordan Family Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance to students pursuing master’s degrees in social work at UNC. Ten scholars recognized during the announcement will each receive a $12,500 scholarship.
“This gift is really an investment in you: the next generation of social workers,” Jordan said. “The work you’ve chosen to do matters. It changes families, communities, and lives, and we need you here in North Carolina and around the world.”
School of Social Work Dean Ramona Denby-Brinson said the gift could help address a shortage of social workers serving children, older adults, people affected by substance use, and people with intellectual or developmental disabilities in North Carolina.
The investment will also expand opportunities for students to gain international experience. Students will be able to travel to Kenya to work and learn at the Kenya Women’s and Children’s Wellness Center, which Deloris Jordan founded in Nairobi in 2010 to support survivors of gender-based violence and child abuse.
Deloris Jordan has served on the School of Social Work’s Board of Advisors for nearly four decades, supporting the school and its work with families and communities. She said she remains indebted to the university that “adopted my family.”
The announcement, which coincided with Deloris Jordan’s birthday, also kicked off the Deloris P. Jordan Global Social Development Innovations Center’s two-day Global Research Symposium focused on global youth development.
CAA Names Former NFL Executive Dasha Smith Chief Operating Officer
Smith will bring experience across sports, entertainment, technology, and corporate strategy
Creative Artists Agency (CAA) has named longtime sports and media executive Dasha Smith its new chief operating officer, bringing one of the NFL’s top executives into the talent agency’s senior leadership ranks, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
In her new role, Smith will bring experience across sports, entertainment, technology, and corporate strategy to CAA, which represents clients across film, television, music, sports, and other industries.
“Dasha is a remarkably talented, accomplished, and energetic leader with a deep understanding of how global organizations operate at their very best,” CAA Co-Chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd said in a statement.
During her tenure at the NFL, Smith helped shape the league’s enterprise strategy and oversaw a broad portfolio of operations, including technology, artificial intelligence and innovation, data and analytics, business intelligence, human resources, inclusion, social responsibility, philanthropy, and league office administration.
Smith said joining CAA represented an opportunity to work with a company whose approach to serving clients she has long respected.
“I have tremendous respect for the industry leadership position that CAA and its management team continue to build on every year,” Smith said in a statement. “Joining a culture with that kind of clarity and purpose is an extraordinary opportunity.”
Before joining the NFL, Smith served as executive vice president and global chief human resources officer at Sony Music Entertainment. She also worked as managing director in the Office of the Chairman at global alternative investment firm GCM Grosvenor.
Earlier in her career, Smith spent nearly a decade at Time Inc., where she led global employee relations and employment law functions. She also worked as a senior attorney in the company’s business and legal affairs department, focusing on mergers and acquisitions.
Smith began her legal career at several law firms, including Latham & Watkins, Covington & Burling, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
She currently serves on the boards of financial advisory firm CAPTRUST and investment management firm Cohen & Steers. She is a trustee for nonprofit organizations focused on education and the arts.
Black Women In Atlanta Turn To Gun Clubs Amid Safety Concerns
Brown said the organization began seeing another increase in interest last year, with a disproportionate number of new members being Black women.
Black women in metro Atlanta are increasingly joining gun clubs and seeking firearms training as concerns about personal safety and the nation’s political climate fuel renewed interest in gun ownership, Capital B Atlanta reports.
Several Atlanta-area firearms organizations have reported increased membership and demand for training since 2024, particularly among Black women, the outlet says. The growth follows a post-pandemic slowdown after firearm ownership surged during the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide protests following the murder of George Floyd.
Larry Brown, president of the Bass Reeves Gun Club, the founding chapter of the National African American Gun Association, said the organization has about 700 active members. Its Facebook membership has grown from roughly 200 to 300 people when Brown joined in 2017 to about 1,400.
Interest is also growing at A Girl & A Gun’s Atlanta chapter. Chapter leader Daphne Enmon said the group, which is majority Black, has tripled in size over the past two years and is approaching 200 members.
“Women join every week, predominantly Black women,” Enmon said.
Gun sales among Black Americans have been rising for years. Black Americans accounted for 32% of new target shooters in a 2024 analysis from the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association.
For some women, the motivation goes beyond learning to shoot.
Kia Glenn, director of social media and marketing for the National African American Gun Association and leader of its Queens of Defense group, said members are increasingly interested in hunting, food cultivation, and other survival skills.
The trend comes as Georgia’s gun laws have also changed. In 2022, the state enacted a law allowing eligible gun owners to carry concealed firearms without obtaining a permit.
As interest grows, leaders of Black gun organizations say education remains central to their work. Groups such as Bass Reeves provide firearms training focused on developing responsible, knowledgeable gun owners.
I Left A Secure Career To Build Economic Opportunity In The Bronx; A New Bill Could Upend That
The stakes are especially high at a time when Black unemployment is rising.
Written By Ty Barnes
A few years ago, I made a decision that many people in my circle thought was crazy. I walked away from a comfortable, secure career in corporate America to start a local delivery company right here in New York City.
I named my company NorthStar Logistics for a reason. As the story of the Underground Railroad has long been told, enslaved people looked to the North Star as a guide toward freedom. For me, that name represents what I want this company to be: a path toward economic freedom for people from the same communities I came from. I wanted to build something that could give people a way forward.
Now, a new law could drag us backward. The Delivery Protection Act would ban large companies from using independent contractors like me and require them to hire last-mile delivery workers—my current employees. If the bill passes, my business will be forced to shut down.
The consequences would reach far beyond me. For Black New Yorkers, the stakes are especially high at a time when Black unemployment is rising, and the racial wealth gap remains wide. The latest jobs report shows Black unemployment jumped to 7% in September, nearly twice the rate for white workers. The increase was even sharper for Black women, whose unemployment rate rose to 7.3% in September, up from 5.9% in August.
My company employs hundreds of local residents. Up to 90% of my delivery team lives in the five boroughs where they work. Economic opportunity is especially important in these communities, particularly as Black workers face growing job insecurity.
That is why employees at NorthStar start at almost $25 with great benefits – 45% above the city’s minimum wage – and why I spend so much of my time and effort supporting employee education and career advancement to ensure they have strong economic mobility. I have supported employees who start as drivers and move into management. I have helped employees pay for job exams and tuition. Some former employees have gone on to become MTA bus operators, police officers, and pharmacists. Others have earned their commercial driver’s licenses and moved toward careers they once thought were out of reach. My work has even earned me inclusion on the NY Unsung Hero list for 2026.
If I’m forced to close, my employees will no longer receive the Sunday meals I provide, and I won’t be able to support an organization in the Bronx that feeds the homeless through my nonprofit. My employees know they are more than a number to me. I know their names, and I know their families.
The bill could also push delivery operations outside New York City. That would mean longer commutes for workers and could make it harder for people who live in the Bronx and other outer-borough communities to keep these jobs.
For me, there are other personal costs. I am the sole provider for a family member with special needs. Some of the medical care my family needs is not covered by insurance, and my business gives me the ability to pay those costs. My company also supports District 75 public schools, which serve students with special needs. If the business disappears, that financial support disappears too.
I understand why supporters want stronger protections for delivery workers. I want workers to have good jobs and fair treatment. But I don’t believe we should achieve that goal by wiping out the small businesses that created these opportunities in the first place.
This is what economic disenfranchisement looks like. A person takes a risk, builds a business, and creates a path for other people. Then a policy can come along and take that path away.
I took a risk on New York City because I believed in what could happen when people from our communities get the chance to build something of their own. I still believe that.
City Council members need to understand what is at stake before they move forward with this bill. They should sit down with small delivery business owners and listen to what happens to our workers if our companies disappear. We live in a democracy, and in a democracy, everyone has a voice and should be heard. This sweeping bill will end small businesses for the sake of driving direct employment from Amazon, which makes it possible for the unions backing this bill to come in and force unionization of delivery drivers.
If the goal is to protect working people, then we need to protect their opportunities too.
For Black and Brown New Yorkers, economic opportunity cannot be treated as disposable. We are still working to close a racial wealth gap that has existed for generations. We are still trying to create businesses that can support families and give the next generation a better starting point.
I built NorthStar because I wanted to be a beacon for people who needed to see a way forward. City Hall should not turn that light off.
Ty Barnes is the owner of NorthStar Logistics, a premier, top-rated Amazon delivery service partner specializing in last-mile delivery.
