I wrote last week that Social Security seemed unprepared for the decision of the Supreme Court holding the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. Some agencies were prepared for this decision. See the memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued just a day after Social Security issued staff instructions to hold all claims filed by those in same sex marriages.
One of the problems with SSA is that the system we use does not recognize same sex marriages to process claims. You get an edit that will not let you clear it if I'm not mistaken.
ReplyDeleteOur systems will give you an immediate edit if you try to take a claim from a same sex couple, and will prevent the claim from being processed. So somebody has to do some reprogramming somewhere. Also, what about the same-sex couples on SSI/T2? How are we to determine who needs to be shut off SSI or their SSI reduced. This could cause a PR problem because I'm sure the same-sex married folks are going to be screaming at us when they find out their marriage now affects their SSI benefits, just like the opposite sex couples who report their marriage, find out it reduces their SSI, and immediately "separate".
ReplyDeleteSSA has been working on this for a while BUT no firm decisions could be made until the Supreme Court issued its decision. Surely, as an attorney you recognize all of the various ways they could have ruled. Now we have to look at the possible changes needed in policy and instructions, write them - TO CONFORM TO THE COURT'S DECISION - get final sign-off up the chain of command, and then get them published. Geez - please allow time for that! After all, Charles, just what do you expect in NC - considering that you all voted in a state constitution bar on same-sex marriage. Does SSA get to decide that the Uniform Marriage Act actually applies and anyone married in MA or NY is actually marrieds in NC? How do YOU think SSA should handle cases in NC. And you have less than 2 days to answer here - just like you expected SSA to answer immediately!
ReplyDeletealso, note the OPM guidance was basically limited to something like "if you are legally married, you are eligible for federal benefits." Not much analysis require for that.
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