From WKBW in Cincinnati:
Margaret Fitzwater insisted she wasn't going to cry, but her eyes quickly turned red and watery as the 69-year-old grandmother of six described the impact of unknowingly being overpaid $35,770 in monthly Social Security benefits, then having the Social Security Administration demand that she pay it back.
"I go to bed at night worrying about it," Fitzwater said. "I just want it to end."
Fitzwater, who worked a combined 37 years at Cincinnati Gas & Electric and the United States Postal Service, said the confusion over her Social Security benefits began in March 2011.
That's when she received a letter from the agency claiming it had overpaid Fitzwater $4,345 in benefits due to not including her workers compensation payments.
In an April 2011 letter the SSA sent to Fitzwater, the agency confirmed she had paid it back.
"I assumed when I paid them money back in the very beginning that they had it all figured out," she said.
Then, in 2016, she received another letter, saying she apparently owed $35,770.
The problem is not unique to Fitzwater. In a November 2019 audit, the Office of the Inspector General expressed concerns that the Social Security Administration was struggling with overpayments, its collection process and long delays on waivers and hearings. The audit revealed that the SSA estimated it had made $8 billion in improper payments in 2018 alone.
"It's a bureaucracy," Cincinnati attorney James Williams told the I-Team in January. "Probably the world's biggest bureaucracy."
Williams is not Fitzwater's attorney and we did not discuss the case with him, but he has represented clients in hundreds of disputes with the Social Security Administration. He also worked as an attorney for the SSA's Office of Hearings and Appeals.
"They want to do a good job," Williams said. "Part of the problem is I don't think they have enough personnel to do the good job."
The audit also identified mistakes in calculating income of beneficiaries – which is what happened to Fitzwater – by nearly $1 billion in 2018. The same audit estimated that SSA would wrongly collect an additional $671 million if it didn't fix mistakes resulting from outdated computer systems and understaffing.
Fitzwater told the I-Team she was confused by some of the notifications she received from the SSA.
In April 2013, the SSA told Fitzwater it owed her money and that it would increase her benefits.
Then, in a May 2014 letter, she was notified that she had been paid $27,016 too much because of what the agency said was unreported workers comp.
"I feel like the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing," Fitzwater said.
In December 2018, after waiting 53 months for a hearing on her case, an administrative judge determined Fitzwater still owed $30,000 for excessive benefits.
According to Fitzwater's records, the SSA is withholding $804 from her monthly Social Security benefit of $2,368 to refund the excess benefits. Fitzwater said she also receives about $3,700 a month in workers comp benefits.
In a December 2019 letter to the SSA, Fitzwater's attorney, Albert Brown Jr., told the agency it had violated her rights by withholding benefits without ruling on any of her three requests for a waiver on paying back the money. ...
Workers' compensation (WC) changes constantly depending on if the worker attempts to return to work or when DOL OWCP finds you totally disabled and payments start getting paid periodically (every 28 days if I remember correctly).
ReplyDeleteBut sure, let's completely ignore the statement they sign when they apply for disability benefits that they agree to report all changes to their WC. Let's ignore the pamphlet they get about their reporting responsibilities.
An old co-worker told me a while back an audit was done on hundreds of (prior) federal employees who failed to report federal WC (called FECA); sometime in 2016 or 2017. This resulted in hundreds of determinations that resulted in overpayments often exceeding $100,000.
Also, her benefits are no longer offset due to WC or her disability pension because she has reached her full retirement age. She may still be subject to WEP if USPS work was not covered.
I understand the letters were confusing, but it always boggled me when I worked at SSA when claimants never took their reporting responsibilities seriously and then think it is always SSA who screwed up.
P.S. The overpayment letter was the first. She got a redet letter that increased her benefit and maybe another increase letter at 66 saying her benefits were not offset. Finally, she probably got another overpayment letter for age 63-66 to where she once again failed to report any FECA increases or increases to her pension (if it were public disability offset, pretty much the same as WC computation with one way to avoid offset).
It is much easier to file for bankruptcy protection, if eligible, to avoid fighting this issue for years and years.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile about 61 million people collect Social Security benefits each month, and they account for about one in five people in the United States. In about one family in four, someone is receiving Social Security benefits. They were paid correctly. Perspective.
ReplyDeleteI dare every single one of you complaining about this to prove that you yourself have never made an error in your work. Ever.
Anon 12:00 Good point. But it is still an error. A country of this size and wealth should not make big mistakes like this.
ReplyDeleteI don't know the numbers but if the offset was substantial, she might have been better off taking the RIB?DIB election which I am virtually sure was never explained to her at any point in the process.
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ReplyDeleteShould.
I wonder if it was lack of her reporting or CRs not processing information correctly. WC are highly error prone. As a former T2TE I provided many training sessions. Still I found lots of quality issues. As I recall errors increased when responsibility for completing computations were transferred from PCs to the field.
ReplyDeleteI have worked on numerous cases involving FECA (Federal Workers' Compensation ) overpayments. Mostly the overpayments are caused because the claimant did not properly report their FECA or their FECA rate changes to SSA. FECA WC rates increase each March with a COLA and the FECA recipients are supposed to report all WC rate changes.
ReplyDeleteThe SSA DIB claimants who are receiving FECA usually have higher PIA (primary insurance amounts) than other SSA DIB beneficiaries . ALSO FECA WC payments are higher than most workers compensation paid by the states too.
I have noticed that the claimants who have FECA overpayments are often the most angry about their overpayments and fight paying it back, filing recon requests and waiver requests, and taking it up to the ALJ level when those are denied.
The thing is the overpayments due to FECA WC are usually legitimate, so the recon is denied. The waiver is also denied because the claimant is at fault and also can afford to pay it back, due to higher than average FECA WC payments and high SSA DIB benefits.
I think it's the slipshod approach by the workers. One year I found a CR had been hiding WC cases that had been assigned. This is why work track is a good idea. Every piece of work needs to be tracked so that work is completed timely.
ReplyDeleteI also know of a CR that would could WC as reverse offset creating PR issues and overpayments.
If you fail to properly report and then continue to ignore it, the money gets quite big. Then go to the TV or internet and complain about how unfair it is, how much money is involved and how you cant afford it. Get a little public outrage going, see if you can get them to just drop it. It is a long ploy, may not pan out, but worth a shot.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to report it to your local conservative Congressman or Senator so that their staff can accuse the the office employees of being incompetent.
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