A class action lawsuit has been filed in the Eastern District of New York dealing with the poor service that the Social Security Administration has afforded Supplemental Security Income claimants since the pandemic began, particularly in regard to how that poor service has created or increased overpayments and the agency’s inability to cope with the overpayments other than by seizing current benefits without giving the claimants involved a reasonable opportunity to request waiver of the overpayments.
Overall, SSI claimants and recipients have fared horribly during the pandemic. Regardless of the merits of this lawsuit, they deserve much better.
In our SSI heavy office, we have 1 SSI claims rep…me!!! So even if they file waivers, I can’t get to them. This agency is a joke!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow exactly have they fared horribly? Overpayments were not counted for months and months and then when we did make inputs resulting in adverse actions, we waived the resulting overpayments. We didnt count unemployment for over a year. On the whole, SSI recipients frequently ended up with higher incomes during the pandemic!
ReplyDeleteLawyers would sue the sun for shinning.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely useless.
Lawyers also filed cases against the election, proving they will file for anything true or not.
ReplyDeleteTry explaining the a specific "Hold Harmless Provision" (that doesn't involve medicare) to a rep that has never heard of the situation that it involves. *eye roll*. Luckily, her supervisor knew exactly what I was talking about. Erroneous overpayment waived...once explained.... They seem to learn from us too. Not sure that's how it was designed to work though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, those dastardly lawyers also have the audacity to sometimes sue on behalf of unions that represent government employees who have great paying jobs with great benefits and lots of time off but don't think the taxpayers are giving them enough. They really will file anything, won't they?
ReplyDelete3:17 only if there is money.
ReplyDelete12:49
ReplyDeleteIf you bothered to scan the class action complaint, you would see the plaintiff attorneys are from a non-profit legal aide organization. These lawyers will not be personally enriched off this lawsuit. They do request "reasonable attorney fees," but they likely limited to EAJA fees based off the request for relief. In other words, they will not be getting a percentage of the SSI benefits from the plaintiff class itself.