42 U.S.C. §405(t) In any case in which an individual visits a field office of the Social Security Administration and represents during the visit to an officer or employee of the Social Security Administration in the office that the individual’s visit is occasioned by—
(1) the receipt of a notice from the Social Security Administration indicating a time limit for response by the individual, or
(2) the theft, loss, or nonreceipt of a benefit payment under this title,
the Commissioner of Social Security shall ensure that the individual is granted a face-to-face interview at the office with an officer or employee of the Social Security Administration before the close of business on the day of the visit.
10 comments:
As an FO employee, my experience is, no.
No
This administration follows it’s own rules since they believe they are above the law.
36 years with SSA from BA to Dist Mgr and never heard of this...however that does not mean we did not help people as soon as we could to the best of our ability.
SSA always cherry picks what rules it follows. Always has. There is no justice only power. Who has the power? the person with the keyboard entering into the system.
I'm curious actually whether it is effectively a nullity. Any individual visiting a field office and making a representation to an officer or employee of SSA is going to be speaking with a claims representative, and the person communicating to the claims representative is arguably engaging in a "face-to-face interview." At a minimum, textually, it doesn't seem to apply to people waiting in line who haven't said anything to anyone. I could see an argument though that "interview" would require documentation of the exchange by an SSA employee (notice of contact would probably be how it would show up in a claim file).
The only exception I guess would be if the person visiting speaks with a guard and reports something in subparts 1 or 2? Are the guards SSA employees? I think I heard years ago that some were private contractors.
That you didn't hear about it is entirely the point. They will not (and never have) tell employees when they are instituting policies that run afoul of the law, and will just hope that employees don't know any better or ask questions. If agency employees don't know any better, there is little to no chance the general public will.
Guards are contractors, not SSA employees. People are being turned away by guards.
No. The agency is not in compliance nor was there legal analysis done when DCO/OPSOS implemented appointment only service last December without supporting instructions, systems, or controls. There are likely hundreds of thousands of people who have attempted to access the agency, and apply for benefits, by phone or in person who have been denied access and lost their protective filing because of this policy. There will never be a true count of those affected and it is entirely unlawful. Call it appointment focused, Operations has dozens and dozens of examples across every state where guards and employees are refusing customers access to SSA facilities to get their business done.
And, there are SSA offices even now that are refusing all walk-in traffic without an appointment, and even some offices refusing ALL walk-in traffic.
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