NYLAG Sues To Stop Widespread Social Security Mistake That Harms Recipients

“Supplemental Security Income,” or SSI, is a subsistence benefit avaiable to individuals who are far below the poverty line and are elderly, have disabilities, or are blind. For years, the Social Security Administration has regularly made an irresponsible mistake, over and over again, that has kept SSI recipients from getting the benefits they deserve and badly need. This class action lawsuit seeks to make SSA stop the unlawful denials.

SSI benefits are generally paid on the first of the month by direct deposit into a recipient’s bank account. Four times a year, when the first of the month falls on a weekend or a holiday, SSI benefits are paid a day or two early. In those months, SSA mistakenly treats countless recipients’ benefits as a part of the recipients resources for the coming month—even though federal law and SSA policies prohibit them from doing so—and then wrongly finds them to have too much money in resources to be eligible for SSI.

Members of the proposed class depend on SSI benefits to cover their most basic needs for shelter, food, and clothing. Without the full benefits to which they are entitled, they face a host of harms, including homelessness, hunger, and loss of critical medical coverage.