LITIGATION

Amin v. Kijakazi

(formerly Amin v. Azar)
Filed December 2015

The Social Security Administration’s (SSA) failure to timely process appeals causes extremely low-income older adults and adults and children with disabilities across the country who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to lose all or some of their vital income, leading to an inability to meet their basic needs for food and shelter. Justice in Aging joined this ongoing case in 2019.

SSI is a program for very low-income people with few or no resources and who by virtue of age or disability cannot work enough to support themselves. Benefits are low. The maximum federal benefit is is just $771 a month. People on SSI are living on the very edge of survival with every penny needed for food, rent, heat, and other necessities.

It’s common for systemic glitches that are the fault of the SSA, and not the individual, to lead to a loss of benefits. Whatever the cause of a reduction or a discontinuation of benefits, if an individual files a timely appeal, protections should have been triggered so that they continue to receive benefits while awaiting a decision. But this wasn’t happening because SSA workers routinely lost, refused to accept, or failed to follow SSA’s procedure to docket the request.

Numerous plaintiffs across the country have lost their benefits because SSA has failed to process their appeals and failed to continue benefits while an appeal is pending.

The Social Security Administration’s systemic failure to follow its own rules, outdated technology and systems, and dysfunctional practices caused serious hardship to millions of people across the country and violated individual due process rights on a grand scale.

We joined an existing case in New York filed by the Urban Justice Center and New York Legal Assistance Group, and, working with the pro bono support of Arnold and Porter, we seek to make this a national class action.

Updates
04/03/2023
On April 3, 2023, the Eastern District of New York approved a settlement agreement that provides wide-reaching relief by extending the appeal period from 10 days to 60 days, allowing recipients to continue receiving benefits while their appeal is pending.
© 2024 Justice in Aging

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