Social Security expands public services, but field offices to remain closed until spring
“‘If they’re going to serve the public with the field offices closed, it should be in a helpful way to keep the focus on things that help people maintain benefits,’ said Michelle Spadafore, who directs the Disability Advocacy Project at the New York Legal Assistance Group. ‘They should put the things that suspend benefits on the back burner.’
Her organization joined other advocates in October in a class-action lawsuit against Social Security on behalf of five disability recipients that claims the closed field offices prevented them from reporting any financial changes. When the agency sent notices to thousands of people telling them their benefits were going to be reduced because they were being overpaid, the plaintiffs claim, they did not have a meaningful chance to contest the change.
Before shutting in March 2020, Social Security field offices served 43 million people a year.”