Over two million low-income older adults and people with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and who had their benefits reduced or discontinued during the pandemic are entitled to relief under the agreement, with many getting their overpayments waived, worth millions of dollars in total, as a result of a settlement approved on November 20, 2023.

As a result of the settlement, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will take the following actions:

• Waive all manually processed overpayments incurred from March-September 2020 with no action required by SSI recipients, with some exceptions for fraud or similar fault. 
• Send a notice to eligible recipients informing them of the waiver. 
• When applicable, refund overpayments to SSI recipients who have already repaid some or all of the waived overpayments.
• Send notices to SSI recipients who were assessed overpayments from March 2020-April 2023 and who are not receiving automatic waivers with information on seeking an overpayment waiver. 
• Issue guidance to workers at SSA reminding them to consider COVID-19 related circumstances when making findings for fault for overpayments that arose during the COVID-19 National Emergency Period (March 2020-April 2023)

Read the full Fact Sheet outlining the information advocates and SSI recipients need to know as a result of this settlement agreement. Read the Press Release for more information about the lawsuit and plaintiffs. 

Justice in Aging, New York Legal Assistance Group, and the law firm Arnold & Porter filed this nationwide class action lawsuit on behalf of five SSI recipients challenging SSA’s unlawful practices. The certified class includes all individuals with an SSI overpayment incurred between March 2020 and April 2023.