Social Security Threatens To Close All Field Offices

[Divernan]

33. Examples of vets, disabled, etc., assisted by in person representatives.

Ryan Gurganious, a claims rep for the disabled in North Carolina, cited an example: “When a disabled person is working, we’ll ask them, ‘In your job do you have any special expenses you have to pay to be able to work?’ They might say, ‘I have to get the county transportation service to come pick me up in my wheelchair, and that’s a $40 fee every month.’

“We know that that $40 comes out of the equation when we’re figuring their benefit, so they’ll get a larger SSI check. But the computer’s not going to ask them that.”

Labor Notes staffer Jenny Brown cites a personal example. Her father was originally told he was just shy of the required work credits to get Social Security benefits. He’d worked for many years for a state college that wasn’t part of the system at the time.

But an alert field office worker realized that he was also a World War II combat veteran—and a special rule for those vets put him over the limit so he qualified for a monthly check.

David Sheagley, an AFGE representative and SSA teleservice-center representative in Cleveland, notes that SSA workers “assist folks during stress-filled transitions whether it be death, disability, or retirement. In other words, our mission at SSA absolutely requires that human beings be available to talk with the public.”
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2014/05/social-security-threatens-close-all-field-offices#sthash.q5QFA6JJ.dpuf