The United States District Court in the Eastern District of New York approved a nationwide class action settlement agreement in the case of Campos v. Kijakazi. The settlement became final on January 20, 2024. The Campos settlement affects individuals who incurred Supplemental Security Income (SSI) overpayments during the COVID-19 National Emergency. You may be a class member if you received a notice of an SSI overpayment for any month from March 2020 through April 2023.

Nothing in this Settlement Agreement restricts any class member’s right to request individual relief in connection with any overpayment, including, but not limited to, a request for reconsideration, a request for waiver, or any administrative or judicial appeal thereof.

The final settlement agreement is available here: Campos - Stipulation of Settlement (executed by all parties)

• For class members who incurred a SSI overpayment from March 2020-September 2020, the Campos settlement might result in you receiving a waiver without having to contact us or complete any paperwork. If we waive an overpayment, then you will not have to pay us back.
• For all class members, SSA will mail a notice in Spring 2025 to individuals who were assessed an SSI overpayment from March 2020 – April 2023 regarding your right to request a waiver of any other overpayment, how to seek it, and the agency’s consideration of COVID-19 related factors when deciding waiver requests.
• There is no need to call or visit an SSA office prior to receiving the notice.
• The agency issued guidance to its technicians regarding how to consider COVID-19 related factors when deciding waiver requests. See Emergency Message EM-24005 REV – COVID-19 Circumstances in Overpayment Waiver Determinations (ssa.gov)

• SSA will waive SSI overpayments incurred for the months of March 2020 through September 2020 that it manually processed (meaning, SSA will waive overpayments for those months except those overpayments identified through an automated process such as Department of Veterans Affairs data matching).*
• If a class member who is eligible for a waiver has already paid back some or all the SSI overpayments described above, SSA will issue an “underpayment.”
• SSA will follow the law and its typical procedures in connection with these underpayments.
• Some underpayments may be used to offset other overpayments, if applicable.
• Where applicable, SSA will provide refunds to those who qualify, using the payment information we have on record.
• SSA will grant this relief without the class member having to take any steps or submit any application or other paperwork.
• SSA will send eligible class members a notice to let them know we waived their overpayment(s).

*Additionally, SSA will not waive overpayments resulting from fraud or similar fault or involving misuse of benefits by a representative payee or that have already been reversed or waived.

• SSA will mail a notice in Spring 2025 to all individuals who were assessed an SSI overpayment for the COVID-19 National Emergency Period (March 2020 – April 2023), regardless of whether they are eligible for the waiver required by the settlement.
• The mailed notice will inform them how to seek a waiver of any overpayment and will highlight the COVID-19-related circumstances that may be relevant to SSA in determining whether they were at fault for causing the overpayment.
• Please visit Waive repayment of overpaid Social Security benefits | SSA to find information about filing a request for waiver. See also Emergency Message EM-24005 REV – COVID-19 Circumstances in Overpayment Waiver Determinations (ssa.gov).

• We will notify affected Class Members as explained in the settlement. You can expect to receive this notification, by way of a mailed notice, in Spring 2025.
• It will take time to provide the relief described above because of the size and complexity of the settlement.
• Please do not contact us about potential overpayment relief provided by this settlement prior to receiving the settlement notice in Spring 2025.