SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Office of Hearings and Appeals
HALLEX
Volume I
Transmittal No. I-5-4-8-B (Revised)
Division 5: Temporary Instructions
Subject: Smith, et al. v. Sullivan
NOTE:
Pursuant to Public Law 103-296, the Social Security Independence and Program Improvements Act of 1994, the functions of the Secretary of Health and Human Services in Social Security cases were transferred to the Commissioner of Social Security, effective March 31, 1995.
Background
On July 31, 1992, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) published HALLEX Temporary Instruction (TI) 5-408, Supplement B, to implement the procedures set forth in the December 4, 1989, October 3, 1990, and June 21, 1991 orders of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California in the Smith, et al. v. Sullivan class action involving the “not severe” impairment issue. The TI delineates OHA component responsibilities, including the responsibilities of the then-existing Office of Civil Actions (OCA) and the Office of Appellate Operations (OAO), for such actions as receiving and processing alerts, screening cases, sending notices to potential class members, and routing cases. On February 6, 1995, OCA lost its independent entity and was merged into OAO and the Office of Policy, Planning and Evaluation. OAO assumed responsibility for the functions previously performed by the OCA operating divisions.
Explanation of Content and Changes
The change in OAO's functional responsibilities with respect to class action implementation necessitates a change in the TI provisions with respect to component responsibilities for processing the Smith class action. The implementation workload previously handled by OCA will now be processed by OAO through the OAO Class Action Coordinator. The attached replacement pages provide the addresses for the receipt in OAO of the Smith alerts and screening sheets, and clarify that OAO, through the OAO Class Action Coordinator, is now responsible for the class action processing functions formerly performed by the OCA operating divisions.
Remove
Remove from 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 1-17 of TI 5-408, Supplement B, dated July 31, 1992 (17 pages).
Attachments 2, 6 and 11 of TI 5-408, Supplement B (4 pages).
Insert
Insert in 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 1-20 of TI 5-408, Supplement B, dated November 19, 1996.
Attachments 2, 6 and 11 of TI 5-408, Supplement B dated November 19, 1996 (4 pages).
Date: November 19, 1996
