Background

On July 31, 1986, OHA issued Staff Guides and Programs Digest (SGPD) Bulletin III-1(86) to provide instructions for implementing the March 10, 1986 order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in Weathers, et al. v. Bowen. The court's order preliminarily enjoined the Secretary from applying step two of the sequential evaluation and required the Secretary to readjudicate all pending class members claims. The SGPD Bulletin was subsequently converted to HALLEX Temporary Instruction (TI) 5-419 in June 1990.

On May 8, 1992, the Associate Commissioner issued a memorandum to all OHA adjudicators informing them of the court's February 24, 1992 order that vacated the prior injunction. The May 8, 1992 memorandum also rescinded TI 5-419 and instructed OHA decision makers to resume using the severity step in adjudicating adult disability claims.

Explanation of Content and Changes

This new TI provides instructions for implementing the parties' joint Stipulation and Order in Prue/Weathers v. Sullivan, approved by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on July 23, 1993. We are assigning the old Weathers v. Bowen TI number to this new TI.

Date: June 29, 1994