SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Office of Hearings and Appeals
HALLEX
Volume I
Transmittal No. I-5-4-34 (Revised)
Division 5: Temporary Instructions
Subject: Verla Turner v. Sullivan
Action Note
In I-5-434 III., on page 2, first line, change “the Secretary” to “the Commissioner.”
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 November 11, 1993, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) published HALLEX Temporary Instruction (TI) 5-434 to implement the parties' January 27, 1993 Joint Stipulation and Order, approved by the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on January 29, 1993, in the Verla Turner v. Sullivan class action. The TI delineates OHA component responsibilities, including the responsibilities of the 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 identity 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. On October 2, 1995, SSA issued final Program Operations Manual System (POMS) instructions for Verla Turner implementation.
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 Verla Turner 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 Verla Turner 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.
The screening sheet (Attachment 4) was revised to reflect changes made to the final Verla Turner POMS. Screening sheet instructions (Attachment 4, pages 3-6) were added in light of the Agency's experience in the other widow class actions, e.g., Askin, Begley, Bozzi, Hill, Marcus, Martel and Taylor.
Remove
Remove from 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 5 through 14 of TI 5-434, dated November 11, 1993 (10 pages).
Pages 17 through 19 of TI 5-434, dated November 11, 1993 (3 pages).
Attachments 2 through 4 of TI 5-434, dated November 11, 1993 (4 pages).
Insert
Insert in 5-400, Court Cases:
Pages 5 through 14-C of TI 5-434, dated August 2, 1996 (13 pages).
Pages 17 through 19 of TI 5-434, dated August 2, 1996 (3 pages).
Attachment 2 through 4 of TI 5-434, dated August 2, 1996 (8 pages).
Date: August 2, 1996
