SSA must provide suitable private space for conducting the personal conference, generally
in the FO. If the person does not want to come to the conference site, the decision
maker may conduct the conference by telephone or by video teleconference.
If the individual elects to conduct the personal conference by video teleconference,
they will designate the location for their end of the video teleconference.
Consider conducting a face-to-face conference at locations other than the FO on a
case-by-case basis, and only in limited circumstances when
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•
all other means of conducting a personal conference have been ruled out, or
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•
conducting a personal conference by any other means would infringe upon the person’s
right to a hearing.
SSA cannot take any recovery action until the person has had reasonable opportunity
for a conference. If the person has a legitimate reason for not coming to the conference
site or participating in a telephone or video teleconference (e.g., the person is
in prison and the prison does not allow outside communication of any kind), and the
SSA decision maker is unable to go to the person, make a waiver determination based
on the information in the file.
If the person refuses to come to the FO or have a telephone or video teleconference
without a legitimate reason (e.g., they just do not want to travel or talk to us by
telephone or video teleconferencing), they forfeit the opportunity for the conference
and, a waiver decision is made on the existing record. If it is unfavorable, SSA begins
recovery of the overpayment.