Field Office (FO) Managers may delegate decision-making authority to GS-11 claims specialists or higher positions regardless of the amount of the overpayment.

The overpaid individual is entitled to a fair and full hearing before an impartial decision maker. Therefore, a FO employee who has participated in the overpayment proceedings in a case cannot be a decision maker for the personal conference. Participation in the case means having made a determination about any fact that is material to the pending waiver determination: fault, ability to repay, credibility or veracity of the overpaid person.

The decision maker participated in the overpayment proceedings when, after reviewing the request for waiver, the file (if any) and any supporting evidence, they made the preliminary recommendation not to approve the request for waiver. The decision maker did not participate in the overpayment proceedings when they developed the underlying changes to the record that caused the overpayment.

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.