This is Senior Attorney Saima Akhtar, and I’m excited to share a major update about one of NCLEJ’s ongoing class-action lawsuits.
In a decisive victory for low-income New Yorkers who rely on public benefits, the Court ruled that the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA) violated mandatory time periods for holding administrative fair hearings and unconstitutionally deprived public benefits recipients of due process.
In 2024, NCLEJ sued the OTDA over their failure to provide fair hearings within mandated timeframes that would allow people applying for or receiving SNAP or TA benefits to challenge a loss or reduction to their benefits. Many low-income individuals waiting for their hearing decisions struggle to meet their basic needs while they go months or even years without receiving their benefits despite being eligible.
Our clients were forced to skip meals so their children could eat, choose between paying for utilities or paying for food, or rely on family members to meet their basic expenses. And others received overpayments of benefits while waiting for long-delayed hearings, creating massive debt that they couldn’t afford to pay back – debt that would not have happened if OTDA held and decided fair hearings within legal timeframes.
This situation is horrible for our clients. The Court’s ruling is a major cause for celebration and a strong affirmation of due process rights.
Thanks to our legal advocacy, OTDA must hold fair hearings within legally-mandated timeframes, must issue new notices and materials to people affected, and must limit collection of benefits overpayments for amounts accrued beyond the legal fair hearing resolution periods.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice advances racial and economic justice through ground-breaking impact litigation, policy advocacy, and support for grassroots organizing. We have provided legal representation and support since 1965.
