SMRLS Prevails in Federal SNAP Case Bringing New Statewide Disqualification Waiver

In a federal district court case filed by Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) last year, their client was disqualified from receiving SNAP benefits after being accused of committing an Intentional Program Violation and subsequently signing the form to accept the disqualification and waive her right to a hearing.

McLeod County Health and Human Services is a local government agency which administers SNAP benefits to eligible McLeod County residents on behalf of MN DHS. McLeod County alleged that SMRLS’ client committed fraud in violation of program rules by not reporting part-time caretaker work performed for her landlord as income. The county investigator decided that the client committed an "intentional program violation" and went to the client’s house with an administrative disqualification hearing waiver form and asked the client to sign it. The client signed the form, having no understanding of what it meant, only to realize later that she had agreed that she committed fraud, waived her right to a hearing, and would be disqualified from benefits. When the client contacted SMRLS, more than 30 days had passed since the waiver was signed so it could no longer be revoked.

SMRLS’ attorneys Brianna Boone, Assistant Director of Litigation and Advocacy, and Nicole Mourgos, Lead Attorney for the Southwest Region Economic Justice Unit, reviewed the waiver form McLeod County provided to the client and found that the statewide form did not comply with federal regulations. Federal regulations require the waiver to include information about fraud hearing rights and fraud hearing procedures and these were not included. They discovered that their client, and potentially others, were being asked to waive a hearing without knowing what the hearing entailed or what exactly they were waiving.

Boone and Mourgos filed a federal lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Human Services/Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DHS/DCYF) and McLeod County alleging that the administrative disqualification hearing waiver created by DHS/DCYF and used by McLeod County violated the SNAP Act and procedural due process protections. SMRLS settled the case and DHS/DCYF has updated the statewide form to include information about contacting legal services for help (including the phone number for coordinated intake) and details about an individual's hearing rights. It is not clear whether counties across the states are using the new form or are still using the prior legally deficient form, so Boone and Mourgos urge programs to closely review waiver forms received by their clients. In addition to prevailing in court, SMRLS also recovered $4000 in back benefits for their client, and her prior disqualification from benefits due to fraud was rescinded. SMRLS also recovered $14,000 in attorney's fees. The new Waiver of Administrative Disqualification Hearing (ADH) can be found here.

For questions about this case, or a copy of the pleadings, please contact Brianna Boone at brianna.boone@smrls.org.