People With Disabilities Foundation (PWDF) has a case in US District Court and one case in the United States Court of Appeals through the Ninth Circuit awaiting decision.

In District Court, we won a case for a client who has multiple impairments, including fibromyalgia, depression, back pain and other impairments. We are currently litigating fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. (Case No. 4:16-cv-023580-JSC).

Our case in the US Court of Appeals in the Ninth Circuit (Case No. 1:15-cv-02995-NJV) involves a serious abuse of process by the Social Security Administration (SSA), where the SSA, instead of addressing psychiatric impairments, claimed our client could not perform any of her four past jobs because of the remoteness in time, not because of the disability. Both the SSA and a magistrate judge sitting as a judge in US District Court subverted the law by mischaracterizing our client’s mental impairments as “non-severe” and claiming that she could not return to her past relevant work as a medical assistant, without basing this position on any evidence. The SSA’s Appeals Council first used this position to impede our client’s ability to appeal the SSA’s decision that her psychiatric disabilities were “non-severe.” “Non-severe” is interpreted to be very minimalist.

PWDF is considering filing a complaint in federal court against the SSA on the basis that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries are having their benefits suspended without a required pre-termination due process hearing. If there is an ongoing recoupment of an overpayment during these illegal suspensions or terminations, the SSA has offset 100% of the SSI check amount, instead of the 10% maximum allowed by law. If and when these individuals’ benefits are reinstated, the SSA has refused to reinstate the full check amount.

Steven Bruce, PWDF’s Legal Director and Board President, met with the CEO and others at The ARC of the US two weeks ago. The agenda included employment of people with mental and/or developmental disabilities, de-escalation of police responses incident to arrest, and impact litigation.

In October and December 2017, PWDF attended Project Homeless Connect (PHC) 68 and 69, respectively. PHC enables nonprofit medical, social service, and other providers to serve homeless San Franciscans with comprehensive services.

We have an opening for a Managing Attorney (MA)/Legal Director.  This is a half-time position.  See the Careers page on our website for further details.