TN 6 (04-08)

NOTE: On April 1, 2009, SSA changed its policy of not paying fleeing felons. Follow the instructions below only for felony warrants with offense codes 4901, 4902, or 4999. Follow the Martinez settlement instructions in GN 02613.860 – GN 02613.885 for all other felony warrant codes.

On May 9, 2011, SSA changed its policy and no longer suspends or denies benefits or payments based solely on a probation or parole violation warrant (i.e., warrants with offense codes 5011, 5012, 8101, 8102, or 9999 or “Blank” and an offense charge symbol of “probation or parole violation”). Follow the Clark Court Order instructions in GN 02615.100 – GN 02615.190 for all probation or parole violation warrants.

We will make additional changes to this section, as necessary, in the future.

A. Policy – warrant is satisfied

1. Reinstating benefits after a period of suspension

Reinstate benefits effective with the first month throughout which the individual does not have:

• an active arrest warrant pending for a crime that carries a penalty of death or confinement of more than 1 year, (i.e. felony), or

• a warrant pending for violation of a condition of parole or probation.

NOTE: The period of time between the date the warrant was issued, or 1/1/2005 or the date of entitlement to Title II benefits, whichever date is later, and the date the warrant was satisfied (i.e., the official date the court or the agency terminated the arrest warrant), will be a period of fugitive felon or probation or parole violator suspension. Reinstate Title II benefits the month after the month, the warrant is satisfied because fugitive felon or probation or parole violator suspension no longer applies.

2. Proof the warrant is satisfied

If the individual alleges there is no outstanding warrant, he or she must:

• provide official evidence from the warrant-issuing agency or court, or

• present documentation showing that the warrant was satisfied and the date it was satisfied.

a. Preferred evidence that a warrant is satisfied

The documentation must include:

• a copy of the official court docket that proves the beneficiary or claimant’s warrant was satisfied, and

• the date the court or agency acted on the warrant to declare the warrant satisfied. For additional information on when a warrant is satisfied see (GN 02613.010A.3. and GN 02613.010A.4.)

The document should also show:

• the date that the warrant was closed (i.e., terminated), and

• specific information about the warrant to prove it is the warrant belonging to the beneficiary or claimant (e.g. warrant number, offense code).

NOTE: Also, consider as preferred evidence the verification from OIG that a warrant is satisfied.

b. Alternate method of documenting proof that the warrant is satisfied

SSA can accept fax documents from a warrant issuing agency, or the court of jurisdiction for the warrant, or the probation or parole agency, that issued the warrant as long as the 'source' of the fax has been verified by SSA staff as the actual court or agency that issued the warrant.

The person providing the information on the fax to SSA must be acting on behalf of the source. The person must have competent knowledge of the source's warrant process and its recordkeeping practices. The person supplying the warrant information to SSA must have the ability to declare that the warrant was “officially” satisfied or closed.

The fax must provide specific information including:

• the beneficiary (name, date of birth, enough identifying information to show that the beneficiary and the person on the warrant are the same individual)

• the agency or court that declared the warrant satisfied (information similar to the information found on the court docket; i.e., the name of the court or agency, where the court or agency is located, name of the judge or official presiding over the charges on the warrant; name of the attorneys for the defendant and the prosecution) and the court disposition (how the warrant was satisfied by the court) of the warrant and the date the court made its decision (date the warrant was satisfied)

• the name of the person providing the information on the fax and his or her job position for the warrant issuing agency, probation or parole agency or the court of jurisdiction for the warrant, and

• the date the person/agent provided the satisfied or closed warrant information to SSA.

3. Rules for reinstating benefits after a period of fugitive felon suspension

a. The rules for suspending benefits based on the fugitive felon provisions are:

Suspension continues until the:

• Beneficiary is arrested by a law enforcement agency but has not been convicted by a court for his/her crimes; or

• Warrant is satisfied (for information on when a warrant is satisfied see GN 02613.010A.4.).

b. The rules for reinstating benefits after fugitive felon suspension no longer applies are:

Reinstate benefits effective the:

• Month after the month the beneficiary is arrested by a law enforcement agency for his/her warrant, but not yet convicted of his/her crime; or

• Month after the month the warrant has been satisfied.

B. Procedure – reinstating benefits using the FFEL screen

1. FO/PC instructions for reinstating benefits from LAF S9 using POS/FFEL screen

Use the POS system to reinstate benefits from LAF S9 to the beneficiary (for systems processing instructions for the FFEL screen see MSOM COMMON 005.035). To reinstate benefits follow the steps in this chart:

2. Reinstating benefits when POS/FFEL does not work

For additional information on POS/FFEL exclusion processing see (GN 02613.780B.).

T2 exception cases occur when a reinstatement action input through POS/FFEL but does not properly reinstate benefits on the MBR. T2 exceptions are caused in different ways.

Examples of some Systems processes resulting in a T2 Exception are:

• Processing limitations found in (MSOM MCSEC 001.001); or,

• An error exists on the Master Beneficiary Record (MBR).

These types of T2 exceptions will be generated to the PC.

3. POS/FFEL processing resulting in a T2 exception

When FFEL reinstatement is input to POS, a T2 transaction is created. If an exception occurs:

• T2 will not reinstate the benefit on the MBR;

• It creates a PCACS Action Control Record (ACR) with Type of Event Level (TOEL). The TOEL Codes used in fugitive felon case processing are found in (GN 02613.770C.).

When you input a Title II reinstatement action to the FFEL screen, T2 processes the reinstatement transaction and annotates the MBR that the beneficiary is in current payment status. If the MBR cannot be annotated with the reinstatement action, an exception is sent to the PC.

C. Procedure - FO processing of T2 exception cases for FFEL - PCACS established

Tickle the case for 15 working days after PCACS is established to ensure the MBR is in LAF C.

If the MBR does not reflect current payment status when the diary matures, send a Fugitive Felon FAX follow-up on the reinstatement action to the PC as indicated in this chart:

D. FO processing –T2 FFEL exception — no PCACS issue exists

If no PCACS ACR exists, there should be a record on the Transaction History Summary Screen (THIS), but assume that T2 did not create a TOEL transaction.

• Use the Fugitive Felon FAX procedure (for processing instructions see GN 02613.980).

• Check the MBR to make sure the reinstatement action has been posted.