The Role of the Courts in Securing Welfare Rights and ...

Welfare Law Centeras consistent with the philosophy of encouraging self-sufficiency rather than dependency and thefederal TANF laws emphasis on moving recipients into employment. The litigation followed.The Reynolds plaintiffs raised claims based on the federal Food Stamp and Medicaid lawsdescribed above, state law regarding the right to apply for cash assistance and receive a promptdetermination and due process. Since the plaintiffs sought to enforce compliance with explicitfederal law requirements, they had to persuade the court that the City was engaged in a pattern ofillegal practices that amounted to a violation of federal law. Following a three day hearing inwhich it received extensive evidence, the court issued a lengthy opinion concluding that agencyworkers illegally denied needy individuals their rights to apply for benefits and rejecting theCity’s arguments that the problems presented to the court were only isolated incidents. Thecourt barred the City from converting any more welfare offices to Job Centers and ordered theCity to comply with the law and develop a corrective action plan.The City has since made major changes in the manner in which it processes applications,although plaintiffs claim that the City has not fully corrected the violations and that its stafftraining and monitoring programs are inadequate . The court is now considering the adequacy ofthe City’s corrective action. 116As the first decision to address the interaction between cash assistance and Medicaid andFood Stamps, Reynolds is strong precedent for other states where careless or overzealous welfareadministrators’ efforts to reduce cash assistance rolls are causing improper Medicaid and FoodStamp denials. (The Welfare Law Center is working to address this issue in other states.) Thecase is also a reminder of the important role that litigation plays in assuring that welfare officialsabide by federal law when informal advocacy fails and agency self-scrutiny is absent. The court’sruling means that the power of the court is being used to compel and oversee the City’scorrective action efforts on a timetable set by the court.Challenges to Inappropriate Food Stamps and Medicaid SanctionsMay 1999⋅ 46 ⋅