Robinson-Reyf

The Journal-Sentinel reported that the Milwaukee North SSA office had the 2nd most double check negotiations in the nation. This has caused some consternation in the local blog world.

A little background is necessary. The reason that SSA immediately replaces checks which are due but reported missing is (surprise!) a court case called Robinson-Reyf. In a 1997 settlement of this case, SSA agreed to immediately replace the checks except when someone has had cashed both an original check and a replacement check in the past two years. In those circumstances, the agency can wait until the disposition of the reported missing check has been determined before issuing a replacement. It’s not that the agency doesn’t know that this policy invites fraud.

The non-receipt procedure has been abused in the North district for many years. I noticed that it always picked up near Christmas in the ten years I worked in that district. Gotta go shopping, you know. When you have a room packed with people, it is easier and more expedient to tell someone that their check will be replaced, than to argue with them, despite the policy. North has always had the highest volume of walk-in traffic in the state. This doesn’t excuse the fact that they issue too many replacements, but explains it. Why North and not some similar district in Chicago or Detroit? I can only think that there is a small number of people in Milwaukee that don’t consider it stealing. This is a cultural leftover of the welfare state Wisconsin used to be. That sort of culture change has to come from within, though prosecutions help.

The agency, being the agency, will now swing wildly the other way and it will be near impossible for that office to issue a replacement for the time being, I’m guessing. Until you see a story in the J-S about a little old disabled lady who can’t pay her rent because the mean people at the North office won’t replace her check. Then it will swing wildly the other way. You get used to those swings when you work there.

Is this a city, state or national problem? No, not really. The other offices in Milwaukee and the state are not like North. Getting a replacement check out of the Waukesha or West Bend office is a pretty tough proposition, for instance.