Legal Services NYC Settles Lawsuit on Behalf of Mothers and Infants Denied WIC Benefits in Violation of Federal Due Process Rights

June 29, 2017, NEW YORK– Legal Services NYC (LSNYC) has reached a settlement in a federal lawsuit filed against the New York State Department of Health on behalf of two mothers and their infant children, participants in the federal Women, Infant and Children Program (WIC), whose WIC benefits were terminated without any notice or opportunity to challenge the decision. (Photo: USDAgov/Flickr)

The lawsuit, filed in December 2015, claimed that DOH failed to comply with clear state and federal regulations by not providing WIC participants with notice of adverse actions and/or an opportunity for a hearing prior to terminating benefits. WIC is one of the central components of the nation’s food and nutrition assistance system. Almost half of all infants and about one-quarter of all children one to four years of age in the United States participate in the program, which provides essential food, healthcare referrals and nutrition education. In New York, the WIC Program is administered by the Department of Health (DOH) in conjunction with private contractors, also named defendants in the lawsuit.

LSNYC’s complaint demonstrated the consequences of DOH’s failure to provide constitutionally-mandated due process protections. Both mothers began receiving WIC benefits while pregnant, but received no notice or hearing prior to learning that their benefits had been terminated. Neither mother, upon termination, received any notice about their own WIC participation, their right to request a prehearing conference or hearing, or the right to have continued benefits. Neither received any notice about their infants’ participation in the program and rights to continue, to recertify, or to assert any appeal rights. Without their WIC benefits, both mothers and their newborns were unnecessarily deprived of supplemental food, referrals, and support necessary for a mother caring for an infant child.

“After all we go through, words cannot express the despair a mother feels, as a WIC checks applicant or recipient, when she comes to the office and is told she will no longer or cannot receive assistance based on rules/regulations she has not been given any documentation on,” said Annette Perry, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “Added to that is the shock to find out you had rights that were never explained to you. Thank you Legal Services team for exposing this injustice and protecting struggling mothers who are simply trying to provide for their children.”

“This case protects the rights of low-income women and children to access food benefits that they desperately need,” said Tanya Wong, LSNYC’s Director of Government Benefits.

The settlement requires DOH to provide training to all WIC local agency staff regarding the use of WIC documents including WIC Participant Rights and Responsibilities (PRR) and the New York State Fair Hearing Request forms. It further requires DOH to direct-mail the PRR to every current WIC recipient statewide, and to post the PRR, the Fair Hearing Request form, and other documents to the DOH website. Finally, it requires that the private contractors named in the lawsuit—Public Health Solutions, Catholic Charities, and New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation—amend their websites to include information and links regarding WIC eligibility and participants’ rights to a fair hearing.

“This settlement is a huge victory for low income mothers and children who need supplemental nutritional assistance,” said Staff Attorney Denise Acron of Manhattan Legal Services, a program of LSNYC. “Agencies that administer the WIC program will now be required to give notices explaining why benefits are denied or are being terminated, and clients will be entitled to a Fair Hearing before the Department of Health to challenge those decisions.”

“The right to a notice and hearing when essential benefits are being terminated is a well-established constitutional protection,” said Amy Leipziger, Staff Attorney at Queens Legal Services, also a program of LSNYC. “This settlement ensures that those whose benefits are illegally denied or stopped have a fair way to challenge the decision.”

The settlement was approved on June 23rd by the Hon. Eric N. Vitaliano of the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York.

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