Federal Court Rules Missourians Were Illegally Denied Food Aid by the State

A federal judge has ruled Missouri’s social services agency violated the law in the way it has administered its food assistance program.

U.S. District Court Judge M. Douglas Harpool ruled May 9 that the state’s practices — including long call center wait times and a lack of accommodations for those with disabilities — violate the laws governing the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Missouri Dept. of Social Services’ call center issues ultimately denied eligible Missourians meaningful access to benefits.

“While call wait times fluctuate and have shown some improvement, the record demonstrates too little progress,” Harpool wrote. “Consequently, Missourians who suffer food insecurity have been forced to either go hungry or seek alternative sources of food when their applications are denied.”

In February 2022, a federal lawsuit was filed against the social services department arguing the state’s “dysfunctional” call center deprives eligible Missourians of SNAP benefits, more commonly known as food stamps.

Plaintiffs described subsisting on little food while using up prepaid phone minutes waiting on hold for an interview, and, due to disability, struggling to understand the application forms but being unable to get through the call center for help.

An interview is required to sign up for or recertify SNAP benefits.

Without interviews, SNAP applications and renewals are automatically denied after 30 days — even if applicants have tried and been unable to get through. Around half of all SNAP denials in the state are due to failure to complete an interview. The average call center wait time for the SNAP interview line, as of late last year, was more than an hour.

“These denials are not based on the applicant’s eligibility but on the inadequacies of [the Dept. of Social Services’] process,” Harpool wrote.

The lawsuit was filed by New York-based National Center for Law and Economic Justice, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, and Stinson LLP on behalf of individual low-income Missourians and the advocacy group Empower Missouri.

The decision orders the social services agency to come into compliance with federal SNAP law and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and outlines several steps the agency must take, under the court’s supervision.

Harpool has been candid in previous hearings about his concerns over the state’s progress since the lawsuit was first filed.

“I continue to be amazed that it’s been since this case started,” he said in a January motion hearing, “that the state’s whole focus is how can we avoid liability rather than how can we get these benefits to our citizens.”