>> jennifer griffith: they're a vital part of our economy. a lot of people depend on them to...rvive. >> kroft: to see it first-hand, they suggested we come back right after the disability checks went out. and we did, to find crowds and traffic jams. >> griffith: you avoid the pharmacy, you avoid wal-mart. you avoid, you know, restaurants because it's just... >> sarah carver: any grocery stores. >> griffith: it's just extremely crowded. everybody's received their benefits. "let's go shopping." >> kroft: not everyone in the throngs we saw is on disability, but jennifer griffith and sarah carver say there's no question that a lot of them are and probably shouldn't be. >> carver: we have a lot of people who have exhausted their unemployment checks and have moved onto social security disability. >> kroft: this is, sort of, a bridge between unemployment and collecting social security. >> carver: generally, yes. >> kroft: are they disabled? >> carver: not always, no. >> griffith: more often than not, no. >> kroft: around here, people call it "getting on the draw" or "getting on the ch

my name is jennifer griffith. i'm a wife, mother of two, and student as well as a former employee of the huntington, west virginia office of disability adjudication and review. i'm both humbled and honored to be appear here today and appreciate the opportunity to describe my experience. october has been a special month for me. activity the day in 1997 my son was born. 12 years ago in october i began my career. >> today is your son's 16th birthday? >> give him my best, thank you. thank you for sharing -- [inaudible] [laughter] >> during my employment, i was also a master -- beginning in 2006 on too many occasions to count my group super visier began to call me to my office and -- docketed improperly, incompletely north docketed timely. i was unable to answer the question and no idea what was causing the issues. in an attempt determine what was occurring with i began to various reports on a daily basis and keep track of cases i docketed each day. i determined in fact the docketing issues were occurring because dorrt

that as their stories are told to these women, jamie slone, melinda morton, sara carver and jennifer griffith saw the disability programs being exploited and were brave enough to bring their story to the committee. i commend all the and hope others will take of your example to speak of when you see wrongdoing whether it's in sources 30 or any other agency of the federal government. congress needs to know whether problems are in our government so they can be addressed and hopefully changed for the benefit again, thank you to each of you for traveling to washington to tell your story. i very much look forward to hearing from you. the issues we're going to discuss development of our countries current problems began and began with congress to only hear it would take something as important as the soldiers could disability program and let politics her to those most in need. by this i mean that for a long time congress has acted getting people onto the program is more important than doing oversight of the program. in practical terms this has meant pushing ssa to eliminate a backlog willful interest

our next witness is jennifer l. griffith. former master docket clerk of the u.s. social security administration where she worked at the huntington, west virginia office. she is also here before our committee to describe her experiences in disclosures about the operations of that office. miss griffith appears today in a personal capacity and is not representing the views of the social security administration. miss griffin, welcome, thank you for joining us. next is jamie slone. miss slone is a resident of pikeville, kentucky. she appears today to share her observations and experiences as an employee of the eric c. conn law firm from 2006 to i believe 2012. and we want to thank you you for again appearing before our panel today. thank you so much. finally, melinda l. martin, former employee of the conn law firm. miss martin is an employee at the eric c. conn law firm. i'm not sure for how long. i'm sure you will cover that in your testimony. we're grateful to you for making time to come all the way to testify before us today. the next thing before you testify though

clark's correct. 2.5his e-mail was sent years after the e-mail from jennifer griffith which we had discussed. did you see him assign cases after management was made aware of the problem? >> yes. ?> was there ever any follow-up >> yes. i had talked with the judge on several occasions. had e-mailed on several occasions and told the judge if he did not take care of the problem he would take it outside of the office. >> you actually worked for a long. of time. what did you actually do for him? were you his miss everything? >> i started as a claims taker. when i left, i was doing managerial duties. >> were you the most senior employee? >> yes. workedthe time that you in the office, how important would you say he was to the success of the law firm? >> very successful. very important. >> when did you grow concerned about the relationship? >> when i first moved to the hearing department and noticed that he was the only one we did not hold hearings for, i river asking why it was different for him. we were just told that is what he preferred to do. a dbn you tell us what list was? claim thatist was a

jennifer griffith and her co-worker sarah carver also testified monday they processed disability claimsgton, west virginia. in 2011, they filed a federal lawsuit against conn and daugherty under the false claims act which allows whistle-blowers to get a portion of money recovered in fraud cases. >> with judge daugherty and eric conn, what i've seen is 100%. if you look at that statistic alone, what's the likelihood that every claimant that walks in your office is disabled. >> reporter: exa"60 minutes" tracked down conn. you can't track down your alleged disability and work in court? >> well, that's tempting. >> reporter: at monday's hearing he was even more restrained. >> i would respectfully assert my constitutional right not to testify here today, sir. >> reporter: he left the hearing before he was called to testify. more than 11 million americans receive disability insurance. that's up 20% in the last is sick years. senator tom coburn who spearheaded the investigation said that this case is just one example of widespread abuse. >> some in congress refuse to acknowledge that the syste

my name is jennifer griffith. i am a wife, a mother of two, and student, as well as a former employee of the huntington, west virginia, office of social security disability review. i am honored to be before you today and to describe mice. while working there. october is a special month for me. it was this month when my son was born 12 years ago. >> today is your son's 16th birthday? >> yes, it is. >> give my best. tell him we appreciate him sharing his mom. as a caselso working technician. beginning in late 2005 or early 2006, on too many occasions to list, i began to be called into the office and issued verbal reprimand aced on cases being docketed improper or incompletely or not docketed timely. i was not able to answer her questions and had no ideas what was causing the docket issues. in an attempt to determine what was occurring, i began to run various reports on a daily basis and keep track of cases i docketed each day. i determined, in fact, the docketing issues were occurring aughertyjudge david b. d was as

. >> this e-mail was sent two and half years after the 2000 e-mail from jennifer griffith which we had discussed. the juicy judge daugherty is signing of the cases after management was made aware of the problem in 2007? >> yes. >> was there and he followed to your e-mail from judge get my -- or management? >> i talked with judge get low on several occasions and he said he had e-mailed alj on several occasions and it holds judge andrews that if he did not take care of the problem he was going to take it outside of the office. >> thank you. ms. slone you actually worked for mr. conn for long period of time. can you describe what did you do for him? were you his miss everything? >> i started out as a claims taker and work several positions within the office. when i left i was doing managerial duties. >> were you his most senior employee? >> yes. >> in terms of responsibility? how important would you say judge daugherty was for the success of the law from? >> very successful. >> when did you first grow concerned about the relationship between mr. conn and judge daugherty? >> when i moved t

jennifer ashton explains breast cancer is particularly deadly for men. >> i don't think to check for lumps in a breast. >> reporter: that is exactly what kgtv answer bill griffithhought until it happened to him. in 2004 he was diecious node with male -- diagnosed with male breast cancer. >> you can be masculine, normal in every way and it can still get you. >> reporter: breast cancer is relatively rare among males. though this year alone over 2,200 men will be diagnosed. of those, more than 400 will die. >> while a much less frequent disease in men it doesn't make it any less important to be aware of changes in your body. >> no doctor ever mentioned that to me. >> reporter: men should pay attention to these warning signs, a lump in and around the breast. changes in skin surface or texture. nipple discharge or differentling in of the -- dimpling in of the nipple. >> the main misconception is the idea that men don't have breasts so how could they get breast cancer? >> reporter: there are risk factors. a family history, certain types of liver disease, and genetic links too. if a man carries a brca gene mutation like angelina jolie his risk increases for breast, pr