Imagine you are a Social Security administrative law judge (ALJ), and that you are preparing for a hearing to decide whether or not a claimant receives disability benefits. What information is available to you to review prior to the hearing?
Put yourself in the position of the ALJ looking at the file for the first…
The latest statistics for processing times for Social Security hearing offices around the country have been released by the SSA, and reprinted in the July 2011 NOSSCR Social Security Forum newsletter.
In Maine, the average wait for a hearing decision is now 365 days – exactly one year. Processing time runs from the date of…
The real systemic problem with Social Security disability is that DDS denies claims that should be granted, not that ALJs grant claims that should be denied.
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Continue Reading Administrative Law Judge Disability Decisionmaking
I have written an ebook, entitled 10 Steps to Prepare for Your Social Security Disability Hearing.
I have been sharing this book with my clients, and have now added it to my law firm website. It is available to anyone as a free PDF download. There is no form to fill out; no…
There is an excellent discussion of job traits versus transferable skills in Kramer v. Astrue, No. 1:10-cv-207-JAW (D. Me. March 25, 2011).
Here is the relevant excerpt (I have removed citations to the administrative record):
The administrative law judge found that the plaintiff’s past jobs as a firefighter and an emergency services dispatcher required the…
In the Boston region, we receive 75-day notice of hearings, but all evidence to be considered by the ALJ needs to be submitted 5 days ahead of the hearing. See 20 CFR 405.331(a).
The 5-day rule is permissive ("the administrative law judge may decline to accept the evidence"), and often is not enforced.
The latest statistics for processing times for Social Security hearing offices around the country have been released by the SSA, and reprinted in the May 2011 NOSSCR newsletter. In Maine, the average wait for a hearing decision is now 381 days. This is a month longer than it was last year, and the hearing…
When I receive a hearing notice for a Social Security disability claim, the first thing I want to know is the name of the administrative law judge (ALJ) who will hear the case and then decide the claim. It shouldn't matter which judge hears your case, since they all interpret the same regulations and would…
We receive 75-day advance notice for administrative law judge hearings in Maine and New Hampshire. The 75-day notice is a remnant of the DSI (Disability Service Improvement) experiment that the SSA conducted in the Boston region. So the New England states enjoy 75-day notice when a hearing is scheduled, as opposed to the 20-day advance…
Sometimes there is a physical residual functional capacity (RFC) assessment in the disability claim file from a single decisionmaker. That means the RFC assessment from DDS was not completed by a doctor. At the hearing level, a single decisionmaker RFC should be located with the "A" exhibits in the disability claim file, rather than…
