Social Security Judge Told Me She Approved My Disability
I was recently asked the following question:
The judge at my husband’s hearing said she was going to approve him. She said she would get his letter to him in the next 2 or 3 weeks, but NO letter yet.
Since she approved him during his hearing when will his benefits start?
Social Security cannot process benefits until a decision is entered. While judges can issue a “bench decision” by orally entering a ruling into the record at the hearing, this is fairly rare.
More commonly, when a judge tells a claimant how the s/he is going to rule, that is not the decision. It is …
Is a Social Security disability hearing without a Vocational Expert a bad sign?
I was recently asked what it meant that the Administrative Law Judge did not have a Vocational Expert (VE) testify at an individual’s Social Security hearing.
What happens when the administrative law judge does not call the vocational expert to the hearing. Why would the judge do that?
Well, I can’t tell you “why” the judge didn’t have VE. Some judges use VEs all the time, others do not. A VE provides evidence (testimony) about steps 4 & 5 of the sequential evaluation process.
10 Steps to Prepare for your Social Security Hearing
My friend, Maine disability lawyer, Gordon Gates, has put together a free e-book, 10 Steps To Prepare For Your Social Security Disability Hearing.
In it, you’ll learn:
How Social Security reviews cases.
What you can do while waiting for your hearing.
How to expedite cases.
The information you will need to have at your hearing.
Check it out! Download a copy here.
What if a Vocation Expert at a Social Security disability hearing is full of it
A reader asked:
How can a vocational expert have any say on my disabilities and limitations? I mean I dont get a VE slip to give to my boss when I’m sick.
That’s true. If a Vocational Expert (VE) says that a particular limitation should not prevent someone from being able to perform the duties a hypothetical job, does not help that person find an employer who will tolerate that limitation in the real world.
However, that is not the VE’s job. The VE only provides testimony about which jobs an individual is still able to perform (if any) despite their limitations. Also, the VE tempers the often out-of-date evidence in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles with more recent job treatises and personally performed surveys of real-world jobs as they are actually performed.
However, if the VE says I can still do a job that is inconsistent with my limitations, what can I do?
If the VE’s testimony is out of sync with reality, well…
Social Security hearing: should I bring notes?
It is natural to be nervous when preparing for your Social Security hearing. The judge may ask when you worked certain jobs, the procedures you have undergone, which doctors treated you for your impairments or your medications. There’s a lot of facts to keep track of. Wouldn’t it help to bring a notebook with this information?
Honestly, I don’t believe bringing a notebook to a hearing is helpful. Or, more specifically, I believe the negatives outweigh the positives.
Social Security disability just got a bit easier – SDM forms not evidence in appeals
Social Security frequently has single decision makers (SDMs) complete forms describing what an individual can and cannot do in the workplace. These are very important case since the ultimate issue in a Social Security disability is whether an individual can still perform some type of work.
§404.906 describes the SDM process:
(2) In the single decisionmaker model, the decisionmaker will make the disability determination and may also determine whether the other conditions for entitlement to benefits based on disability are met. The decisionmaker will make the disability determination after any appropriate consultation with a medical or psychological consultant. The medical or psychological consultant will not be required to sign the disability determination forms we use to have the State agency certify the determination of disability to us (see §404.1615). However, before an initial determination is made that a claimant is not disabled in any case where there is evidence which indicates the existence of a mental impairment, the decisionmaker will make every reasonable effort to ensure that a qualified psychiatrist or psychologist has completed the medical portion of the case review and any applicable residual functional capacity assessment pursuant to our existing procedures (see §404.1617). In some instances the decisionmaker may be the disability claim manager described in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. When the decisionmaker is a State agency employee, a team of individuals that includes a Federal employee will determine whether the other conditions for entitlement to benefits are met.
The problem with a SDM deciding an individual’s limitations is that SDMs are not doctors, nor nurses, nor any type of medical professional. The SDM is often the Social Security case manager working in the Disability Determination Services (DDS) office.
The SDM often works with a medical expert to evaluate the extent of a claimant’s impairments and the resulting limitations. However, it is the SDM, not the medical professional, who often completes the limitations forms and decides whether an individual is disabled.
How to view Social Security’s new encrypted disks
I previously wrote about how to read Social Security’s (previously non-encrypted) cd disks and several articles on how to find information with the Social Security files.
Since Social Security has started provided encrypted Social Security exhibit CDs, many people contacting my office have not been able to access their files. The Social Security encrypted disks are keeping claimants from accessing their data.
First, you have to be running Microsoft Windows. Fortunately, some early concerns about having the encryption system only working in Windows Vista seem to be unfounded. I have been able to access the encryption system in Windows 7. However, if you are using a Mac (like I am) or Linux, you are out of luck unless you virtualize a Windows system.
Let’s go through how to get at those file!
Is there a perfect recipe for a Social Security disability case?
I had a great back and forth discussion with one of my readers in the comments about how different evidence affects a Social Security disability case. Here is part of the comment:
If you go to a mental health clinic for disabling mental impairments. They usually score you and document how impaired you are and what your level of functioning is. So, I would think it would be easier getting your case approved for a mental health disability if the mental health clinic has documentation showing you have extreme low level of functioning vs. someone applying for disability for say chronic fatigue or …
Medical Experts at Social Security disability hearings
Sometimes when a Social Security disability case goes to hearing, the Administrative Law Judge has a brand new doctor testify (usually by telephone). This is not one of your doctors, or (usually) even one of the doctors Social Security has sent you to. These are Medical Experts (MEs) that the Judge calls for several reasons:
Establish a medically determinable impairment. In any Social Security disability case, you have to prove the existence of not only symptoms, but also an underlying cause — a diagnosis. When the records are not clear, or when different doctors have provided different diagnoses (especially over time), a Medical Expert can help clarify what the underlying conditions have been and are today.
Determine if the impairments meet or equal a listing level impairment (step 3 in the Sequential Evaluation Process). If a Medical Expert states your impairments either meet the requirements of listing level impairment, or have the same limitations as a listing level impairment, the case may be approved very quickly.
Provide limitations from the impairment(s). In many cases, treating doctors do not want to make any kind of opinion about work-place limitations. They refuse to complete forms which often results in a gap in your evidence. Even though Social Security often has one of their own doctors review a case and determine limitations during the initial case review (before the first decision), the Medical Expert can provide a new opinion. This can be a better opinion since it is based on evidence that has been developed over the course of the case.
Establish an onset date. If the Medical Expert is supportive of the disability, they may also be asked to estimate how far back the limitations existed. This is important to establishing the correct onset date in a case.
Provide a prognosis. In order for a condition to be disabling it has to either be expected to result in death or be disabling for 12 months or longer. If a condition has not clearly been disabling for 12 months, a Medical Expert may be asked whether it is likely to continue until the durational requirement is met.
While a Medical Expert may touch on any or all of these, the make or break issues are whether the impairments meet a listing, or if not, what limitations are expected to result from the impairments.
Is having a Medical Expert good or bad?
The toughest question at the Social Security hearing
You made to the hearing. The Judge has gone over your impairments, your limitations, your daily activaties. Just when you think you are done, the Judge turns to you and asks:
So, what do you see for yourself in the future?
You freeze. You ask yourself silently, “what is the Judge looking for here? This isn’t a job interview!” You need to know what this question is about.
Social Security Hearings: Competitive and Non-Competitive Work
What does it mean if the Administrative Law Judge or Vocational Expert mentions “non-competitive work” during a Social Security disability hearing?
“Non-competitive” refers to types of work:
Competitive work is, well, just regular work; with no set-asides, no accommodations beyond the norm.
Work that is performed under special circumstances or that is set aside for disabled individuals (for example: work through Goodwill Industries) is typically viewed as “non-competitive.”
SSR 05-02 (a Social Security Ruling) provides guidance about what constitutes “work under special condition.”
Social Security disability hearings: erosion in the job base
The vocational expert at a Social Security hearing may testify that there is an, “erosion in the job base.” I have had a number of people ask me what this means?
As I wrote about before, the vocational expert’s job is to testify about the availability of different jobs in the national economy. The vocational expert responds to be Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ’s) hypothetical questions about the effect of limitations on an individual’s ability to perform job duties.
In other words, the vocational expert testifies about what jobs (if any) a person can still do despite their limitations.
However, not every job is performed the same way, and, jobs can be performed differently (with different abilities and limitations) in different industries.
Is a long wait after the Social Security hearing a bad sign?
While many Social Security disability hearings in Colorado have decisions issued in 45 to 90 days, some cases wait for four, five, even six months without a decision.
I was recently asked if a long wait after a hearing is a bad sign?
I previously wrote about my experience with how long it takes to get a decision after a Social Security hearing. Many lawyers who have been doing Social Security cases for a while can’t help but notice that the longer it takes to get a decision, the greater the chances that the case will be denied. However, that is not the whole story. Here is my take on this issue.
Reviewing your Social Security exhibit file – Part 1: Medical Records
How do you begin to review your Social Security exhibit file? Here is a quick guide to finding the really important parts.
Start with the “F” section to review the medical records.
If you do not review anything else in the file, you need to know what medical records are there (and what records are missing).
Here is what I look for:
Are all the doctors and hospitals listed? If the doctor or hospital is not listed, …
What is in a Social Security file?
Just before your Social Security hearing, you will be given a cd and pointed at a computer. If you ask, someone may help you load up the disk and get you to a screen that looks like this:
Ok, now what?
What is all this stuff and what do I do with it?
Social Security uses electronic case files. The image above is the “Exhibit List Index” which may automatically come up when you insert the disk into the computer (if it does not, you may have to browse to your cd and double click “index.html” If in doubt, just ask your kids.
The Exhibit List Index is a “table of contents” for the documents in the file.
In the above image, you can see there are 4 exhibits in the “B” part of the file. The first one, 1B is a request for hearing and that document is 5 pages long. By clicking on any link (blue underlined text) you will be taken to that exhibit.
I know how to move around in the exhibit file, but I don’t know what I am looking at!
Ok. The file is divided into different sections, labeled A through F. Here is what you can find inside each section.
