WHAT HAPPENS AT A SOCIAL SECURITY HEARING?

A Social Security disability hearing occurs when your claim has been denied at the initial level. The first decision will be made by a state agency contracted by Social Security - usually called the Disability Determination Service or DDS. In Alabama, this agency is located in Birmingham. If your claim is denied there, as 70 percent are, you have 60 days to ask for a hearing. It is at the hearing level that more disability claims get approved than at any other stage in the process.  (In other words, the hearing has the best odds of any step in the Social Security system).  Hearings are informal face-to-face proceedings before a US administrative law judge (ALJ). They are held in small conference-like rooms, typically with the following persons present:

• the administrative law judge (ALJ)
• the claimant
• the claimant's attorney or representative
• a Social Security employee who makes a recording of the proceeding
• a vocational expert, called by Social Security to give job related testimony

The ALJ will place the claimant and vocational expert (VE) under oath. He/She will state the pertinent issues in the case. The judge will then question the claimant or may let the representative question the claimant first. The gist of this questioning is to determine why the claimant is not able to work. Some questions commonly asked by the ALJ include:

• Describe what you did at your past job(s).
• Can you drive a car? How did you get here today?
• Why haven't you seen a doctor more often for your condition?
• How do you spend your day?
• What are your limitations on (bending, lifting, carrying, standing, sitting, remembering...)

After a round of questioning, the ALJ will turn to the vocational expert (VE) for testimony. The judge will offer 1 to 3 hypothetical questions, using residual functional limitations that seem to define the claimant's condition. Considering the claimant's residual functional capacity, age, education and past experience, can he do any of his past relevant work? If the VE responds "Yes," the representative must object or the hearing ends unfavorably. If the claimant CAN do any of his or her past relevant work, there is no disability. If the VE says, no, the claimant cannot do any of his past relevant work, the judge will move on to the final step.

Considering the RFC given at the above step, is there any other work in the national economy which exists in significant numbers that the claimant can do? If the VE says, "No, there is no other work that the claimant could perform," then a finding of disabled should occur. However, if the VE finds some jobs that the claimant could perform, that is a negative finding. Then, the representative must cross examine the VE to refute or weaken the testimony. This is a critical area where the representative earns his or her pay.

Unlike what you see on the TV commercials, judges do not usually announce their decision at the end of the hearing.  You will be notified by mail of the judge's decision in 3 to 6 weeks.

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