Role of ODAR in SSA Hearings and Appealsa

You are entitled to apply for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) if you suddenly acquire a disability, which prevents you from working. However, the Social Security Administration (SSA) may reject your application or claim if it believes that you are not qualified for the benefits provided by the two programs.

Good thing you still have other options. You can still file an appeal if you think the agency made a wrong decision. SSA may require you to attend hearings in order to fully understand and assess your case. These hearings are conducted by the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR).

ODAR has 146 hearing offices, four national hearing centers, five satellite officers, and ten regional offices. In addition, there are around 6,100 support staff and 1,300 Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) on its filed organization.

If you want to appeal a rejected application or claim, you should make a written request, which is to be submitted within 60 days starting from the day you received the rejection letter. Social Security will assume that you have received it five days after the date that was placed on it, unless you can prove that there has been a delay in delivering it.

Hearings

It is the second level of the appeals process. If your claim was already reviewed in the reconsideration stage and you do not agree with its outcome, you are entitled to request for a hearing.

This hearing will be administered by an ALJ who was not involved in both the initial and reconsideration processes. It may be conducted near your house, which is more beneficial for you.

During the hearing, you and the witnesses will be questioned by the ALJ. Other witnesses like vocational and medical experts can also provide information that will support your claim.

After the hearing was conducted, the ALJ will study the evidence and come up with a decision.

Appeals Council

If you are still unsatisfied with the ALJ’s decision, you can then ask for a review conducted by the Social Security’s Appeals Council.

Your request may be denied if the Appeals Council thinks that the ALJ’s judgment is accurate. Meanwhile, if it decided that your case should be reviewed, it may give it back to the ALJ for further assessment or it may review the case by itself.

If the Appeals Council refuses to re-assess your case or if you are not happy with the outcome of the review, you have the right to file a case in a federal district court. You will receive a letter, which will give you instructions on how to request for a court review.