WHAT HAPPENS AT A DISABILITY HEARING?

Claimants who propose to attend Social Security disability hearings unrepresented usually do so because they are not familiar with what goes on in such a hearing.  The purpose of this brief discussion is to give you a little orientation as to what happens at a disability hearing.  Perhaps this will convince you that it is not something you should attend unrepresented.

You will be appearing before a federal Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), who will administer an oath to you and other witnesses so that all testimony will be under oath.  The judge will then explain the legal issues involved in the case.  Then, the claimant will be subjected to a series of questions, designed to determine whether he/she meets the legal definition of disability under the Social Security Act.  The claimant will be given an opportunity to explain why he feels that he does meet the legal requirements of the Act.  This would be done by the attorney or representative if one is present.

A vocational expert (VE), also sworn, will be asked to classify all the claimant's past relevant work.  The claimant has the obligation to object to any of the vocational expert's testimony about past work.  An experienced representative is tremendously valuable here.  Whether or not the claimant has transferable skills, for example, can be the deciding factor in winning or losing the case.  Claimants are typically not schooled in how to object to vocational testimony.  Representatives are.

The judge will then ask the vocational expert a series of hypothetical questions to determine if the claimant can perform any of her past relevant work?  If the ALJ determines that the claimant can perform any past relevant work, the case has been lost.  This would occur at Step 4 in the 5-Step sequential process.  If the VE finds that no past relevant work can be performed, then the ALJ will ask him to determine if there exists any other work that the claimant could perform.  If the judge concludes that that the claimant can perform any other work the case has been lost.

Steps 4 and 5 that I have just described are the crucial, pivotal steps in the hearing.  The claimant must be ready to cross examine the vocational expert and call any of his unfavorable testimony into question.  If this is not done effectively, the case can be lost.  This involves a skilled oral cross examination of the vocational expert - just like would occur in any other trial in any other courtroom in the nation.  If a claimant does not understand Social Security law or regulations, he or she has little hope of an effective rebuttal of the VE's negative testimony.

A representative will also have submitted a written brief prior to the hearing.  This brief will give the judge the legal theory of the case, pointing out the medical and vocational evidence that supports a favorable ruling.  I am writing a second post that explains some of the complicated issues that routinely come up at a hearing.  (Please see my article on this blog titled "Disability Hearings:  Technical Issues."