I was in San Diego last week attending a conference sponsored by the National Organization of Social Security Claimants Representatives which I am a member of.

These conferences are designed to update attorneys in the field on what is going on in Washington as well as provide some excellent workshops to learn about different areas of the practice over the four day period. In fact there are so many learning opportunities it was impossible to attend them all so I definitely plan on making attending these conferences a part of my practice. I would also recommend to anyone practicing in this field to become a member of NOSSCR, it is a great resource to have.

Many disability claimants mistakenly believe their disability hearing will be similar to an appearance in court. However, there are several differences.

A disability hearing is non-adversarial. That means there is no attorney or anyone else there to represent the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) side. In fact there really are no sides. The SSA claims their responsibility is to allow benefits to claimant’s who are disabled and deny benefits to those who are not.

The hearing itself is much less formal that a court appearance. The administrative law judge (ALJ) may or may not wear a robe, and the hearing is many times conducted in a small room, such as a conference room, not a courtroom. The ALJ’s role is that of a neutral fact finder, and they will investigate all of the claimaint’s medical issues and find them to be disabled if the claimant meets the requirements.

The hearings also tend to be short, sometimes as short as 15 minutes although a typical hearing is often around 30 minutes, and it could be longer. But even though the hearings normally do not last very long, the claimant is not expected to stay seated the entire time and is free to stand or even walk around the hearing room if sitting for extended periods of time is difficult.

There will also be a court reporter at the hearing to swear in the claimant as well as any other witnesses the claimant may have to testify to their limitations. Often the ALJ will have a vocational expert (VE) present. The judge will ask the VE hypothetical questions about the different jobs someone with the claimaint’s limitations would be able to do.

Prior to the hearing, the claimaint’s attorney will have gathered and submitted all medical records and any other documents to be used as evidence. At the hearing, the attorney will present witnesses’ testimony and possibly cross examine any witnesses called by the ALJ. Again the ALJ is not an adversary and should not be treated as such, even when the attorney is arguing the ALJ may not be right about the law or facts.

Since hearings do tend to be very short everyone should be on time. ALJs have a very tight schedule and if the claimant is late the judge will probably not hear their case. Therefore it is advisable to try to show up at least a half hour prior to the hearing.

Social Security disability eligibility is not about a claimant’s medical problems. It is about the claimant’s inability to perform work because of those medical problems. Usually there are three disability arguments that can be used in most cases, only one of which needs to be proven.

1.  Prove the claimant meets a listing. The listings, published by the Social Security Administration (SSA), are the approval criteria for a number of physical and mental impairments. If a claimant's medical records provide the information designated for a specific listing, it basically means their medical condition is so severe Social Security will assume they would be unable to work due to so many work limitations.

2.  Prove that claimant’s functional capacity for work has been so reduced by medical issues that he would not be a reliable worker at even a simple, entry level job. Even easy jobs require the worker to be capable of certain activities, such as being able to stand or sit, lift and/or carry, concentrate, or stay at the job without too many breaks. So if the worker cannot stand or sit for a period of time, or they require more breaks than allowed during their shift, they probably do not have the functional capacity to perform the job.

3. Prove the claimant meets a grid rule or the GRID as they are often called. The grid rules are set up as a chart, and on this chart several factors are included such as age, education level, and previous work experience. The claimant’s particular situation is compared to the grid rules and the grid will direct a determination of disabled or not disabled based on exertional and/or non-exertional limitations.

Again, a claimant does not have to prevail under all three arguments, only one.