Social Security Disability Hearings: What to Expect from Your ALJ

You may file for a Social Security Disability hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) once your initial application and request for reconsideration are denied by the DDS (Disability Determination Services) agency handling your case.  Present at your hearing will be an ALJ, a hearing recorder present to assist the ALJ and to record the hearing for purposes of appeal, MEs (Medical Experts) and VEs (Vocational Experts) hired by the ALJ to be present at the hearing.

It’s important to remember that the ALJ hearing your case is not a doctor.  He or she hires medical experts to assist him or her with the medical conditions found in your medical evidence record and the limitations those conditions are expected to cause you.  The Vocational Expert is there to explain to the ALJ what kind of jobs you did in the past, whether or not you could return to that type of work given limitations the ALJ finds are caused by your medical conditions, and whether there are any other kinds of jobs in the regional or national economy you could do with those limitations.

You are also entitled to have anyone that may add valuable information to your case testify for you at your hearing.  Often, this is a family member, friend or former employer, who has intimate knowledge of your health and or physical disabilities; however, this can also include doctors, teachers, or counselors who have treated you and who have their own expert opinions regarding your physical and/or mental health and limitations.

Although each judge is free to handle his or her hearings as he or she wishes, most begin by admitting all of the exhibits in your claim file into evidence, by explaining the the legal issues present in your case to you, and by asking you and experts present at your hearing to take an oath to tell the truth.  From there, the process depends on your ALJ.

Some Administrative Law Judges will question you directly before allowing your representative, if you have representation, to do so.  Many ALJs will allow your representative to question you first and then ask you any questions he or she may have after direct examination.  Your judge could go directly to the experts, getting his or her opinions before asking you any questions or allowing your representative to do so.  In any case, you or your representative should also be allowed to ask questions of any experts from whom the ALJ took testimony.