Other Fields
Agency Scheme: 
ADJUDICATION STRUCTURE
Hearing Level: Basic Structure
Name of Hearing Office (local name): 
Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge
Name of Hearing Office (global name): 
Social Security Administration: Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge
Sub-Agency/Bureau/Division:: 
Office of Disability Adjudication and Review
Hearing Officer #1 (Title): 
Administrative Law Judge
Hearing Officer #2 (Title): 
Attorney adjudicators
Are administrative appeals permitted from final decisions at the hearing-level stage?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
Comments/Notes on Adjudication Structure: 

SSA administers two disability programs: Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income. Claimants appeal reconsideration determinations (and initial determinations in "prototype" states) to the hearing level, which is overseen by the Office of the Chief Administrative Law Judge. Although ALJs hear the cases, the proceedings are informal and non-adversarial. Claimants may appeal ALJ decisions to the Appeals Council.

Under the Attorney Advisor program, attorney advisors may conduct certain prehearing procedures and issue fully favorable decisions under limited circumstances. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.942 and 416.1442; Chief Judge Bulletin 07-10 REV4.

In representative sanction cases, the Agency is represented by the Office of the General Counsel.

PROCESS & PROCEDURE - General Information
Are private parties permitted to have representation at hearings?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
Who may serve as a private party representative?: 
Either
About what percentage of private parties were represented at hearings (FY2013)?: 
78.00%
Is the agency permitted to have representation at hearings?: 
Yes (Some Types of Cases)
Regulations/rules of practice for hearings (please include CFR citations): 
20 CFR 404.929-404.961, 405.301-405.383, 408.1040-408.1045, 416.1429-416.1461
Other published guidance for hearings (if any): 
Hearings, Appeals, and Litigation Law (HALLEX) Manual
PROCESS & PROCEDURE - Pre-Hearing Procedure
Is discovery permitted by either party at the hearing-level stage?: 
No
Does the hearing officer have subpoena authority?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
Are ex parte contacts prohibited?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
Are parties provided notice of hearing?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
How far in advance of the hearing date is notice typically provided?: 
20 Days
PROCESS & PROCEDURE - Hearing Procedure
What types of hearings are permitted at the hearing-level stage?: 
Written (Document-Only) Hearing
In-Person
Video
Phone
Please provide the approximate percentage of each type of hearing relative to the total number of hearings (FY2013)
Written (Document-Only) Hearing: 
0%
In-Person: 
74%
Video: 
26%
Phone: 
0%
How is the type of hearing selected: 
By Agency
Required by Rule
Please describe: 
The Agency determines the time and place of a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, and how appearances will be made. 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.936 and 416.1436. The ALJ will “respond to any objections raised by the claimant about the manner of his or her appearance." HALLEX I-2-3-10 A.1. "The ALJ will determine whether any person other than the claimant, including a medical or vocational expert, will appear at the hearing in person, by VTC, or by telephone." HALLEX I-2-3-10 A.2.
How many hearing officers preside at each hearing?: 
One
Is witness testimony permitted at hearings?: 
Varies by Case
If "Varies by Case," please describe: 
Both expert and lay witness testimony is permitted at hearings. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.950(e) and 416.1450(e) ("Witnesses may appear at a hearing in person or . . . by video teleconferencing or telephone. . . . The administrative law judge may ask the witness any questions material to the issues and will allow the parties or their designated representatives to do so."); HALLEX I-2-6-60 A ("The ALJ determines the subject and scope of claimants' and witnesses' testimony, and how and when they will testify at the hearing (e.g., the ALJ may decide to use the question and answer method or allow the claimant or witness to testify in his or her own way)."). This question is not applicable to document-only hearings.
Can parties cross-examine witnesses?: 
Varies by Case
If "Varies by Case," please describe: 
Cross-examination is permitted in oral hearings. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.929 and 416.1429 ("At the hearing you may . . . present and question witnesses."). This question is not applicable to document-only hearings.
Can third-parties submit amicus briefs and/or evidence?: 
Only with Consent of Parties
Are hearings recorded and/or transcribed?: 
Yes
Are hearings open to the public?: 
Varies by Case
If "Varies by Case," please describe: 
"The hearing is open to the claimant and to other persons the ALJ considers necessary and proper." HALLEX I-2-6-1. This question is not applicable to document-only hearings.
PROCESS & PROCEDURE - Post-Hearing Procedure
Who typically drafts the decision at the hearing-level stage?: 
Staff Attorney
Other
If "Other," please specify (drafts): 
In addition to attorney advisors, paralegal specialists draft decisions at the hearing level.
Who has authority to issue final decisions?: 
Adjudication Officer
Other
If "Other," please specify: 
Under the Attorney Advisor program, attorney advisors may conduct certain prehearing procedures and issue fully favorable decisions under limited circumstances. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.942 and 416.1442; Chief Judge Bulletin 07-10 REV4.
Do agency regulations or guidance provide time limits for issuance of final decisions?: 
Yes (Some Types of Cases)
If "Yes," please specify these time limit(s): 
Supplemental Security Income post-eligibility cases, which represent a small portion of our workload, must be processed in 90 days. Specifically, under 20 C.F.R. § 416.1453(c)(1), an ALJ "must issue the hearing decision no later than 90 days after the request for hearing is filed" unless "[t]he matter to be decided is whether you are disabled," or "[t]here is good cause for extending the time period because of unavoidable circumstances."
About how long does it take on average—as of FY2013—to adjudicate claims/cases at the hearinglevel stage (i.e., from case filing: 
382 Days
Is judicial review available after issuance of a final decision?: 
Yes (Some Types of Cases)
PROCESS & PROCEDURE - Case Management
How are claims/cases processed at the hearing-level stage?: 
Other
Please briefly describe your case management practice(s) at the hearing level stage: 
Generally, claims/cases are processed on a first-in/first out basis. "The HOCALJ generally assigns cases to ALJs on a rotational basis, with the earliest (i.e., oldest) RHs receiving priority, unless there is a special situation that requires a change in the order in which a case is assigned." HALLEX I-2-1-55 A. "The objective is to hold a hearing as soon as possible after the request for hearing (RH) is filed, at a site convenient to the claimant." HALLEX I-2-3-10. Under the Attorney Advisor program, the National Screening Unit identifies cases with the highest probability of resulting in a fully favorable decision.
Does the agency permit web-based electronic filing of hearing-related briefs or other documents?: 
Yes
Are final decisions published and/or posted on the agency website?: 
No
Do agency regulations/rules of practice specify the contents of the administrative record at the hearing-level stage?: 
Yes (All Types of Cases)
If "Yes," please provide citation(s): 
Under 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.944 and 416.1444, the ALJ "accepts as evidence any documents that are material to the issues." HALLEX I-2-1-15, "Exhibits," also provides guidance in this area.
Do agency regulations/rules of practice provide for closure of the record at the hearing-level stage (subject to applicable exce: 
Yes (Some Types of Cases)
If "Yes," please provide citation(s): 
20 CFR 405.331
PROCESS & PROCEDURE - Comments
Comments/Notes on Hearing-Level Process & Procedures (Optional): 
SSA has divided the country into ten regions. Region I operates under slightly different regulations than the other nine regions (see 20 CFR Part 405). The two biggest differences--as it relates to the hearing--between Region I and the other nine regions are: (1) Region I is required to give notice of the hearing 75 days in advance of the hearing date (the other regions are required to provide 20 days' notice) and (2) Region I has a closure of the record provision by which, with certain exceptions, the hearing record closes five days prior to the hearing date. The exact hearing office varies. ODAR has 168 hearing and satellite hearing offices and 5 National Hearing Centers (video hearings only). With respect to the percentages provided above, we do not have data on the percentage of telephone hearings, or on when an ALJ issues a fully favorable hearing decision without holding an oral hearing. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 404.948(a) and 416.1448(a) ("If the evidence in the hearing record supports a finding in favor of you and all the parties on every issue, the administrative law judge may issue a hearing decision based on a preponderance of the evidence without holding an oral hearing").
ADJUDICATORS
Total # of Hearing Officers: 
1 486
Comments/Notes on Hearing-Level Adjudicators (Optional): 
The number of hearing officers (1,486) does not include senior attorneys. Hearing officer #2, Attorney adjudicator, includes GS-13 Senior Attorney Advisors, Supervisory Attorney Advisors, and GS-13 or above Regional Office attorneys.
ADR: General Information
Is ADR available at one or more points during the hearing process?: 
No
CASELOAD STATISTICS - Summary Statistics
Total # Cases Filed/Opened (FY2013): 
826 635
Total # Cases Decided/Closed (FY2013): 
793 580
Total # Cases Pending (End of FY2013): 
847 984
CASELOAD STATISTICS - Supplementary Statistics
Does your agency maintain annual caseload statistics for this hearing office by case type (e.g., discrimination complaint, licen: 
Yes
If "Yes," please indicate preferred format below.: 
By providing case type statistics on this form
WRAP-UP
Do you have any additional comments about your agency's responses on this form? If so, please provide comments below.: 
Regarding the representative sanctions data provided in the table "Hearing Level: Supplementary Caseload Statistics by Case Type" on page 14, "22" is the number of hearing officer designations made by OCALJ in representative sanction cases in Fiscal Year 2013. See generally HALLEX I-1-1-52 B.1., "Designating a Hearing Officer." Twenty-two representative sanctions cases were closed in FY 2013, but those numbers are not captured or included in the Case Processing and Management System, and are thus excluded from the total number of cases closed.
Are there distinctive or innovative features of the hearing-level adjudication program covered on this form that you wish to hig: 
SSA currently has one of the largest electronic processing and record keeping systems in the world. This electronic backbone has allowed us to handle more workload as the files are electronic, to conduct 800,000 hearings a year, of which over 150,000 are held by video, video hearings annually and to ensure nationwide consistency with uniform electronic business processes.
Setting aside budgetary or legislative constraints (if any), does your agency have a "wish list" of processes or procedures (e.g: 
We defer to the Office of Appellate Operations, the policy lead for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review, on this question.
Do you have any suggestions or comments about this federal administrative adjudication study?: 
No.
Verified by Agency: 
Verified