If you have been denied Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) at the application level, reconsideration appeal level, and judicial hearing, then your next course of action is to request an Appeals Council review. You will have 60 days after receiving your hearing decision to request an Appeal Council review. The Appeals Council is physically located in Falls Church, Virginia with a satellite office at SSA Headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland. The Appeals Council reviews over 100,000 hearing decisions every year.
When you request that the Appeals Council review your hearing decision, they will look at your request and do one of 3 things:
- Deny your request (if the Council believes that your hearing decision was correct)
- Overturn the judge’s decision
- Remand your case back to a judge for further review
Most decisions from an Administrative Law Judge that are brought before the Appeals Council are denied. Very rarely will the Appeals Council overturn the judge’s decision. It is possible that your case might get remanded. A remand is when your claim is sent back for a second hearing, on the grounds that the Administrative Law Judge made a technical error, failed to consider medical evidence, or reached an improper conclusion.
If you disagree with the Appeals Council’s decision you would then have to go to the last level of the appeals process which would be to file a civil suit in a federal district court.
If you are disabled and out of work or have been denied disability benefits or if you have questions about the appeals process, contact the Disability Help Group of Arizona by phone at (888) 939 4692 or via the web https://disabilityhelpgroup.org we would be honored to answer your questions or represent your case.