Pending Social Security Claims Hit the One Million Mark

When racing in triathlons, duathlons & road races, Herndon Social Security disability lawyer Doug Landau is constantly looking for ways to go faster. Likewise, the Federal Government is looking for ways to process disability cases more quickly, but the wait times have been increasing, while the Administrative Law Judges have been allowing fewer cases.
When racing in triathlons, duathlons & road races, Herndon Social Security disability lawyer Doug Landau is constantly looking for ways to go faster. Likewise, the Federal Government is looking for ways to process disability cases more quickly, but the wait times have been increasing, while the Administrative Law Judges have been allowing fewer cases.

With average processing times for Social Security claims hitting 511 days as of July, 2015, it is no surprise that the number of pending claims at the hearing level hit the one million mark in November of last year. In fact, the number of pending Social Security claims has continued to increase every month and hit 1,056,071 in July.

The National Caseload Analysis Report yields some troubling statistics. It is feasible that new records may be reached during fiscal year 2016 for how long it takes the average Social Security case to be processed.

Herndon Social Security disability lawyer Doug Landau notes several troubling trends in the figures from the Federal disability system:

The Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) who hear Social Security cases are issuing more denials than at any time over the last several years.

There is also a 29% decrease in the ALJ allowance rate over the 5 years from 2009 (63% allowed) to 2014 (45% allowed).

Even if a disabled claimant requests an appeal from an unfavorable ALJ opinion, the Appeals Council “fully favorable” and remand rates have also been decreasing.

After recent Congressional hearings, there has been an emphasis on “better quality” decisions. This, in turn, has lead to the ALJs taking more time to write their decisions.

There is also a cap on the number of cases that each Federal judge can rule upon each year. The Social Security Administration has capped each judge at 720 decisions per year (15 per week).

The Administration was hoping to hire 250 new judges this year and another 250 next year. However, only 105 new ALJs have been hired, and Social Security loses about 100-125 judges through retirement and attrition each year.

Lawyer Landau notes that if the Social Security Administration is losing judges faster than they can hire them, the situation with waiting times for hearings can only get worse.

If you or someone you know or care for is disabled and needs help with Social Security Disability and there are questions about what laws apply, e-mail or call us at ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. (703-796-9555) at once.