Social Security disability hearings in Sacramento, Redding and Yuba City California

Social Security disability hearings, both in Sacramento California and nationally, offer you and your attorney the best opportunity to prove your disability.

Why is that? State agency decision-makers who review applications and Requests for Reconsideration usually only have the file to review and rarely look beyond medical findings to consider your actual ability to work.

Administrative law judges conducting hearings, on the other hand, look at the entire case. The judge at your hearing will see you, hear your testimony about what you can and cannot do, and listen to witness testimony about your activities before and after your impairment.

For an example of the different results these two approaches bring, a study of the differences in state agency and administrative law judges showed that a state agency found 11% of claimants with back impairments disabled while judges found 75% disabled.

This is stark evidence of why it is so important to appeal denials all the way to the hearing level.

More facts about Social Security disability hearings

  • No “other side.” No lawyer represents the Social Security Administration. The administrative law judge is a neutral fact finder.
  • Varied standards of proof. Some judges are generous and frequently find claimants disabled. Others are harder to convince than others. Drawing a skeptical judge need not reduce your odds of success, but your attorney will need to present more proof to a judge who scrutinizes cases carefully.
  • Hearings are private. The people present will be the administrative law judge, the judge’s assistant (usually a part-time outside contractor) who runs the recording equipment, you, your attorney, and any witnesses. Many judges allow witnesses to remain in the hearing room during the claimant’s testimony.
  • Order of testimony. After witnesses are sworn, you will usually be questioned first. The judge may ask you a lot of questions and then turn the questioning over to your attorney, or the judge may expect your attorney to develop your testimony.
  • Medical experts testify in about 20% of hearings, with mental impairments being the most common type of case in which they appear. Their opinions are based upon the medical records and testimony presented at the hearing, not from treating a claimant. Medical experts may be called when a case has:
    • a complicated medical issue
    • a question of meeting or equaling the Listings
    • a mental impairment and the judge feels he needs a medical expert’s help in completing the required psychiatric review technique form
    • a question of residual functional capacity
    • an onset date which must be “inferred” from the medical evidence, or
    • a question of failure to follow prescribed treatment
  • Vocational experts testify in about 60% of hearings. The experience, knowledge, ability, understanding of the vocational expert role, and the prejudices of individual vocational experts vary widely.
  • If you are under age 50, the job of the vocational expert is to determine how many jobs you are capable of doing based on your residual functional capacity. If you are capable of performing a “significant number” of jobs, you will be found not disabled.
  • The presence of a vocational expert at your hearing usually means that your attorney’s job will be harder, for the primary purpose of vocational expert testimony is to meet the Social Security Administration’s burden of proof in denying benefits.
  • The judge has usually concluded, when a vocational expert is present, that you cannot do past work, at least as you actually performed it, and that the case is not one in which benefits can be granted or denied using the Medical-Vocational Guidelines alone. Thus, there are possibilities for winning the case, possibilities that depend on what the vocational expert says, how well your attorney cross-examines the vocational expert, and whether the judge draws proper conclusions from the vocational expert’s testimony.

Dealing with Social Security vocational experts in Sacramento

We have experience with vocational experts, and with other challenging situations that arise in pursuing a Social Security disability claim

If you would like our assistance with your claim, please write or call us using the contact information below, or complete and submit the Free Claim Evaluation form to your right.

Smolich & Smolich
Sacramento California Social Security disability attorneys

E-mail us
Phone: 916-443-2988
Fax: 916-443-2675

3200 “J” Street
Sacramento, California 95816