The majority of applicants who apply for Social Security disability benefits and who continue to appeal decisions by the agency to deny claims will eventually end up at a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).
Most everyone knows what a judge is and what their functions are, but typically when we think of a judge we think of a courtroom and the judge ruling over either a criminal or civil proceeding. An ALJ’s function is a bit different.
The ALJ was created by the Administrative Procedure Act in 1946 to serve as an impartial administrator of facts and to preside over hearings held throughout different government agencies, of which, Social Security is one of.
An ALJ must be licensed to practice law in the United States and must have at least seven years of experience in litigation or administrative law at the federal, state or local level. There are a lot of different types of agencies and cases that ALJs preside over. These include federal laws and regulations related to advertising, antitrust, communications, energy, environmental protection, food and drugs, health and safety, immigration, interstate commerce, international trade, labor management relations, securities and commodities, transportation and of course, Social Security disability.
Specifically as it relates to Social Security disability, the ALJ will make a decision at a hearing of whether or not an applicant has met the rules related to disability and whether that applicant should be entitled to Social Security disability benefits.
There are well more than 1,000 ALJs assigned to different federal agencies and each agency is in charge of hiring its own ALJs.
In addition to meeting the standard qualification of being a licensed attorney with seven years experience, ALJ applicants must also have to pass an examination to be considered for ALJ openings. To learn more about how ALJs are chosen click here.
