If your claim for Social Security Disability benefits (SSD) is denied, you may proceed to an administrative hearing. An Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) will listen to your appeal and then rule on your claim. The ALJ may ask the Vocational Expert (VE) a series of hypothetical questions at the hearing and your disability claim may depend on the answers to those questions.
THE ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING
The purpose of the administrative hearing is to allow the ALJ to take a “fresh look” at the medical evidence supporting your disability claim and to hear testimony about your condition(s) to determine if you are eligible for disability benefits.
The ALJ will review the medical records in your file and ask you questions about your treatments, work history, limitations, and disability application. Near the end of your hearing, a Vocational Expert (“VE”) will testify. The VE is an expert on employment duties. The VE knows what jobs exist in the market, where those jobs are, and how an employer would accommodate persons with various physical or mental disabilities for each job. The VE’s testimony helps the ALJ determine whether you could return to your most recent job, and if not, whether there is any other work you could do.
HYPOTHETICAL QUESTIONS REFLECT ON YOUR DISABILITY CLAIM
The VE is not a “perception” witness. In other words, the VE is not at your hearing to testify about anything that they “saw” or “heard”. As an expert in employment duties, the VE will first testify with their opinion about how specific limitations would impact the performance of your “past relevant work”.
If the VE says that because of disability limitations on a hypothetical work situation with a hypothetical individual, they believe the individual could not return to the past relevant work on a full-time, continuing basis, 8 hours per day, 5 days per week, then the next thing the ALJ has to decide is whether there is any “other work” that a hypothetical individual could do given the same age, experience, local economy, and your medical limitations.
To figure out whether there is any “other work” you could do, the ALJ will ask the VE hypothetical questions. A hypothetical question is one that elicits expert analysis from the VE by having him apply his knowledge to a certain set of facts. Typically, the ALJ will begin by describing a hypothetical person who has some, but not all, of the same limitations you have, based on the information provided in your disability claim. The ALJ will then pose one or two more hypotheticals in which the hypothetical person has additional limitations — getting closer and closer to your actual situation. The VE must answer whether there are any potential jobs that each hypothetical person could do.
Because the ALJ will rely on the VE’s answers to the hypothetical questions when deciding whether to award you SSD benefits, it is important that you have experienced counsel represent you at the hearing. Experienced disability counsel can present information in a way to ensure the VE’s opinion is professionally sound and based on accurate hypothetical information. Your legal representation can also ask the VE their questions if the questions from the ALJ do not accurately reflect the limitations and restrictions of your disability.
EXCELLENT REPRESENTATION FOR YOUR DISABILITY CLAIM
Your best chance for a successful outcome at your hearing is to have experienced and knowledgeable legal representation. The legal team of Parmele Disability only handles disability cases. That experience, along with favorable outcomes for over 55,000 clients has led us to be one of the leading disability organizations in the nation.
Contact us today to schedule your no-cost consultation. Together we will review your situation and determine your next best steps. You can also visit us online at parmeledisability.com for more information.
Parmele Disability Advocates. Disability advocacy for all.
