HEARING
BEFORE AN ADMINISTRATION LAW JUDGE
If your reconsideration appeal is denied, you are still able to appeal your claim and request a hearing in front of an Administrative Law Judge. While the hearing stage allows for the highest percentage of claims with favorable decisions, there is quite a backlog created for claims to be scheduled for a hearing for an ALJ judge. In recent years, the process took an average of 12-18 months. However, the Social Security Administration took steps to transfer cases to offices with lower volume and added more ALJ judges to assist in hearings. This has helped to facilitate a faster process at the hearing stage. Nowadays, it takes around 8-12 months now for an ALJ hearing to be scheduled.