Social Security Disability Quotas

By Byron Warnken, on May 2, 2013

InjuryLawyerDatabase.com does not keep statistics on social security disability decisions.  SSDI cases involve an entirely different database, operated at the federal level with the Social Security Administration.  There is a database of SSA administrative law judges.  It includes how many cases they have and how many times they rule for a claimant and against a claimant.

Some quick math from the Social Security judges database shows there were 312,488 decisions by all ALJ’s in the current fiscal year.  Claimants were successful, meaning they received benefits, 56.49% of the time.  Slightly less, only 50.56%, of decisions are fully favorable.  Many judges only favor the applicant 10% or less.  Over 100 judges favor the applicant 80% of the time or more.  Most, of course, are clustered in the middle near the average.  Craig DeBarnardis out of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania (a Philly suburb) finds for the applicant more than 95% of the time.  The most favorable judge for applicants in Maryland appears to be Kathleen Scully-Hayes.  The least favorable is ALJ Clark at 27.6%.

It turns out, as reported by the Baltimore Sun, that the Administrative Law Judges (ALJ’s) are suing the Administration.  Apparently, there are quotas imposed by the SSA on the numbers of cases ALJ’s must handle.  The article states that 1400 judges are suing.  Though the judges database lists over 1700 judges, some are listed multiple times based on multiple hearing locations.

Judges are expected to decide 700 cases per year according to the article.  That is nearly 3 per business day.  Each individual case is similar to a personal injury lawsuit.  Each case has potentially hundreds of pages of medical records.

What would really be interesting to know … are there quotas about the number of cases that must be decided each way?  That would almost certainly be unlawful.  It’s unlikely.

The Sun article states that the agency has gone from 300,000 judges in 1990 to more than 850,000 today.  It makes you wonder what has caused the increase.  Some experienced personal injury lawyers in Maryland also handle social security disability claims.  For assistance finding a lawyer for your case, browse the listings or contact us.  We’re happy to help.