The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a non-profit independent data gathering, research and distribution organization at Syracuse University released a startling analysis of the disparities in decisions between Social Security disability judges, known as ALJs.
The court-by-court analysis of nearly two million Social Security disability benefit claims documents extensive disparities in the way that ALJs decide whether individuals will be granted or denied disability benefits. The study can be viewed at http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/ssa/254/.
Within the study is a special interactive table that allows the public to view the degree of disparity among individual judges in a Social Security hearing office as well as disparity measures for each office as a whole. http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/ssa/254/include/judges.html
Bottom line: The analysis suggests that in many SSA hearing offices today, whether a disability claim is granted or denied may be determined more by the particular judge assigned to handle it than by the facts presented in the case.
SSA immediately responded to the study. Their remarks, as well as TRAC’s responses, can be viewed at http://trac.syr.edu/tracreports/ssa/254/response.html