On July 2, 1776, the Second Continental Congress (which was made up of delegates of the 13 original colonies) passed a resolution to become independent from the rule of King George III and Great Britain. Apparently feeling a need to explain why Congress voted for independence, Congress debated the contents of…
The hiring of Social Security administrative law judges has its origins with the passage of the Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”) on June 11, 1946. The APA was passed by Congress to allay Congressional, and public concern about the propagation of autonomous federal agencies created as part President Franklin D.…
The Social Security Administration has recently changed its rules about the weight it gives to other agencies who have made awards. Before September 2016, the Social Security Administration had regulations, 20 CFR 404.1512(b)(1)(v) and 416.912(b)(1)(v), and a Social Security Ruling, 06-03p, which dealt with the weight given to other agency…
The analysis of “past relevant work” in the context of a Social Security Disability case is important. The reason that this analysis is important is that at step 4 of the sequential evaluation process, a determination must be made about whether a claimant can perform his/her past job. There are…
Illustration © Robert Wilson Last week the Trump administration rolled out its first budget proposal. Included in the proposal were deep cuts to the Enviromental Protection Agency (31.4%); State Department (28.7%); Labor Department (20.7%); Agricultural Department (20.7%); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (16.3%) to name a few of the double…
(Illustration by © voinsveta) Remember back in the summer of 2014 when golf pro celebrities began a “the ice bucket challenge” by either pouring a bucket filled with ice water on their heads or paying $100 (or both) to raise awareness of amyotrophic sclerosis (ALS), sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s…
Photo by © Andrea Izzotti The U. S Supreme Court back in April 2016 approved three changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. These approved changes are effective December 1, 2016. The changes are to rule 4 (which deals with the time within which a summons needs to be…
©Michael Flippo Happy Thanksgiving 2016
© samrith It is not uncommon in Social Security disability cases that people claim, as part of their disability, intractable knee pain. Their pain becomes worse after sitting for short periods of time and after waling short distances. Standing is out of the question. But what happens if the treatment…
© Marek As of June 2016, there were about 10 million disabled people receiving monthly Social Security disability benefits. Stressing the importance of the national disability program, the Social Security Administration wrote in one of its publications that a 20 year old worker has a high chance (about 1 in 4)…