The SSA recently announced that they have decided to payoff about 7,000 employees. This will bring their total employee numbers from 57,000 to about 50,000. It’s important to remember that these employees review over 2 million disability applications per year. This reduction in numbers can actually make it a little harder to get approved.
There is a time-crunch associated with reviewing each and every application”, said Maria, a disability attorney in Palm Bay, FL. “There are now less people to review the same number of applications. This can make your chances of being declined greater if your application lacks supporting evidence.”
Earlier this month the SSA announced the layoffs by publishing this statement: “The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services. Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees.”
Disability law, just like other fields of law, has attorneys who specialize in it. These attorneys can be hired to file an application, file an appeal, or represent you in a disability hearing. When hiring an attorney, you basically double your chances of getting approved every step of the way. On initial application, approvals jump to roughly 50% from 25% when services on an attorney are utilized.
The same goes for appeals. Your odds of being approved at this stage also jump from roughly 25% to 50%. You also can months and even years of your personal time. Remember, what they say: “time is money”. With an attorney you can have the entire case filed, approved and start receiving payments within one year. If you struggle along the way with declined applications, you can easily add another year or more to the process.