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BIRMINGHAM DISABILITY PROFILES

Birmingham is one of the busiest ODAR offices in the state of Alabama.  ODAR stands for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review.  It is a branch of the Social Security Administration that handles appeals of disability claims.


If you took a photographic snapshot of the Birmingham ODAR office, here is what you would see:
  • Average wait time to get a hearing - 15 months
  • Total number of cases pending - 11,841
  • Number of judges in this office - 16
  • Percentage of hearings done by teleconference - 41%
  • Average percent of cases that get approved - 57%
  • Average percent of cases that get denied - 35%
  • Percentage of cases that are dismissed (not heard) - 16%
As in all other ODAR offices, award rates vary from one judge to another within the same office.  

The judge who has the highest rate of awards approves 82 percent of cases.  The judge with the lowest rate of awards only approves 35 percent of cases.  That's a 47 point spread.  

No, you do not get to pick your judge.  In fact, you can't even find out which judge is going to hear your case until you show up for the hearing. And, in my  opinion, the judge you happen to get does make a difference.

Click here to be connected to the Forsythe Firm for disability information.


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