Slow Pace of Social Security Cases Laid to Judges, Staffing
The slow pace of a few judges and an overwhelmed staff at Portland's Social Security hearing office are some of the main reasons why people seeking disability in the Portland area are experiencing some of the longest wait times in the country. It takes an average of 480 days to obtain a judge's ruling on a social security disability claim across the country but that number jumps to 650 in Portland. The Social Security Administration's judges are supposed to meet a minimum yearly goal of 500 cases cleared but only half of those judges usually meet those requirements. Three of nine judges in Portland hit that number in recent years.
Only 11 percent of the administration's judges across the country met their required goal by the end of the calendar year for 2008. This caused disability cases to drag out and people had to wait for their claim to be heard while they got sicker, faced more and more financial ruin, and even died while waiting for their claim to be heard. As of the end of 2008 there were 768,540 people waiting to plead their case for disability benefits. For any individual waiting to have their social security disability case heard, contact the law office of Kazmierczak Law for expert legal counsel today.