Can I Take a Break During Filing My SSA Appeal On Line?

Yes. If you need to take a break your answers will be saved for you.  But there are time limits.

Saving and Printing

• Your answers are saved automatically when you select "Next" to move to the next page.
• If you need to complete your appeal later, you can select "Sign Off (finish later)" after you receive your reentry number. When you return, you can continue where you left off.
• Before you submit the report, you will see a summary page. You can print the summary page for your records.
• If you want a copy of all of your answers on each page, you will need to print or save each page.

Time Limits

There are time limits for each page. You will receive a warning after 25 minutes. You can extend your time on the page by selecting "OK." After the third warning on a page, you must leave the page or your time will run out, and your work on that page will be lost.

If you have turned JavaScript off in your browser, you will not receive these warnings and, after 30 minutes on a page, your disability report session will end and your work on the last page will be lost. To avoid this, you must go to another page of the disability report within 30 minutes.

What Do I Need to File My SSA Appeal Online?

General Information:

• Your name, Social Security number, address, and phone number.
• Your Notice of Decision.
• If you have a representative, your representative's name, address, and phone number.
• Name, address, and phone number of a friend or relative who knows about your medical condition.

Medical Information since you last filed a disability claim or appeal:

• Description of any changes and new medical conditions.
• Name, address, phone number, type of treatment, and visit dates for all doctors, hospitals, and clinics.
• Names of medicine (over-the-counter and prescription) you are currently taking, who prescribed them, and any side effects.
• Name, location, and date of all medical tests you have had and who sent you for them.

What Benefits Are Available Under the EEOICPA?

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program (EEOICP) began on July 31, 2001 with the Department of Labor’s implementation of Part B; Part E implementation began on October 28, 2004. The mission of the program is to provide lump-sum compensation and health benefits to eligible Department of Energy nuclear weapons workers (including employees, former employees, contractors and subcontractors) and lump-sum compensation to certain survivors if the worker is deceased. 

The EEOICPA includes two separate benefit programs: Part B and Part E. Part B of the EEOICPA provides eligible employees or survivors with lump-sum compensation up to $150,000, and pays medical expenses for accepted conditions. 

Part B also provides for payment of medical benefits and a smaller lump-sum amount of $50,000 to individuals who were determined to be eligible for compensation under Section 5 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA).  

Part E provides eligible employees or survivors with compensation payments up to a maximum amount of $250,000, plus medical expenses for accepted conditions. The amount of benefits paid up to the $250,000 is based on the level of impairment and/or years of qualifying wage loss related to the covered illness.

Does Consultant the SSA Hired on My Claim Need to Sign His Report?

Yes he or she does.  If they do not, it is an "unacceptable" report and should be rejected.

All SSA Consultant reports must be personally reviewed and signed by the medical source who actually performed the examination. The medical source doing the examination or testing is solely responsible for the report contents and for the conclusions, explanations or comments provided. The source's signature on a report annotated "not proofed" or "dictated but not read" is not acceptable. A rubber stamp signature or signature entered by another person, such as a nurse or secretary, is not acceptable.

Will SSA Provide an Interpreter for Me During My Disability Claim Process?

Yes they will, if you ask.

The SSA will provide an interpreter free of charge, to any individual requesting language assistance, or when it is evident that such assistance is necessary to ensure that the individual is not disadvantaged. 

Individuals have the option of using their own interpreter, such as a family member, friend, or third party, providing the interpreter meets the Agency’s criteria for interpreters.  A qualified interpreter is an individual or vendor who is able to read, write, and speak fluently in English and the language or dialect of the individual needing language assistance, and who meets the following criteria:

• Provides an accurate interpretation of questions and responses by both the individual being interviewed and the CE provider; i.e., does not self-initiate follow-up questions or infer facts or dates not provided by the individual or the CE provider;
• Demonstrates familiarity with basic terminology used in the disability determination process, including medical and social welfare terminology when necessary;
• Agrees to comply with Social Security's disclosure and confidentiality of information requirements; and
• Has no personal stake in the outcome of the case that would create a conflict of interest. An individual who is a potential or actual claimant or beneficiary on the same record as the individual needing language assistance can act as an interpreter, providing that there is no other conflict of interest.

IF I MISS OWCP'S MEDICAL EXAM, WHAT HAPPENS?

Bad news.  Your OWCP compensation benefits will be suspended until you agree to and attend a rescheduled examination by OWCP.

And the quicker you tell OWCP you will attend a rescheduled exam the better.  OWCP will only restart compensation once you attend the next exam and will pay you backpay compensation only back to the date you agreed to attend the exam.

Thus each day you wait to tell OWCP that you missed their medical exam is another day of lost compensation.

20 CFR 10.323 provides:

"If the employee does not report for an OWCP-directed examination or in any way obstructs this examination, he or she may provide an explanation to OWCP within 14 days. If this explanation does not establish good cause for the employee's actions, entitlement to compensation will be suspended in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 8123(d). Should the employee subsequently agree to attend the examination or cease the obstruction (as expressed in writing or by telephone documented on Form CA-110), OWCP will restore any periodic benefits to which the employee is entitled when the employee actually reports for and cooperates with the examination. Payment is retroactive to the date the employee agreed to attend or cease obstruction of the examination."

THE USDOL OVERPAID ME; I SPENT THE MONEY, WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

The USDOL wants me to repay them workers' compensation they mistakenly paid me.  I don't have it.  Can they come after me?

Maybe, maybe not.

20 CFR 10.437 provides that you can plead hardship to get out of the overpayment under the following conditions:

(a) Recovery of an overpayment is considered to be against equity and good conscience when any individual who received an overpayment would experience severe financial hardship in attempting to repay the debt.
(b) Recovery of an overpayment is also considered to be against equity and good conscience when any individual, in reliance on such payments or on notice that such payments would be made, gives up a valuable right or changes his or her position for the worse. In making such a decision, OWCP does not consider the individual's current ability to repay the overpayment.
(1) To establish that a valuable right has been relinquished, it must be shown that the right was in fact valuable, that it cannot be regained, and that the action was based chiefly or solely in reliance on the payments or on the notice of payment. Donations to charitable causes or gratuitous transfers of funds to other individuals are not considered relinquishments of valuable rights.
(2) To establish that an individual's position has changed for the worse, it must be shown that the decision made would not otherwise have been made but for the receipt of benefits, and that this decision resulted in a loss.

The USDOL Admits They Were Wrong, But I Am The One Who Pays???

Yes you may have to pay the government money even though they admit they were the one at fault.

If the USDOL Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) paid you compensation but later admits they were wrong and they were at fault for that payment, you may have to pay that money back.


20 CFR 10.435 provides that

(a) The fact that OWCP may have erred in making the overpayment, or that the overpayment may have resulted from an error by another Government agency, does not by itself relieve the individual who received the overpayment from liability for repayment if the individual also was at fault in accepting the overpayment.

(b) However, OWCP may find that the individual was not at fault if failure to report an event affecting compensation benefits, or acceptance of an incorrect payment, occurred because:

(1) The individual relied on misinformation given in writing by OWCP (or by another Government agency which he or she had reason to believe was connected with the administration of benefits) as to the interpretation of a pertinent provision of the FECA or its regulations; or

(2) OWCP erred in calculating cost-of-living increases, schedule award length and/or percentage of impairment, or loss of wage-earning capacity.

WHY DIDN'T SSA PAY ME DISABILITY FOR 5 MONTHS?

When you are awarded SSA disability benefits, there is a 5 month waiting period before you can collect Social Security Disability benefits.  

 

The SSA will only pay you after you have been disabled continuously for a period of five full calendar months or more.

The five month waiting period begins on onset date of disability.  You can receive back pay for all the months you were disabled minus the five month wait period. 

 

So if you became disabled in January 2011 and you filed in February 2011 but your claim was not approved until November 2012, your benefits would not start until May 2011. If your claim begins in the middle of the month, your five month wait is actually 5½ months because the wait time is five full calendar months. 

Social Security Announces New Mobile Site for Smartphone Users

Carolyn W. Colvin, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the agency is offering a new mobile optimized website, specifically aimed at smartphone users across the country.

People visiting the agency’s website, www.socialsecurity.gov, via smartphone (Android, Blackberry, iPhone, and Windows devices) will be redirected to the agency’s new mobile-friendly site. Once there, visitors can access a mobile version of Social Security’s Frequently Asked Questions, an interactive Social Security number (SSN) decision tree to help people identify documents needed for a new/replacement SSN card, and mobile publications which they can listen to in both English and Spanish right on their phone.

“We are committed to meeting the changing needs of the American people and the launch of our new mobile site helps reinforce our online presence and adaptability to advances in technology,” Acting Commissioner Colvin said.  “I encourage all smartphone users looking for Social Security information to take advantage of our new mobile site.”

In addition, visitors to the new mobile site can learn how to create a personal my Social Security account to get an online Social Security Statement, learn more about Social Security’s award-winning online services, and connect with Social Security on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Pinterest. For people unable to complete their Social Security business online or over the telephone, the agency also unveiled a new mobile field office locator. The new mobile office locator has the capability to provide turn-by-turn directions to the nearest Social Security office based on information entered by the person.

“With significant budget cuts of nearly a billion dollars each year over the last few years, we must continue to leverage technology and find more innovative ways to meet the evolving needs of the American public without compromising service,” said Acting Commissioner Colvin.

Each year, more than 35 million Social Security web page views come via smartphones.
For more information, please go to www.socialsecurity.gov.