If you are awaiting a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge in Wisconsin you may have noticed that the hearing has been scheduled before a judge in California. In my practice in northeastern Wisconsin, most of my cases would ordinarily be heard by judges from the Milwaukee Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR). However, since March 2008 the Social Security Administration has shifted responsibility for cases normally heard by Milwaukee judges at the Green Bay and Oskhosh hearing offices to other ODAR branches. For instance, cases heard at the Green Bay hearing office are being sent to the Oakland, CA ODAR. Cases from the Oshkosh hearing office are now sent to the Santa Barbara and Pasadena ODAR offices. I have also recently had a case sent to the Manchester, NH ODAR. In Green Bay, the practice has been for the Oakland judges to travel to Wisconsin to sit for the cases. My experience in Oshkosh has been that the hearings are by video teleconference (VTC).
If the case is on remand from the Appeals Council, however, the case is remaining with the Milwaukee ODAR.
This shuffling of cases to other ODAR office happens all over the country from time to time as the SSA attempts to relieve the burden of a high volume of cases in certain ODAR branches. I recently had a case at the Eau Claire hearing office, which is within the area of the Minneapolis ODAR. That case was heard by a judge from Los Angeles.
November 18, 2008 at 11:01 am
Great article! Good luck on the new blog.