Conflict Creates Distraction at a Backlogged Oregon Disability Hearing Office

It’s serious business to get disability benefits.  And it takes a long time for a claimant to reach the hearing level of a disability appeal – and a decision on their case.  Apparently an administrative law judge (ALJ) and a disability lawyer, who both work at the Portland, Oregon Office of Adjudication and Review (ODAR) hearing office, lost respect for each other’s roles in that process.

The Story

According to a Portland News story, the ALJ and the disability lawyer, two key proponents within the Social Security system, break out in a brawl – with each other – over an elevator ride.

The lawyer, after leaving a hearing with his client, moves to enter through the open door of an elevator. The judge is alone in the elevator when the lawyer approaches.  Seeing each other, they both snap. Neither man wants to ride down with the other. “They argue over who gets to ride down, then scuffle. Police arrest the attorney, who slaps a restraining order on the judge.”

The two have had a three-year-history of accusations, taunts and complaints between them.

After the elevator fight, some of the disability lawyers at the hearing office “snickered into their sleeves” but one of them said “‘making a circus’ of an institution designed to assist the disabled is a distraction from serious public service work.”  And, other Oregon claimant representatives have viewed the incident “ with amusement tempered by disgust.” The story reads “like a lame lawyer joke” but it isn’t funny.

And isn’t that the point?

Counting the Days

Right now, there are over 700,000 claimants backlogged at the hearing level of the appeals process waiting to get scheduled for a hearing. How long is the wait? Just look at Social Security’s National Ranking Report that lists all 144 ODAR hearing offices in the country. The wait depends on where a claimant lives. For example, the approximate wait for a Social Security disability hearing in Texas takes about 355 days; in California, it’s 425 days; in Florida it’s 475 days.

In Oregon, there are only two hearing offices; one in Eugene, the other in Portland. The Portland office is one of the slower ones. It averages a wait time of 515 days, which is more than two months longer than the national average of 441 days. (Eugene’s average is 446 days.) And this is where the judge and the lawyer apparently can’t get along.

Get Priorities Straight

The top priority is for all disability representatives to provide quality representation that leads to fair decisions by attentive administrative law judges. Let’s hope they can resolve their differences in the interest of people who need their help.

Your Story

This incident has made us wonder if others have experienced similar conflicts during their disability cases. If you have a story to tell, and you would like to share it with our readers, use the “Comments” section below.

Or, e-mail your story to me at suzanna.laker@freedomdisability.com.  You may get published in our “Stories from the Field” section.