Georgia Disability Lawyer BlogSocial Security Administration Increases Administrative Law Judges
As of December 2012, the Social Security Administration had 1,566 administrative law judges on its roster. That is a few judges more than the initially stated goal of more than 1500 judges. In 2009, the Social Security Administration had a severe shortage of administrative law judges, with just 1000 judges.
The increased number of administrative law judges who are now available to hear Social Security disability hearings will definitely have an impact on the speed with which claims can be processed. The Social Security Administration is currently dealing with a major backlog of claims, and the average claim can take months to be processed. Increasing the number of judges is just one way in which some of that backlog pressure can be released.
However, it’s far too early to expect any improvement in the speeding up of claims processing. The Social Security Administration’s ability to retain the administrative law judges that it currently has might be hampered by federal budgetary restrictions.