I filed for disability in Georgia. My lawyer was Blake Tiller, he became a state senator during my case. I was a truck driver, I passed out, automatically lost my CDL license for a year , so I filed short term Disability with my company. Me and my husband were contract driver for the DOD, RAM loads , and energy . We hauled anything the government needed., Mostly for Military. I passed out on 1/29/15, went to see neurologist, which I have been seeing, and told her I passed out 2 times. She started running test. Would not sign off for me to drive a Rig again. So I filed for SSID around 8/15. I had a court date with a judge around 11/ 17, really nice guy, and was very knowledgeable about my medications I took, and told me with me being on those medications, he couldn't see me ever driving again. He asked me a lot of questions about my past medical and present medical problems . As I said he sounded reasonably very knowledgeable. Well I never heard anything and it had be 4 to 6 months after my court date that I called the main office for SSID. She told me it should have already been decided upon. She said she'd call me back. She called me and said the Judge I had, was no longer a judge, I think it was due to a health issue, so the I was assigned to another judge. I finally heard from them and they said I would go before him I think it was March, 19. So I went before him and Mr Tillery was there . The judge never questioned me like the other judge , my lawyer answered a few questions , I was asked a few questions but was not allowed to really go in depth about anything. I was on even more medications. He never even asked me about them. I got the feeling that him and my lawyer were not on very good terms with each other???? Any way, he gave the judgement , not on my medical problems but my age, he said since I was gonna be the advanced age of 55 in April, then I was awarded disability on 4/8/19, then six month waiting period, would not receive an actual check until November 2019 , the second Wednesday of every month. And cannot get medical until 11/08/21. I worked all my life . I loved truck driving and seeing the US while driving. I'm not a lazy person. At the time I was just in shock with the judgement. And people told me just be happy I got it. Between 2/15 and 11/19 , I lost everything I had. I even got divorced . I had decent credit, but due to no income for 4 years, I lost it all!! I'm back in WV now for good. And so many people asked me why I didn't get back pay, I say " I don't know?? I feel my lawyer and judge didn't have a good relationship, but I don't know? I owe so many people , who helped me, thought I'd get a lump sum back pay, and I could pay them all back.. didn't happen. And I'm ashamed that I cannot pay them what I owe. Can I do anything , or is it just too late?? Thank you for reading this. Here is a list of some of my sicknesses
Neuropathy in my feet
Was being che ked for MS, lost insurance so never got to investigate further
Small fiber neuropathy, it's where my skin feels like its crawling with bugs, I have numbness and creepy crawly feelings
Bipolar
Fibromyalgia
Arthritis
Suppressed immune system
Low iron
Low B12
Low vitamin D
Hypothyroidism
IBS
Loss of hearing
My vision is blurry at times, sometimes for days
Dizzy spells
Off balance
Have a birth defect with kidneys, in 3 rd stage renal failure
Chronic renal disease
So as you see, I have many medical problems. I figure it's too late to do anything about it, but just wanted to be sure. Thank you again
Hi. I'm sorry to hear about all of the problems you're having. My answer assumes that you were approved for Social Security disability (SSDI) benefits at the hearings level of appeal based on the determination of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).
When you file a claim and you receive a determination, you normally only have 60 days to file an appeal. If you had filed a timely appeal of the partially favorable ALJ determination you received, the determination on your appeal would have gone to Social Security's Appeals Council (AC) for a possible review. Since you didn't file a timely appeal, though, you're probably stuck with the ALJ determination as written.
Here are your options. You could still file a request for an AC review of the ALJ determination in your case, but your request would be dismissed unless you could establish that you had good cause for not filing your request within the 60 day time limit. What is meant by 'good cause' is explained in the following section of Social Security's operations manual: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0203101020.
The other possibility would be to ask for a reopening of the ALJ determination in your case, but requests for reopening of an ALJ determination can only be approved by an ALJ or the AC. Reopening requests must be submitted in writing, and are only allowed if one of the following is involved:
1) New and material evidence is submitted (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0204010030); or
2) A clerical error was involved (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0204010010); or
3) There was error on the face of the evidence (https://secure.ssa.gov/apps10/poms.nsf/lnx/0204010020).
I don't want to discourage you from pursuing this further, but it's very difficult to be successful with either a late filed appeal or a reopening request. Ultimately, the only way you'd get back pay is if you can establish that the ALJ determination was incorrect in your case based on the facts and the law. I don't know everything that went into the ALJ's decision in your case, but there is a significance under the law to age 55 attainment. Prior to age 55, the only way you can qualify for SSDI benefits is if your impairments make you unable to do all types of work, not just your former vocation. But, when a person is age 55, their vocational history and educational can be factored in. So, if the ALJ who made the determination in your case established your date of disability onset as age 55, it's probably because he or she believed that your impairment did not reach the statutory requirements until then.
As far as not getting your first payment until November 2019, that would be correct if your established onset date was 4/8/2019. SSDI benefits aren't payable for the first 5 full calendar months after the date of disability onset. So, the 5 month waiting period in your case was apparently May through September 2019. That would make your first month of SSDI entitlement October 2019, and Social Security pays benefits a month behind so benefits for October are paid in November.
Best, Jerry
