Ignoring Unreasonable Requests

I represent a former office technician whose Social Security Disability (“SSD”) application was approved today without a hearing, and without submitting an “OTR”.  The local office in Freeport had insisted that the claimant submit her original birth certificate, even though that requirement has not been in force since Social Security started accepting applications over the internet. I did not submit the birth certificate because the local offices had a penchant for losing them in the past, and Freeport denied the application two months after it was filed. 

The initial decision stated that SSD benefits were denied because the evidence supposedly did not show that the claimant was disabled. However, that was boilerplate language that is in every initial denial, and the application was denied, after only two months, because I did not submit the birth certificate. 

The application was approved on March 8, 2013, only about six weeks after I requested a hearing. In other words, the application was approved based upon the same information that had been reviewed previously, confirming that the refusal to submit the birth certificate was not a legitimate basis for denying the claim.