Official Notice On Telephone Hearings Through August

     I received this e-mail message from Social Security today:

SSA Attorneys and Representatives:

We would like to inform you that we are scheduling telephonic hearings only through the month of August due to COVID-19 related concerns.  Furthermore, our schedulers will now need confirmation first if a claimant (or their representative acting on his/her behalf) voluntarily accepts a telephone hearing before scheduling and releasing any notice of hearing for the months of July and August. 

For this reason, we highly recommend that representatives check their ERE status report for any cases currently scheduled in July, as well as cases in “ready to schedule” status, and begin confirming as soon as possible with your claimants whether they voluntarily accept a telephonic hearing.  Please know that our schedulers are currently contacting your offices primarily by telephonein order to confirm whether the claimant voluntarily accepts a telephonic hearing and to schedule the cases for hearing. Therefore, knowing this information beforehand will assist with a more expeditious and efficient scheduling experience when we contact your office. At the bottom of this email are ERE status report instructions for any firms that are new on our mailing list.  We also have a representative ERE/ARS guide that we can furnish upon request. 

Likewise, our schedulers will also need confirmation if your claimant decides instead they decline a telephonic hearing so that we may proceed with postponing their case if it was previously scheduled for July, and/or refrain from scheduling their case for August, or until in-person hearings resume.

In the alternative, we are also accepting “blanket” declinations or acceptances from SSA attorneys and representatives, should this be an option you voluntarily wish to consider. 

We are also working on alternative ways of communicating and submitting information for these purposes.  As we receive additional scheduling updates that affect Georgia and North Carolina offices, we will forward them to the representative community. 

Pease (sic) note that our unit was under a “freeze” from all scheduling activities until recently.  Accordingly, we are still working on updating and responding to emails previously sent to our representative box.  Furthermore, please be advised that our unit is only handling confirming telephonic hearings for cases previously scheduled in July and/or “ready to schedule” cases that we can potentially schedule for the August docket.   All matters for cases scheduled from April through June are being handled by the local hearing office at this time. ...