I handle the Social Security disability practice at Zager Fuchs. I have been an attorney in Red Bank, New Jersey since 1976. In my more than 30 years of practice, I have assisted clients with a variety of legal problems. Social Security law and workers’ compensation are two of the areas in which my practice is concentrated. Other areas in which I practice include: civil trials, real estate, estate planning and administration, and business and corporate law.

I am a member of the Monmouth, New Jersey and American Bar Associations, as well as the New Jersey Association for Justice, an organization dedicated to preserving and strengthening laws that protect New Jersey’s families. I am listed in Who’s Who in American Law and have received the highest rating from Martindale-Hubbell, a national directory of attorneys whose ratings are by peer review.

I am active in SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) and volunteer my time and legal advice to the residents of Luftman Towers in Lincroft.

I am admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. I received my B.A. from The College of the Holy Cross in 1972 and my J.D. from Brooklyn Law School in 1975.

As a New Jersey disability attorney with many years of practice experience, I take great pride in providing each of my clients with personal attention. I will be with you at each step of the process.

Please contact me if I can help you with your Social Security disability claim.

For a free claim evaluation, please contact my office, fill out the form to your right, or visit my website at: http://www.thenjdisabilitylawyer.com.

E-mail 

Phone: 732-747-3700 

Fax: 732-747-2533

P.O. Box 489 

268 Broad Street 

Red Bank, New Jersey 07701

Are you “disabled” according to the Social Security Administration?

Many applicants for Social Security disability benefits in central New Jersey wonder why their initial applications were denied. This is especially true for applicants who are disabled according to the Veterans’ Administration or Workers Compensation. The answer is that the Social Security Administration’s definition of “disabled” is different from what you might expect and different from the definition used by other disability benefit programs.

Who decides whether you are disabled in New Jersey?

After you file your Social Security disability claim, a disability examiner and medical consultant at the New Jersey Disability Determination agency make the initial decision. If they deny your claim and you request reconsideration then your case is sent to a different disability examiner and medical consultant who reconsider it.

If your claim is denied again at the reconsideration stage then you may request a hearing. For the hearing, your case is sent to an Administrative Law Judge who works for the Social Security Administration. This Administrative Law Judge will hold a hearing and make an independent decision on your claim. The Administrative Law Judge is the only decision maker that you will get to see (and the only one who will see you rather than just look at records).

How does the Social Security Administration define “disabled”?

The Social Security Administration’s definition of “disability” is based on your ability to work.

Specifically, the Social Security Act defines the term “disability” as an inability “to engage in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable physical or mental impairment which can be expected to result in death or which has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than 12 months.”

This means that to qualify as “disabled” for purposes of Social Security disability, you have to satisfy the examiner or the Administrative Law Judge that:

• You have a severe physical or mental condition that has lasted or is expected to last for a year or result in death.
• You cannot do the work that you used to do because of your condition.
• You cannot adjust to other work because of your condition.

How does the Social Security Administration decide whether you are disabled?

Social Security regulations provide a five-step process for determining disability. These five steps are as follows:

1. You are not engaging in “substantial gainful activity.”
2. You have a “severe” impairment.
3. Your impairment meets or “equals” one of the impairments described in the Social Security regulations known as the “Listing of Impairments,” in which case you will be disabled; or
4. Considering your “residual functional capacity” (that is, what you can still do even with your impairments), you are unable to do “past relevant work.”
5. There is no other work within your “residual functional capacity” in the national economy in significant numbers.

Watch out for all of the terms identified by quotation marks. Those terms have precise meanings in the regulations and rulings that are not necessarily the meanings you would expect.

What is “other work”?

For the Social Security Administration, “other work” does not mean work in your local area or work that you want to do. Instead, for its definition of “other work” the Social Security Administration means that you cannot do “any other kind of substantial gainful work which exists in the national economy.”

Since there is some sort of job for almost everyone, it can be difficult to meet this requirement of an inability to do other work.

The examiner or the Administrative Law Judge uses charts or grids called the Medical-Vocational Guidelines to determine whether you can work depending on your “residual functional capacity.”

For more information on the Listings, past relevant work, residual functional capacity, and the Medical-Vocational Grids, see Theories for winning your Social Security disability hearing.