Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield Disability Lawyers for Social Security SSDI and SSI Claims in Kern County
A Bakersfield disability hearing is generally handled by the San Francisco hearing office, not Fresno or Los Angeles. Social Security's office locator assigns Bakersfield ZIP codes to two field offices, Bakersfield at 5300 Office Park Drive and Bakersfield-East Hills at 2575 Haley Street, and both are on the San Francisco hearing office's list, along with the Delano field office that serves the northern part of Kern County.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Bakersfield, across Kern County and throughout California in Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims. We take a claim from the application through reconsideration, the hearing and Appeals Council review, working by phone or video from our office in Lebanon, Tennessee, with no fee unless you win.
How we help
What Our Disability Attorneys Handle for Bakersfield Clients
VA claims and VA appeals are outside our practice, though we take SSDI cases for people who receive VA benefits.
SSDI pays on a record of work covered by Social Security, while SSI is a needs-based program with limits on income and countable resources. For adults, the two programs share one definition of disability, and the appeal steps and deadlines are federal rules that apply the same way in Kern County as anywhere in the country. Our California disability lawyer page lists the state's other hearing offices.
We have no office in Bakersfield; consultations take place by phone or video, and our attorneys handle hearings from Tennessee by phone or video. We represent adults age 18 and older. VA claims and VA appeals are outside our practice, though we take SSDI cases for people who receive VA benefits. We also do not take continuing disability review or cessation cases, or cases about back pay alone, and we refer federal court appeals to affiliated counsel.
Hearing office
Why Most Kern County Hearings Are Handled in San Francisco, and the Desert Exception
The data behind Social Security's hearing office locator puts the San Francisco hearing office at Equity Building, 16th Floor, 301 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, and its list includes three Kern County field offices: Bakersfield, Bakersfield-East Hills and Delano. The Fresno hearing office's list covers Fresno, Hanford, Madera, Merced, Porterville, Southeast Fresno, Visalia and West Fresno and includes no Kern County office. Our San Francisco disability lawyer page covers the rest of that office's list, and our Fresno disability lawyer page covers Fresno's.
The exception is the desert side of the county. The locator assigns Ridgecrest (93555), California City (93505), Mojave (93501), Boron (93516), Inyokern (93527), Rosamond (93560) and Edwards (93523) to the Lancaster field office at Ste A, 42225 10th St W, and Lancaster is on the Los Angeles (West) hearing office's list, which our Los Angeles disability lawyer page covers.
Social Security's operations manual says hearing office jurisdiction is determined by the claimant's residence address, though you can ask, in a signed statement giving your reasons, to have a case transferred, and Social Security decides whether to do it. Social Security's hearings manual also lets it reassign some cases to another hearing office to relieve a temporary workload imbalance or increase productivity, only when the other office can hear and decide them more quickly. Social Security generally does not reassign a case this way when you have properly objected in writing to both a phone hearing and an agency video hearing, have not agreed to online video, and have not changed your residence. After a move, it generally still honors that objection when deciding whether to reassign the case for workload reasons, if doing so causes no added delay and nothing else calls for scheduling you another way. That practice is separate from the hearing-format rule, under which Social Security decides how you appear after a move. When Social Security moves a case to another hearing office for workload or productivity reasons, the office that receives it notifies you and your representative. Our hearing office directory lists every office with its field offices. For an in-person or agency video hearing, the Notice of Hearing names the place, so go by that notice for your own case.
Field offices and zip codes
Which Kern County Field Office Takes Your ZIP Code
These assignments come from Social Security's office locator. It works by ZIP code rather than by city limits, so the town names in parentheses are only a guide, and the list below is a sample. The locator can change, so search your own ZIP code to confirm.
Bakersfield, 5300 Office Park Drive: 93301, 93304, 93308, 93309, 93311, 93312, 93313 and 93314 (central, southwest and northwest Bakersfield, Oildale); 93263 (Shafter); 93268 (Taft); 93206 (Buttonwillow); 93224 (Fellows); and 93251 (McKittrick).
Bakersfield-East Hills, 2575 Haley Street: 93305, 93306 and 93307 (east and southeast Bakersfield); 93203 (Arvin); 93241 (Lamont); 93240 (Lake Isabella); 93561 (Tehachapi); and 93518 (Caliente).
Delano, Bldg C, 2234 Girard Street: 93215 and 93216 (Delano); 93250 (McFarland); 93280 (Wasco); and 93249 (Lost Hills).
Tehachapi (93561) is assigned to Bakersfield-East Hills, which is on the San Francisco hearing office's list, so a Tehachapi case generally goes to the San Francisco hearing office. In Kern County, the locator assigns the desert ZIP codes east of Tehachapi, including Mojave, Rosamond, California City and Ridgecrest, to the Lancaster field office.
County assistance and SSI
Kern County General Assistance and Its Disability Advocate Program
The Kern County Department of Human Services runs a General Assistance program for county residents with no other means of support. Its page says single adults and couples without minor children may be eligible, that the program gives minimal help with rent, utilities, transportation and personal needs, and that the department has a Disability Advocate program to assist General Assistance applicants with the SSI process. Applications are taken weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., in person at a department office, by phone at (661) 631-6000, by mail to P.O. Box 511, Bakersfield, CA 93302, or by fax at (661) 631-6573.
General Assistance and SSI are decided separately, by the county and by Social Security. California's interim assistance reimbursement rules let a county that has an interim assistance contract with the state recover cash aid it paid while an SSI application was pending, out of the SSI back payment, but only after the SSI application is granted and only with an SSP 14 authorization signed by both you and the county on file. Ask the department whether that applies to your General Assistance case.
Local treatment records
Records From Adventist Health and the Bakersfield VA Location
You still have to tell it about or submit all evidence you know of, so keep a list of every provider.
Once you give permission, Social Security says it will make every reasonable effort to help you get records from your own medical sources, which 20 CFR 404.1512(b)(1) (416.912(b)(1) for SSI) defines as an initial request to each source and, if the records have not arrived, one follow-up request 10 to 20 calendar days later. You still have to tell it about or submit all evidence you know of, so keep a list of every provider. Copies you order yourself can fill gaps if a source does not answer.
Adventist Health (Bakersfield, Delano and Tehachapi Valley): Adventist Health's Central California medical records page offers MyChart (it says not every record is available there), an online patient request, or a paper authorization form sent by email to MedRecords@ah.org, by fax or by mail, and asks you to call ahead before visiting. It lists Adventist Health Bakersfield's records office at 2801 Chester Avenue, phone 661-869-6120, Delano at 661-642-6245 and Tehachapi Valley at (661) 771-8860. The page says requests are typically fulfilled within 14 business days, with no fee for records sent directly to a medical provider and possible fees for records sent to you or to someone who is not a medical provider.
VA Greater Los Angeles (Bakersfield location): the VA's medical records office page lists a Release of Information kiosk at 1801 Westwind Drive, Bakersfield, weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It says the records department there is closed to walk-ins, so requests go through the kiosk or My HealtheVet, or by fax to 310-481-5096 or phone at 818-891-7711, ext. 32441, and it says requests take up to 20 business days. Mailed forms go to the VA's Sepulveda records office: VAGLAHS Sepulveda, Attn: ROI, 16111 Plummer Street (136D2), North Hills, CA 91343-2036.
Hearings and deadlines
Hearing Format and Appeal Deadlines for a Bakersfield Disability Claim
To object in writing to a phone or agency video hearing, after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing
30days
20 CFR 404.936(d), 416.1436(d)
After a hearing request, Social Security sends a Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, and its ways to attend page lists four: in person or by agency video at one of its offices, and by phone or online video from a private location you choose. Under 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436, an objection to a phone hearing, an agency video hearing, or both must be made in writing within 30 days after you receive that notice. If you do not object, Social Security can schedule a phone or agency video hearing, though it can also schedule you in person or, if you agree, by online video; if you object to only one of those two formats, it can schedule you in person, by the other format, or by online video if you agree, and if you object to both, it generally schedules you in person or, if you agree, by online video. Online video is used only if you agree to it in writing, and a late objection or agreement needs good cause. If you move while the hearing request is pending, Social Security decides how you appear and can schedule a phone or agency video hearing despite an objection, though it considers the move only if you send evidence of your new residence; it can also use a phone hearing in a few other situations the rule lists. Our guide to hearing formats explains each choice and when Social Security moves a case to another office, and our disability hearings page describes the hearing itself.
A reconsideration request is due in writing within 60 days after you receive the initial denial, under 20 CFR 404.909 for SSDI and 20 CFR 416.1409 for SSI, and a hearing request after a reconsideration denial has its own 60 days under 20 CFR 404.933 and 20 CFR 416.1433. Social Security treats a notice as received 5 days after the date on the notice unless you show it came later, under 20 CFR 404.901 and 20 CFR 416.1401. A late request needs a written request for more time and good cause, so call us the week a denial arrives.
Common questions
Bakersfield and Kern County Disability Claim Questions
Do I have to travel to San Francisco for my disability hearing?
Not necessarily. The San Francisco hearing office generally handles Bakersfield cases, and Social Security can hold the hearing by phone, by agency video or, if you agree, by online video. If you object in writing to both phone and agency video within 30 days after you receive the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing (later only with good cause), it generally schedules you in person at the place the Notice of Hearing names or, if you agree, by online video, and if the hearing site is more than 75 miles from your home, travel costs may be reimbursed under 20 CFR 404.999c(d) and 416.1498(d).
I live in Ridgecrest. Is my case handled in San Francisco too?
Generally not. The locator assigns Ridgecrest (93555) to the Lancaster field office, which is on the Los Angeles (West) hearing office's list. California City, Mojave, Boron and Rosamond ZIP codes are assigned to Lancaster as well.
Is the Haley Street office the one for east Bakersfield?
For many east-side ZIP codes, yes. The locator assigns 93305, 93306 and 93307 to the Bakersfield-East Hills field office at 2575 Haley Street, and 93301, 93304, 93308 and 93309 to the Bakersfield office at 5300 Office Park Drive. Search your own ZIP code at ssa.gov/locator to confirm.
Can Kern County help me apply for SSI while I am on General Assistance?
The Kern County Department of Human Services says it has a Disability Advocate program to assist General Assistance applicants with the SSI process. Social Security, not the county, decides the SSI claim and any appeal of it.
Discuss your claim
Start a Bakersfield Claim Review by Phone or Video
Phone (615) 255-4307 or use the free review form, and expect a response within 3 business hours. It helps to have your Social Security letters and the dates they arrived, plus the names of the hospitals, clinics and doctors that have treated you.