Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge Disability Lawyers for Social Security Claims in the Capital Region
Social Security's office locator divides Baton Rouge between two field offices. The Baton Rouge office at 5455 Bankers Avenue serves most of the city along with Denham Springs, Gonzales, Port Allen and Plaquemine, and the Baton Rouge North office at 4332 Harding Boulevard serves the north side, Baker, Central and Zachary. Social Security's hearing office data places both offices with the Metairie hearing office at 1 Galleria Boulevard, so a hearing request from a Baton Rouge-area address generally goes to Metairie.
Downard & Associates represents adults in Baton Rouge and the nearby parishes with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, starting with the application and continuing through reconsideration, a hearing before an administrative law judge and the Appeals Council. Our attorneys work from Lebanon, Tennessee, meet Louisiana clients by phone or video, and charge no fee unless you win.
The local offices
The Baton Rouge Social Security Offices on Bankers Avenue and Harding Boulevard
When you mail a response, use the address the notice itself gives, or phone the office first to confirm it.
Baton Rouge, 5455 Bankers Avenue: Social Security's office locator lists this field office at 5455 Bankers Ave, Baton Rouge, LA 70808. Its directions say to leave I-10 at the College Drive exit, head north past the first stoplight, turn right at the Waffle House onto Bankers Avenue and go about a quarter mile; the office is on the left. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call 1-866-613-3070 or fax 1-833-950-3635.
Baton Rouge North, 4332 Harding Boulevard: the locator lists this office at 4332 Harding Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70807, on the access road at the corner of Harding Boulevard and Plank Road. It keeps the same Monday through Friday hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call 1-888-487-0143 or fax 1-833-950-2383.
The locator shows both offices taking benefits applications, appeals, new and replacement Social Security cards and changes to your personal details, and both have a drop box. Each also has a mailing address in Kansas City that differs from its street address: Social Security, NRC / FO 803 (Bankers Avenue) or NRC / FO E36 (Harding Boulevard), PO Box 416000, Kansas City, MO 64141. When you mail a response, use the address the notice itself gives, or phone the office first to confirm it.
Either office can take your application or appeal, but neither one makes the medical decision on your claim or holds hearings. On a new application, the field office reviews the non-medical requirements and then sends the file to Louisiana's Disability Determination Services for the first disability decision. A hearing request goes to the hearing office matched to your home address, which for both Baton Rouge offices is generally Metairie.
How we help
SSDI and SSI Claims We Take in Baton Rouge
SSDI is paid from a Social Security earnings record, usually your own. Some adults whose disability began before age 22 can qualify on a parent's record, and some widows and widowers 50 or older on a late spouse's, when conditions on marriage, dependency, the parent's or spouse's record and the timing of the disability are met. SSI turns on limited income and countable resources and does not depend on a work record. Adults face the same disability test in both programs, and one application can cover both. Our Louisiana disability lawyer page covers routing for the rest of the state.
There is no Downard office in Baton Rouge. Our conversations with you happen by phone or video, and our attorney generally joins your hearing from Tennessee the same way, even when you attend in person. We represent adults 18 and over. Outside our practice are VA claims and VA appeals, continuing disability reviews, cessation cases and disputes over back pay alone; a case that needs federal court goes to affiliated counsel.
Hearing offices
Baton Rouge Hearings Generally Go to Metairie, Not New Orleans
That practice is separate from the hearing-format rule, under which Social Security decides how you appear after a move.
Five Louisiana field offices sit under the Metairie hearing office in the file behind Social Security's hearing office locator: Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge (North), Bogalusa, Hammond and Kenner. The office is in Suite 2000 of the Galleria Building, 1 Galleria Boulevard, Metairie, LA 70001, and the data lists its phone number as (877) 870-6383.
The New Orleans hearing office, in Suite 800 at 1515 Poydras Street, is a separate office with a separate list: New Orleans (Downtown), New Orleans (West Bank), Houma, Morgan City, Lake Charles, DeRidder and St. Tammany (Lacombe). So a Mandeville claimant served by the Lacombe field office is on the New Orleans list, while a claimant in Hammond or Ponchatoula stays on the Metairie list with Baton Rouge. Our New Orleans disability lawyer page covers the city itself.
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.
Zip codes by office
Capital Region ZIP Codes and Their Field Offices
The locator ties every ZIP code to a single field office, and the town names beside the codes below are approximate. The lists are samples rather than complete service areas, and assignments can change, so check your own street address in the locator.
Baton Rouge, 5455 Bankers Ave (Metairie hearing office): 70801, 70802, 70805, 70806, 70808, 70809, 70810, 70814 through 70817, 70819 and 70820 (Baton Rouge), 70706 and 70726 (Denham Springs), 70785 (Walker), 70737 (Gonzales), 70769 (Prairieville), 70346 (Donaldsonville), 70767 (Port Allen), 70764 (Plaquemine) and 70760 (New Roads).
Baton Rouge North, 4332 Harding Blvd (Metairie hearing office): 70807, 70811, 70812 and 70818 (Baton Rouge), 70714 (Baker), 70739 (Central), 70791 (Zachary), 70775 (St. Francisville) and 70722 (Clinton).
Hammond, 2100 Robin Ave (Metairie hearing office): 70754 (Livingston), 70401 and 70403 (Hammond) and 70454 (Ponchatoula).
St. Tammany, 64285 Highway 434, Lacombe (New Orleans hearing office): 70448 (Mandeville).
One parish, two offices
Livingston Parish Claims Can Start at Bankers Avenue or in Hammond
Claimants in Livingston Parish do not all use the same field office. The locator sends Denham Springs (70706 and 70726) and Walker (70785) to the Bankers Avenue office in Baton Rouge, but it sends the Livingston ZIP code, 70754, to the Hammond field office at 2100 Robin Ave, Hammond, LA 70403, whose number is 1-855-848-7937.
The split changes where you visit or call about an application, not which hearing office handles a hearing request, because Hammond and both Baton Rouge offices are on the Metairie list. A move within the parish can still change your field office, so look up the new address in the locator and tell Social Security about the move.
Louisiana records law
Louisiana's Limit on Copy Charges for Social Security Disability Records
Louisiana has a statute aimed at records gathered for a Social Security claim. Under La. R.S. 46:18, a health care provider must furnish, on request, a copy of the records needed to support an SSDI or SSI filing to the claimant, to the person appointed to represent the claimant before Social Security, or to an agent with a written HIPAA authorization. The charge for each photocopy may not exceed 50 cents a page for the first five pages and 25 cents a page after that, except that the amount due cannot be lower than what the Louisiana Department of Health pays for the same copies. The cap is on photocopies, so ask the provider what else it charges before you send the request.
The statute also deals with delay. If the copy is not furnished within a reasonable time, no more than 15 days after the provider receives the request and written authorization, and the records then have to be obtained by court order or subpoena, the provider can be liable for the reasonable attorney fees and expenses of getting that order or subpoena. That sanction applies only after the requester has sent the provider a certified-mail notice of the failure that refers to the available sanctions, and the provider still has not furnished the copies within five days of receiving it.
Local treatment records
Records From Our Lady of the Lake, Baton Rouge General, Ochsner and the VA
Baton Rouge General patients can also ask for a formal copy of their records in MyChart, under Sharing Hub.
Our Lady of the Lake: the hospital's medical records page says it needs a completed, signed and dated Authorization for Release of Health Information before releasing records to anyone, the patient included. The Release of Information Center is on the first floor near the main entrance at 5000 Hennessy Blvd, open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at 225-963-6259. Because a signature is required, the page says it cannot process a request made by telephone or email; the signed authorization itself can be delivered in person or emailed to fmol@datavant.com, or you can make the request through its online records tool. For care at LSU Health Baton Rouge clinics on or after April 15, 2013, LSU's records page sends requests to Our Lady of the Lake's medical records department and lists (225) 765-8541 for it.
Baton Rouge General: its medical records page asks for a completed Authorization for the Release of Records and a copy of your photo ID, emailed to MedicalRecords@brgeneral.org, and says the hospital will contact you within one business day. Baton Rouge General patients can also ask for a formal copy of their records in MyChart, under Sharing Hub. Medical Records can be reached at (225) 381-6048.
Ochsner Medical Center - Baton Rouge: Ochsner's records page takes requests through a MyOchsner account or on the release form for the facility where you were treated, and lists 225-236-5917 for the Baton Rouge records office.
Baton Rouge VA clinics: the Baton Rouge VA Clinic at 7968 Essen Park Avenue and the clinic at 7850 Anselmo Lane are part of VA Southeast Louisiana health care. The system's medical records office page lets you view and download VA records online once signed in, names VA Form 10-5345a for requesting a copy, and lists the Release of Information office at 2400 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, open weekdays 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call your clinic to confirm where your request should go.
Hearings and deadlines
Hearing Format and Appeal Deadlines for a Baton Rouge 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
Baton Rouge Disability Claim Questions
Which Baton Rouge Social Security office serves my address?
It depends on the ZIP code. The locator assigns 70807, 70811, 70812 and 70818, along with Baker, Central and Zachary, to the Baton Rouge North office on Harding Boulevard, and most other Baton Rouge ZIP codes to the office on Bankers Avenue. Enter your street address at ssa.gov/locator to see your own assignment, and check hours there before you go.
Is a Baton Rouge disability hearing held in New Orleans?
Generally no. Baton Rouge cases are assigned to the Metairie hearing office in Jefferson Parish, which is separate from the New Orleans hearing office on Poydras Street. Where the case is assigned is a different question from how you attend. The hearing can be in person, by agency video at a Social Security site, by phone, or by online video if you agree to it, and your Notice of Hearing states which; for an in-person or agency video hearing it also names the location.
What can a Louisiana provider charge for records used in a disability claim?
La. R.S. 46:18 caps the per-page charge for photocopies of records needed for an SSDI or SSI filing at 50 cents a page for the first five pages and 25 cents a page after that, though the amount due cannot be lower than what the Louisiana Department of Health pays for the same copies. The provider must furnish the copies on request to you, your appointed representative or an agent with written authorization; ask the provider about any other charges.
Do Denham Springs and Livingston claims go to the same Social Security office?
No. The locator assigns Denham Springs (70706 and 70726) and Walker to the Bankers Avenue office in Baton Rouge and Livingston (70754) to the Hammond field office. Both are on the Metairie hearing office list, so a hearing request from either generally goes to Metairie.
Discuss your claim
Get a Free Claim Review for Your Baton Rouge Disability Claim
Call (615) 255-4307 or send the free review form, and a reply comes within 3 business hours. When you contact us, have your most recent Social Security letter, the date it arrived and the names of the places in the Baton Rouge area that have treated you.