New York City, New York
New York City Disability Lawyers for SSDI and SSI
A New York City disability appeal can be heard in Manhattan, the Bronx, Jamaica or Jersey City, depending on the Social Security field office that serves your address. Downard & Associates represents claimants in all five boroughs with Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) claims, from the application through reconsideration and a hearing before an administrative law judge. We work from our office in Lebanon, Tennessee, by phone or video, and there is no fee unless you win.
How we help
How We Represent New York City Claimants From Tennessee
New York City has more of each than most places, and keeping them straight is a large part of the work.
Social Security disability is a federal program, so the rules that decide a claim filed in the Bronx are the same rules that decide one filed in Memphis. What changes from city to city is everything around the claim: which offices handle it, which hospitals hold the records and which local agencies are already involved. New York City has more of each than most places, and keeping them straight is a large part of the work.
For an application, we gather your medical evidence and work history and complete the forms with you. For SSI, we also document income and resources. After a denial, we read the notice for the reasons Social Security gave and answer those reasons with evidence at reconsideration. If the claim reaches a judge, our hearing representation covers building the medical record, preparing you to testify and presenting the case. Our New York disability lawyer page covers claims elsewhere in the state.
We have no New York office. Consultations, case updates and hearing preparation happen by phone or video. We represent adults age 18 and older. We handle SSDI cases for people who receive VA benefits, but we do not handle VA claims or appeals. We do not take disability cessation or continuing disability review cases, or new cases involving back-pay issues alone, and we refer federal court appeals to affiliated counsel.
Hearing offices
Which Hearing Office Handles a New York City Claim
Each hearing office serves a list of Social Security field offices, and those lists do not follow borough lines. Social Security's hearing office locator routes the city's field offices this way:
Manhattan: the New York hearing office, Room 2909, 26 Federal Plaza, whose list includes the East Village, Midtown, Uptown and Washington Heights field offices.
Brooklyn: there is no Brooklyn hearing office. Brooklyn's field offices are split between 26 Federal Plaza and the New York (Varick) hearing office, Room 315, 201 Varick Street.
The Bronx: the Bronx hearing office, Suite 200, 220 East 161st Street, whose list includes the East Bronx, Hunts Point, Laconia Avenue and South Bronx field offices. A claim from the North Bronx or West Farms field office may be heard at 26 Federal Plaza instead.
Queens: the Queens hearing office, now in the Joseph P. Addabbo Federal Building, 155-10 Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, covering the Cypress Hill, Far Rockaway, Flushing, Jamaica, Long Island City and Rego Park field offices.
Staten Island: the Hylan Boulevard and Staten Island field offices route to the Jersey City, New Jersey hearing office at 325 West Side Avenue.
No New York City field office routes to the Long Island hearing office in Central Islip. Social Security can move field offices from one hearing office to another, so the Notice of Hearing you receive is the document that controls: it names the time and manner of your hearing, and the place if you are scheduled in person or by agency video. If an in-person trip to New Jersey or Lower Manhattan would be hard for you, the appearance rules below matter more than the street address.
Hearing formats
Choosing How You Appear at a New York City Hearing
Deadline
30days
20 CFR 404.936
Social Security's ways to attend page lists four ways to appear before an administrative law judge: in person at one of its offices, by telephone from a private location you choose, by agency video on Social Security's equipment at one of its offices, or by online video on your own phone, tablet or computer.
Two deadlines in 20 CFR 404.936 control the choice. Before it schedules your hearing, Social Security sends a notice that it may schedule you by phone or agency video, or by online video if you agree. To object to phone, agency video or both, you must tell Social Security in writing within 30 days after you receive that notice. Agreeing to online video has the same 30-day window, and you can withdraw the agreement any time before the hearing starts. A late objection or agreement is accepted only for good cause.
For a Staten Island claimant, online video can replace a trip to Jersey City. For a Bronx claimant who wants the judge to see them, an objection to a phone appearance means Social Security will generally schedule the hearing in person or by video. We go over the notice with you when it arrives and file the form that matches your choice. Our guide to video and in-person hearings compares the formats in more detail.
Local treatment records
Getting Records From New York City Hospital Systems
Medical records carry most of the weight in a disability claim, and New York's large systems each route requests their own way. Ask by date range and record type, and keep a list of what you requested and when.
NYC Health + Hospitals: its health information page offers a MyChart request, an online request form that requires a photo and a government-issued photo ID, or a paper form mailed to the facility where you were treated. Radiology films go through the same process, with Health Information Management working with the radiology department to release them. The system lists 866-390-7404 for hospital records.
Montefiore Einstein: the Bronx system splits its online records request tools by who is asking, with one for patients, one for providers and one for third parties such as attorneys. Its mailed form covers medical records and radiological or diagnostic images, sent to Health Information Management at 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467.
Mount Sinai: its medical records page takes requests through the MyMountSinai Sharing Hub, which also reaches physician office records. Mount Sinai Doctors practices have their own online request tool, and cardiology images, radiology films and pathology slides come from the hospital departments that keep them. Mount Sinai lists fees for patients and attorneys, but a 2017 amendment to New York's Public Health Law bars any charge for records requested to support an application, claim or appeal for a government benefit, so say on the request that the records are for a Social Security disability claim.
NYU Langone: its records request page sends requests for a doctor's office record to that doctor or location directly rather than to the hospital's records department. That split between hospital and practice records is easy to miss, and a missing practice file leaves a gap in the treatment history Social Security reviews.
City programs
When HRA Is Already Part of Your SSI Claim
If you owe more than the payment, the entire first payment goes to HRA.
If you receive cash assistance from the Human Resources Administration (HRA) while your SSI application is pending, that changes the first SSI payment. Under HRA's interim assistance FAQ, Safety Net Assistance paid while your SSI application was pending is repaid from your first SSI payment: Social Security deducts the amount HRA is entitled to recover, sends it to HRA and sends any remaining balance to you. If you owe more than the payment, the entire first payment goes to HRA.
HRA's WeCARE program serves cash assistance clients whose medical or mental health conditions affect their ability to work, and its contracted vendors help with SSI applications. Clients reach WeCARE by referral through a Benefits Access Center. If a WeCARE vendor is already working on your SSI application, tell us at the start so we know what has been filed. Our SSI claims page explains how SSI works for adults.
After a denial
Deadlines After a New York City Denial
Deadline
60days
20 CFR 404.909
A denial notice starts a 60-day clock. Under 20 CFR 404.909, a written request for reconsideration is due within 60 days after you receive the notice, and 20 CFR 404.901 treats a notice as received 5 days after its date unless you show it arrived later. The SSI rule, 20 CFR 416.1409, sets the same deadline. If reconsideration is denied, 20 CFR 404.933 gives you another 60 days from receipt to request a hearing before an administrative law judge, and 20 CFR 416.1433 sets the same deadline for SSI.
Mail in a large building can sit in a lobby or go to a former address. Write the date a notice actually reached you on the envelope and keep it. A missed deadline is extended only if Social Security finds good cause, so call us when the notice arrives rather than when the deadline is close.
Common questions
New York City Disability Claim Questions
Will my Staten Island disability hearing be held in New Jersey?
If you appear in person or by agency video, it can be. Social Security's hearing office locator routes the Hylan Boulevard and Staten Island field offices to the Jersey City hearing office at 325 West Side Avenue. You can avoid the trip by agreeing in writing to an online video hearing within 30 days after Social Security's notice about ways to attend. Your Notice of Hearing names the place.
Does HRA take part of my first SSI payment?
It can. If HRA paid you Safety Net Assistance while your SSI application was pending, Social Security deducts the interim assistance HRA is entitled to recover from your first SSI payment and sends it to HRA, then pays any remaining balance to you.
Which Manhattan office hears a Brooklyn disability appeal?
Brooklyn has no hearing office of its own. Social Security's locator sends Brooklyn field offices to either 26 Federal Plaza or 201 Varick Street, based on the field office that serves your address, and your Notice of Hearing tells you which one.
Do I have to meet Downard in person in New York City?
No. We represent New York City claimants by phone or video from Lebanon, Tennessee, and the form appointing us as your representative can be completed without meeting in person. You go to a Social Security office only for an in-person or agency video hearing, or if Social Security schedules an appointment that requires it, and agreeing to an online video hearing lets you appear from home.
Discuss your claim
Talk Through Your New York City Claim With Us
Tell us which borough you live in, what Social Security has decided and when the last notice arrived. We will explain the next deadline and what your file needs, by phone or video.