What the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing Asks You to Decide Within 30 Days

When does the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing arrive?

The notice comes after you file a request for a hearing before an administrative law judge, usually after a reconsideration denial. Under Social Security's hearings manual, HALLEX I-2-0-19, the hearing office sends the Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, numbered HA-L54, at the same time as the acknowledgment of your hearing request, but in a separate mailing so it stands out.

The envelope should hold three other items: a copy of the publication Your Options for How to Attend Your Hearing, Form HA-55, Objection to Appearing by Audio or Agency Video, and Form HA-56, Agreement to Appearing by Online Video. If you have an appointed representative, the hearing office sends the notice to you with a copy to your representative. If you do not, the notice comes with a list of organizations that may provide representation.

This letter is not your hearing date. The notice that sets the date and time comes later, and Social Security's hearing page says it arrives at least 75 days before the hearing, unless you waive that notice, and tells you how you will appear. The choices you make in response to this letter shape what that later notice says.

A Social Security regulation that took effect November 23, 2024 set in-person, audio, agency video and online video as the standard ways a claimant can appear, and the hearings manual sections on this notice and on the online video agreement were added two days later to carry it out.

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The four ways to attend a disability hearing

The manual requires the notice to describe four ways to attend:

• In person at a Social Security office, such as a hearing office or a permanent remote site.
• By audio, using a telephone or similar audio-based technology.
• By agency video, using video equipment Social Security provides at one of its offices.
• By online video, using your own smartphone, tablet or computer with an internet connection, from a private location.

The notice must also explain what to do if you do not want to attend by audio or agency video, what to do if you agree to attend by online video, and how to review the evidence in your file when you attend by audio, agency video or online video.

These four manners of appearance come from the hearing-format rules in 20 CFR 404.936 and, for SSI, 20 CFR 416.1436. Online video is the only one Social Security cannot schedule without your agreement. Our guide to video and in-person hearings weighs the formats against each other.

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How to object to a phone or video hearing, or agree to online video

To object, you notify Social Security in writing within 30 days of receiving the notice, usually on Form HA-55. Social Security treats the notice as received 5 days after its date unless you show you received it later. Under HALLEX I-2-0-21, you can object to appearing by audio, by agency video or both, and an appointed representative can file the objection for you. What happens next depends on what you objected to:

• An objection to audio alone lets the hearing office schedule you in person, by agency video or, if you agree, by online video.
• An objection to agency video alone lets it schedule you in person, by audio or, if you agree, by online video.
• An objection to both, made on time and with no change of residence, sets the hearing for a time and place where you can appear in person or, if you agree, by online video.

The objection can give way in some cases. If you move while the hearing request is pending and send proof of the new residence, such as a utility bill, the hearing office can in some circumstances schedule an audio or agency video appearance despite the objection; a new mailing address alone is not enough. The manual says it will generally honor the objection when another way of appearing causes no added delay and there is no other reason to refuse. The regulations also allow an audio appearance despite an objection when agency video and online video cannot be scheduled and extraordinary circumstances keep you from appearing in person, or when you are incarcerated and neither agency video nor online video is available.

To agree to online video, you notify Social Security in writing within 30 days of receiving the notice, usually on Form HA-56. Under HALLEX I-2-0-22, a timely agreement generally means the hearing office will schedule you by online video unless that would cause delay or there is a good reason to schedule you another way. Your representative can submit the agreement for you, and you can withdraw it at any time before the hearing starts, which is when the judge goes on the record. A withdrawal can be written or spoken; when you withdraw orally, staff record it on Form SSA-5002, a report of contact, and add it to your file. The manual adds that if you sign in to an online video hearing and disagree with the video service's terms of use, you can still withdraw before the judge goes on the record.

A late objection or agreement is not automatically lost. The judge decides whether you had good cause for missing the 30 days, using the good-cause standards in 20 CFR 404.911 that also apply to late appeals. For a late agreement to online video, the hearing office can also approve the change without good cause when an online video hearing would be efficient and your circumstances give a good reason for it.

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What happens if you do not send either form back

Neither form is required. If you send nothing, Social Security decides how you will appear, and it can schedule you in person, by audio or by agency video. It will not schedule you by online video, because that manner needs your agreement.

Two other points follow. When your hearing is about whether you are disabled, Social Security's hearing page says you must submit or tell it about written evidence no later than five business days before the hearing date, unless one of the limited exceptions in 20 CFR 404.935(b) applies. And if you want the hearing sooner than the 75-day notice period allows, the same page says you can waive that advance notice on Form HA-510, Waiver of Timely Written Notice of Hearing.

Objecting to the time in the later notice of hearing, or to the place of an in-person or agency video hearing, is a separate step with its own deadline. Social Security's hearings manual, in section HA 01230.012 on its policy site, says you must tell the judge in writing, with your reasons, at the earliest opportunity and no later than 5 days before the hearing or 30 days after receiving the notice of hearing, whichever is earlier.

If you have not yet decided on a representative, this is a good point to do it, since the 30-day window to respond about the hearing format runs from this letter and the evidence deadline runs from your hearing date. Our guide to what happens at a disability hearing explains the hearing itself, and the reconsideration denial letter page covers the step before this one.

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