What a Reconsideration Denial Letter Means and How to Request a Hearing Within 60 Days of Receiving It

Which Social Security notice is the reconsideration denial letter?

This page covers the denial that follows a request for reconsideration of a disability application. A notice ending benefits you already receive follows different rules and is not covered here.

Under 20 CFR 404.922, Social Security must mail written notice of the reconsidered determination to your last known address, state the specific reasons for it and tell you about your right to a hearing. When it is appropriate, the notice also explains the expedited appeals process. SSI follows the same rule in 20 CFR 416.1422.

Social Security's operations manual names the forms. For SSDI, the personalized notice is the preprinted SSA-L928 with a personalized explanation attached. For SSI, it is the SSA-L1130, Supplemental Security Income Notice of Reconsideration (Disability), with its own explanation. If you asked for reconsideration of both SSDI and SSI, the state agency prepares a separate notice and explanation for each claim, and when both were denied for the same reason with the same explanation, it attaches that explanation to each notice.

The notice must include a paragraph about your hearing rights. Social Security's manual requires that paragraph in every reconsideration notice that affirms, revises or reverses the first decision. Keep every page and enclosure together.

For a medical denial, Social Security's reconsideration manual, POMS DI 27001.001, says the decision is made by a disability examiner and a medical or psychological consultant at the state agency, none of whom took part in the first decision.

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How the second explanation differs from your first denial letter

The reconsideration explanation is not a copy of the first one. Under POMS DI 27025.020, the state agency does not repeat the medical and nonmedical reports already listed in the first notice. Instead, the new explanation lists the reports used in addition to those in the previous notice, by name and date, and it may group them into a paragraph when there are more than three.

The manual also tells the agency to reword the explanation so it does not give the impression that your claim was not independently reviewed, even when the denial rests on the same basis as before. When the reason changed, the explanation first acknowledges the reason given at the initial level and then gives the reason for the reconsideration denial. When a medical source did not respond, the explanation can say that more reports could not be obtained but that the agency had enough information to evaluate your condition.

The other parts follow the first letter's pattern. A denial based on past work names the job the agency says you can still do. A denial based on other work says that you cannot do your past work but, considering your age, education and past work experience, you can do other work that is less demanding, described in general terms without naming specific jobs. A denial based on duration explains the medical information on that point. Our guide to the first disability denial letter walks through each of those parts in detail.

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What to check before you request a hearing

Start with the date. Under Social Security's operations manual, the 60 days start the day after you receive the notice, and the agency presumes you received it 5 days after the date on it unless you show it arrived later. That usually puts the deadline 65 days after the date on the letter. If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or other federal nonworkday, the period runs through the next full workday. Keep the envelope and write down the day the letter arrived.

Next, compare the new list of reports with what you and your doctors sent after the first denial. A record you submitted that does not appear on the list is worth asking about, and treatment since the reconsideration request will need to reach the hearing file. Under 20 CFR 404.1512, and 20 CFR 416.912 for SSI, you must tell Social Security about, or send it, all evidence you know of that relates to whether you are disabled. At the hearing level, 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, and under 20 CFR 404.935 the judge may decline to consider later evidence unless one of the limited reasons in 404.935(b) applies, such as a limitation or an unavoidable circumstance beyond your control that kept you from sending it sooner; when one applies and the judge has not yet issued a decision, the judge will accept it.

Then read whether the reason stayed the same. A reconsideration denial that switches from one basis to another, for example from past work to other work, can show where the hearing evidence may need to focus. Look again at any job the explanation says you can still do, and at how your age, education and work history are described.

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How to request a hearing after a reconsideration denial

After a reconsideration denial, the next step is a hearing before an administrative law judge, not another reconsideration. Under 20 CFR 404.933, the request must be in writing and filed within 60 days after you receive the notice, and SSI follows the same rule in 20 CFR 416.1433. Social Security's hearings manual, HALLEX I-2-0-40, says the request can be made on Form HA-501, the Request for Hearing by Administrative Law Judge, or by a letter or other written document. The writing does not need to be signed, and the agency accepts faxed requests. You can also request a hearing online.

For a disability hearing on paper, Social Security's form page lists Form SSA-3441, the appeal disability report, and Form SSA-827, which lets the agency request your records, along with the HA-501. Do not hold the hearing request while you finish those forms. Social Security's field office manual tells staff not to delay sending a hearing request to the hearing office when those forms are missing.

If the 60 days have passed, you can ask for more time in writing, explaining why you were late, and an administrative law judge decides whether you had good cause. A new application is not the same as an appeal: Social Security's notice language warns that filing a new application instead of appealing can cost benefits, and that a new application can be denied using the earlier decision if the facts and issues are the same.

After the request, the hearing office sends an acknowledgment letter and, in a separate mailing, a Notice of Ways to Attend a Hearing, which has its own 30-day deadline. Social Security's hearing page says the notice of your hearing date and time comes at least 75 days before the hearing, unless you waive that notice. Our guide to what happens at a disability hearing covers the hearing itself.

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