BASIC (12-93)

Citations:

20 CFR Sections 416.1423 to 416.1428

A. Introduction

Generally, a person who is dissatisfied with a determination or decision of SSA must exhaust all avenues of administrative review before appealing to a Federal Court. This means that a person normally has to appeal his/her case through the Appeals Council (AC) before it will be accepted by a Federal district court.

This chapter describes the circumstances and procedures by which a person may obtain court review without following all of the steps in the administrative review (appeals) process.

B. Policy

1. When the Expedited Appeals Process May Be Used

The Expedited Appeals Process (EAP) may be used in those cases in which the claimant/appellant does not dispute SSA's version of the facts in his/her claim. Rather, he/she challenges the constitutionality of the law underlying the determination. For such cases, SSA, has implemented the EAP to follow the decision of the Supreme Court in Weinberger v. Salfi (SSR 75-24c, B. 1971-1975, p.57).

The use of EAP should be extremely infrequent. Interviewers should not raise the subject of EAP with every claimant/appellant who contests a less than fully favorable determination. Very few claimants will actually challenge the constitutionality of provisions of the law affecting them in a court of law.

2. What the EAP Permits

The claimant/appellant may go directly to the U. S. District Court without first completing the administrative review process in order to resolve a constitutional issue when he/she has no dispute with SSA on the facts in his /her claim but believes that the law is unconstitutional.

3. Criteria for Using the Expedited Appeals Process

The criteria for using the EAP are:

1. Initial and reconsidered determinations have been made; or an ALJ has made a hearing decision; or AC review has been requested, but a final AC decision has not been made.

A potential EAP issue can be identified at any level. The reconsideration reviewer has the responsibility to determine whether EAP applies.

2. A request is made in writing by a party to the reconsidered determination or hearing decision at an SSA office.

3. The only factor preventing a favorable determination is the constitutionality of the disputed provision of the law.

4. All parties to the reconsidered determination or decision agree to use of the EAP.