Social Security Field Offices Change Their Hours

Beginning November 19^th, 2012, SSA field offices have changed their public hours from 9am-3:30pm to 9am-3:00pm. However, this doesn’t mean SSA employees get to go home a half-hour early! Rather, it is an attempt to help them catch up with other work such as conducting application interviews and processing paperwork.

Due to the impact of Hurricane Sandy, these new office hours will be delayed in being implemented for the following areas: New Jersey, New York City, and Long Island, NY.

Beginning January 2^nd, 2013, SSA field offices will also be closed to the public at noon each Wednesday. This will also aid SSA employees in catching up on necessary work.

In light of this, SSA encourages the public to use either their nation-wide, toll-free number or their website (www.ssa.gov) to utilize their services, such as filing for retirement or disability, signing up for direct deposit, getting a replacement Medicare card, etc. While it is great that SSA is trying to make their services more available, there are still several issues with this.

While it is already difficult to call SSA for information due to the reduced amount of workers and high volume of calls, the fact that the window to obtain information is much smaller makes it more difficult for someone to do business with SSA. Many times disability applicants have transportation issues and must rely on using the telephone.

The national, toll-free number may be helpful for general information or routine tasks such a changing your address, but some questions can only be answered by field office staff, such as if a requested document had been received.

Another issue with using the toll-free number is if you do not have a land line or limited minutes on your phone. Often the hold times can be extraordinary, using up a disability claimant’s precious pay-per-use minutes.

Many disability applicants do not own computers, and many also may not know how to use one. SSA often reminds us that many of their forms and publications are available online, but that is useless to someone who does not have a computer.

This is another reason why having representation on your claim is helpful. Attorneys’ offices have staff that can make these phone calls for you, research information on ssa.gov, and stay on top of your claim. Many attorneys’ offices also have good rapport with the local SSA field office representatives, making it easier to get questions answered in a timely manner.

Are failed attempts at contacting SSA causing a road block in your claim? If so, contact us today and make an appointment for the office closest to you. We are happy to serve the Mentor, Cleveland, Ashtabula, Akron, Canton, Lorain, Youngstown and Toledo areas for your convenience. Learn more by visiting our website, www.balinlaw.com. We look forward to helping you!

 Written by Anna Westfall & edited by Paulette F. Balin