The Role of the Government’s Vocational Expert at Your Disability Hearing

A vocational expert (VE) may be scheduled to testify at your disability hearing. In most cases, the expert is appointed by the administrative law judge, although an Ocala disability lawyer may, in some cases, be able to have a vocational expert testify for the claimant or provide a written opinion.

Vocational experts are actually more common at disability hearings than medical experts.  Unlike medical experts, VEs vary widely in their experience, knowledge, and prejudices.  The primary purpose of the vocational expert is to provide evidence that will enable the administrative law judge to deny the claim, although this may not be the motivation of every judge who appoints a vocational expert.  In general, the presence of a vocational expert means the case will be more challenging to win.  Therefore, it’s important to have help from an experienced Ocala disability attorney who has encountered VEs before and knows how to cross examine them. Cross-examining a VE effectively often requires knowledge of how that VE has testified in the past.

Vocational experts typically testify about what jobs a claimant can do considering the claimant’s residual functional capacity, age, education, and work experience.  Generally the administrative law judge will appoint a VE to testify when the judge has concluded that the claimant cannot do his or her past work as actually performed, but that the claimant may be able to do a former job as it is generally performed in the national economy or the claimant may be able to do other jobs.

Your Ocala disability lawyer will be able to answer any questions you have regarding the role of a VE in your case. In addition, if you feel as though hiring a VE to testify on your behalf may be beneficial to your case, raise this issue with your lawyer.

If you think you may qualify for Social Security disability benefits, contact Ocala disability lawyer CJ Henry today for a free initial consultation.