Social Security Administration August 26, 2024 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are revising our hearing regulations to provide that claimants may appear at hearings in one of four ways: by agency video, by online video, by audio, or in person. Those four manners will all be standard manners of appearance in our hearing process. For online video and audio appearances, claimants may appear for hearings remotely, using private electronic devices that we do not own, operate, or approve. For online video appearances, a claimant may appear for a hearing using approved online video conferencing applications, rather than conferencing options using equipment that we own or approve. Additionally, while our current regulations permit us to schedule claimants to appear by telephone in limited circumstances only, this final rule will allow us to schedule claimants to appear by audio without similar restrictions, if the claimant does not object to appearing in that manner. We expect that this final rule will provide us and claimants with additional flexibility, allowing us to manage our hearing process more efficiently.