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The Social Security Law Group, LLP, is a Boston-based law firm that assists clients in the application process for SSI or SSDI benefits from the Social Security Administration. Their decision this March to file a class action lawsuit against the Social Security Administration is based on their growing frustration with what they claim is the SSA’s violation of two key acts – the Freedom of Information Act, and the 1974 Privacy Act.

It is a well-known fact that it is difficult to receive a favorable determination when you apply for Social Security Disability benefits. The guidelines for each condition that makes a person eligible for benefits are very specific, and the SSA requires thorough medical documentation to verify the existence of the condition, as well as proof that the condition affects the person’s ability to keep working or change careers.

It is too easy for mistakes to occur when paper checks are being sent in the mail. Whether it be misdirected mail, wrong addresses, or theft, there are many worst case scenarios where Social Security benefits do not make it to the beneficiary. Every year, thousands of checks are reported as lost or stolen, amounting to millions of dollars.

Seven years ago, a Toyota worker from Southern California found out that the sudden onset of a strange, scarcely-documented disease was not the only battle he had to fight. Salomaa, a 47-year-old sufferer of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, went to his doctor in 2003 after he noticed unusual fatigue symptoms and diminishing mental function when he returned to his normal job after a bout of the flu. After a long series of doctors and appointments, Salomaa was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome. There are no official tests that conclusively identify this syndrome.

Recently, a 32-year old Kansas City man named Tyrone Holman was charged with obstructing the federal proceedings of his SSI application process. Holmes left threatening messages in the voicemail box of his assigned psychologist, whom he had been scheduled to meet for a required psychological evaluation. He ranted that his murder of his brother in 2006 was actually the psychologist’s fault because Holmes had previously not been found eligible for Social Security Disability benefits, and threatened legal action, demanding compensation for his years spent in prison.

In January of this year, the Lockheed Martin Corporation was officially contracted to deliver the Social Security Administration a $2 Million disability case processing system. This high-profile project that is slated for the next six years is expected to vastly improve the volume, speed, and accuracy of cases the SSA is able to process on a regular basis, as well as provide one nationwide, integrated system to handle all of the processing functions for disability claims.

This year, the Republican GOP has proposed significant cuts in the Social Security Administration’s 2011 budget, an action that has sparked heated debates, sending House Democrats and defenders of the Social Security program into an outrage spun with fear.

Every year in this country and across the world, the month of April is celebrated as Parkinson’s Disease Awareness Month by those who have been affected by the disease. April was chosen for this purpose in honor of the birthday of James Parkinson, the first physician to collect and publish a serious body of information related to “shaking palsy,” which later became known as Parkinson’s disease.

In the wake of a highly publicized article from last week’s Wall Street Journal that declared government auditors have found that Social Security Disability will be completely out of money within the next four to seven years, there has been much debate this week about “entitlement reform” and congressional cuts to national benefits programs like SSDI and SSI as a means of helping to fix the government’s enormous budget deficit.

The “trial work period” is a nine-month state of grace given by the Social Security Administration to any disability benefits recipient who wants to attempt re-entry to the work force. A disability benefits recipient has nine months of trial work period in each period of 60 months.