If a claimant or a claimant’s appointed representative is dissatisfied with our determination
or decision, he or she may request a reconsideration of the initial determination
or appeal the reconsideration determination to the Office of Hearings Operations.
Provide an entirely new decision (De Novo Review).
The adjudicator who reviews the claim on appeal makes a determination based on all
of the evidence in the file. This means the adjudicator makes a new determination
regarding whether the claimant is disabled and regarding the EOD, if we find the claimant
disabled. If we determine the claimant is disabled, we may establish the same, an
earlier, or a later EOD than established in the initial determination. Therefore,
on appeal, there is a possibility we may deny a claim previously allowed or allow
a claim with a less favorable EOD at the reconsideration or appeal level.