Sharon ZanottoOdar Office, Administrative Law Judge
For the 2010 *fiscal year, Judge Sharon Zanotto has disposed 273 cases at the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR) in HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA. Out of those 273 dispostions, 44 were dismissed, 138 were approved and 91 were denied. This means that the percentage of depositions that Judge Sharon Zanotto has approved in HARRISBURG for the 2010 fiscal year is 23%. The information below for Judge Sharon Zanotto was last updated on 04/28/2023.
AVERAGE STATISTICS
| Office | *Fiscal Year | Total Depositions | Total Decisions | Total Denials | Total Awards | Cases Dismissed | Cases Approved | Cases Denied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HARRISBURG | 2010 | 273 | 229 | 91 | 138 | 16% | 51% | 33% |
| HARRISBURG | 2012 | 500 | 362 | 208 | 154 | 28% | 31% | 42% |
| HARRISBURG | 2015 | 376 | 233 | 140 | 93 | 38% | 25% | 37% |
| HARRISBURG | 2014 | 420 | 291 | 184 | 107 | 31% | 25% | 44% |
| HARRISBURG | 2013 | 422 | 321 | 212 | 109 | 24% | 26% | 50% |
| HARRISBURG | 2016 | 300 | 203 | 95 | 108 | 32% | 36% | 32% |
| HARRISBURG | 2017 | 312 | 228 | 92 | 136 | 27% | 44% | 29% |
| HARRISBURG | 2018 | 124 | 80 | 33 | 47 | 35% | 38% | 27% |
| HARRISBURG | 2019 | 279 | 193 | 100 | 93 | 31% | 33% | 36% |
| HARRISBURG | 2020 | 154 | 119 | 79 | 40 | 23% | 26% | 51% |
AVERAGE TIME
| Dismissed | Approved | Denied | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sharon Zanotto | No Stats for FY2020 | ||
| All ALJs in HARRISBURG | 19% | 36% | 45% |
| All ALJs in PENNSYLVANIA | 19% | 42% | 40% |
| All ALJs in the Nation | 18% | 45% | 38% |
8 Comments
One of the worst in the country. She no longer attempts to hide her disdain for claimants and their attorneys. It would be nice if she actually read the file. It seems she doesn’t. Her contempt for the disabled and her complete disinterest in the proceedings is glaringly apparent.
This isn’t about the judge but about the whole system. For the last 5 .5 years of waiting for disability I have seen various doctors but a judge needs to go off medical records and when you get a doctor who thinks he knows the situation and puts a comment in your records that hurts you for future treatment for opiods which are truly needed. I am not even allowed to know what he wtote unless I pay for the records. I have lived with a drug addicted abuser and have no choice because I can’t work a full time job. He has messed up my whole life. Took my medication leaving me always short or going without. I have to fight to get meds now. My parents dont speak to me as I owe them 30000. I am driving a outdated inspected car with steal belts coming through the tires and have two kids I love but cant even care for. I dont have any money coming in to pay water or electric and no help from family. If If my kids are entitled to my disability after death that would help them more than I can alive. My life means nothing. Having other toughts and three meals and a cot would be better than the abuse I have endured for 7 yesrs. I keep calling to see if a decison is made but each time its still with the judge. Even a no would give me some indication about what to do. Holidays are coming up and I have nothing for my kids. Never go with Katherine Niven as your lawyer. She told me to do just do a period of disability instead of continuing benifits. I told her I didn’t want that needed ongoing as I couldn’t work full time. She said well your husband is providing and I broke down because he is abusing me and I want to get away from him. The whole system is messed up I cant even get an appointment with a psycologist until Feb. By then who knows what could happen I am not going to a hospital to be locked up away from my kids and lose my oldest to her dad because I am unstable. I am holding on by a thread.
I have been waiting on my decison now for 6 months from a federal remanded hearing in May. Of course 2 months was wasted because Wellspan lost the supiona for additional medical records. My case is 5 years and 6 mos and counting. I had part time work but lost it in August. I took too many days off and was not given any more work as I had outbursts at work and the time off was too much. I am in a great big mess. I can’t see my pysch until Feb. I am contiplating suicide and other bad things just to end the pain. I struggle with IC and doctors are clamping down on pain meds and could care less about me being in pain. I dont want to go to the hospital and be locked up. I am losing my house its so far behind in payments. Death might be the answer.
Thanks to the judge I have been homeless and have nowhere to call home, I was on SSI 17 years (give or take) and I’m supposedly better she claims. I have PTSD, Bi-polar depression, Anxiety , Hypothyroidism with PCOS. She made accusations that I purposely overdosed on water pills, when in fact if she correctly read my doctors files on everything she would have noticed how much I was prescribed and that a second doctor I went to told me it was too high of a dose to be on. As of right now I have filed a discrimination case against her but was informed that her ruling will still be final, which makes no sense whatsoever since she denied me based on discriminating me. The Social Security system is a disgrace, there are many people out there working and getting benefits and don’t get caught, but people like myself and others who truly need it and go by their rules and follow them end up homeless and lose everything. Not to mention I owe them over $10,000 now due to her denying any further benefits, even if they find her guilty of discriminating I’m still held liable for paying this. What a joke!
Sharon Zanotto
This judge was extremely rude and asked if I was a medical doctor when I supplied my conditions in written form. When I brought a witness in she said I have to ask my witness questions and that she was unable to ask them herself. I have PTSD, Bi-polar depression, learning disabilities, ADHD, Anxiety and Hypothyroidism. She made her decision and said it was unfavorable, and said I do not qualify with all my conditions. I went to a lawyer to find out what I could do next, and he said with my conditions I shouldn’t have been denied. So to make my story short I’m reapplying for benefits from the beginning and starting over fresh this time with a lawyer. This judge is not a medical doctor herself and should not be able to make decisions on how my conditions are good enough for her or not. She has a job and knows it’s stable income, but yet she can deny me of income I rely on to live and not be on the streets. She is a disgrace to the judicial system. She should learn of any medical conditions before she should keep her job any longer. I wish all the comments on here about judges were seen by social security and reviewed so they can decide whether or not she still qualifies as a judge.
This comment is not about the Judge personally but the system as a whole. I first applied in May of 2015 and was denied in September of 2015. I appealed my case in October of 2015 and it took til April 2017 to get a hearing. My hearing date was April 5, 2017 and it is not July 5, 2017 and I still do not have an answer one way or the other. In the mean time I have gotten a letter from the Energy Assistance program that I am going to be removed from assistance because I cannot afford to pay my electric bill on time. I have also received a letter from the Adams County Courthouse that my home is going to be sold at the next Tax sale because I cannot afford to pay my property taxes. I cannot afford to have my trash picked up so it its piling up in my house. I do not have a vehicle or money for one to get to my Doctors Appointments so I keep having to beg friends to take me and give them gas money to do so. I get a total of $398. a month in pension due to having to take early retirement and $50. of that has to go to the IRS for past due taxes so I am forced to live on $348. a month to pay for food and pay people to take me to the store and Doctors appointments, ect. Why does it take so long? I called on July 2, 2017 to see if there was an update and was told (by a very rude gum popping individual) it’s with the Judge you have to be patient. Well if it is still with the Judge it means they haven’t done anything with it yet and it still has to go from the Judge to the underwriter or whoever and back to the Judge which could take several more months. By the time I get an approval or denial I will be homeless and that is not acceptable to me. I will commit suicide if that happens. I have Diabetes, blood pressure issues, depression, anxiety, neurofibromotisis and several other things wrong with me. The depression is serious, I think of suicide everyday and the only thing that stops me is the fact my mother lost 2 of her children to drug over doses due to depression already and don’t want to put her through that pain again.I have been homeless before and I will not live that way again so if that is my only choice then I am SORRY MOM but I just can’t do that again. Why does it have to take so long? I mean if you commit a crime the Judge don’t say let me think about it for several months and I will get back to you to let you know if you a guilty or not. They decide at the hearing then and there and either put you in jail or set you free. If they didn’t take so long to make a decision maybe there wouldn’t be such a back log of cases????? Again this is not on the Judge but the system in general, it really needs to be revamped. Maybe some GREAT politician like a Senator or Governor should look into this situation instead of worrying about giving themselves raises. I don’t know everything that has to happen in the system but I know if everything took this long we would no longer be the USA just a third world country starving, dying of thirst while drinking dirty water and infested with all kinds of diseases and things because it takes to long to come to a resolution.
I never experienced talking to someone like Sharon the fact that I am disabled not by her but by the docter for mental health it is so easy to have a good job and judging cases you don’t know since I have 9 year old I have been in and out of mental hospitals and I am 31 and still have mental problems for you to just think I am ok . I wish I don’t have this problems so I can have a good job and keep that job and not depend in the government but I do have a problem and is serious and it’s from years. If u would just hear my story and read the paper u would see that my mental problems it’s not from today. I am waiting on the decision which I know it’s a no go. But it’s easy for ppl with ur position to look at us lower cause y’all never been or have problems like I do .
This judge is a disgrace to the robe. I have come to find out that she keeps dragging out disability cases of persons who are not only extremely disabled. They can be a risk for other people on the roads and streets. They could have seizures and other problems that could cause harm to other people. She does not believe peoples Doctors. Then she makes people see Social Security Doctors and when they agree with the other Doctors she dismisses This and still says there is insufficient evidence to approve Social Security Disability. It is very funny to me that people get in fights in bars. Then get shot. They can walk better then I can and they get Full Disability Income. This I know personally.