Kevin Weeks v. Soc. Sec. Admin. Comm'r, 230 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 2000). · Go Syfert
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Kevin Weeks v. Soc. Sec. Admin. Comm'r, 230 F.3d 6 (1st Cir. 2000). Cases Citing This Book View Copy Cite
“an order of the appeals council vacating an alj's recommended decision and remanding for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision”
15 citation events (15 in the last 25 years) across 10 distinct courts.
Strongest positive: Mayo v. Social Security Administration, Commissioner (alnd, 2025-03-28)
Statutes interpreted (leading-cases list)
#7 20 C.F.R. § 404.979 cited 1× in this case · 47 total citations of statute
Top citers, strongest first. 10 distinct citers. How cited ↗
discussed Cited as authority (verbatim quote) Mayo v. Social Security Administration, Commissioner
N.D. Ala. · 2025 · quote attribution · 1 verbatim quote · confidence high
an order of the appeals council vacating an alj's recommended decision and remanding for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Teske v. O'Malley (2×)
E.D. Wis. · 2024 · confidence medium
Comm’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7 (1st Cir. 2000)).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Zguro v. Commissioner of Social Security
D.D.C. · 2023 · confidence medium
Comm’r, 230 F.3d 6, 8 (1st Cir. 2000); see also Duda v. Sec’y of Health and Human Servs., 834 F.2d 554, 555 (6th Cir. 1987) (concluding Appeals Council ruling was not a final decision when the Appeals Council affirmed only part of the ALJ’s decision and remanded for further proceedings); Culbertson v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 934, 937 (8th Cir. 1994) (“Appeals Council’s decision to remand [Claimant’s] case for a new evidentiary hearing” was not an appealable final decision.).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Butts v. Commissioner of Social Security
N.D.N.Y. · 2022 · confidence medium
Com’r., 230 F.3d 6, 7 (1st Cir. 2000) (noting that Appeals Council's order vacating the ALJ's decision and remanding for further proceedings is no 5 The Court's citations to the parties’ briefs refer to the pagination generated by CM/ECF in the pages’ headers. an appealable “final decision”)) (explaining that “[w]hen [the plaintiff] filed his complaint . .. the Commissioner had made no final decision in his case; rather,] . . . the Appeals Council vacated the ALJ’s decision denying [the plaintiff's] benefits claim and remanded the case for further proceedings. ...
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Keel v. Commissioner of Social Security
N.D. Tex. · 2020 · confidence medium
Comm’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7 (1st Cir. 2000) (per curiam) (holding that an Appeals Council’s remand for further consideration is not a final decision of the Commissioner); Culbertson v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 934 , 937 n.3 (8th Cir. 1994) (same); Duda v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 834 F.2d 554, 555 (6th Cir. 1987) (per curiam) (same).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Deanna English v. Social Security Administration
3rd Cir. · 2017 · confidence medium
Com’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7 (1st Cir. 2000) (noting that an Appeals Council’s order vacating ALJ’s decision and remanding for further proceedings is not an appealable “final decision”); see also Beattie v. Astrue, 845 F.Supp.2d 184, 191-93 (D.D.C. 2012) (finding that exhaustion was not excused where the claimant had appealed the ALJ’s remand order to the Appeals Council).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Olivia Kneeland v. Nancy Berryhill, Acting Cmsnr
5th Cir. · 2017 · confidence medium
Com'r, 230 F.3d 6, 8 (1st Cir. 2000) ("[C]onclud[ing] that an order of the Appeals Council vacating an ALJ’s recommended decision and remanding for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision.” (footnote omitted)); Martinez v. Barnhart, 444 F.3d 1201, 1204 (10th Cir. 2006); Duda v. Sec’y of Health & Human Servs., 834 F.2d 554, 555 (6th Cir. 1987). 33 .
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Gabriel M. Martinez v. Jo Anne B. Barnhart, Commissioner of Social Security Administration
10th Cir. · 2006 · confidence medium
Comm’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7, 8 (1st Cir.2000) (noting that the governing agency regulations “draw a clear distinction between a ‘decision’ and a ‘remand’ in this context,” and concluding that “an order of the Appeals Council vacating an ALJ’s recommended decision and remand *1205 ing for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision”).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Martinez v. Barnhart
10th Cir. · 2006 · confidence medium
Comm’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7, 8 (1st Cir. 2000) (noting that the governing agency regulations “draw a clear distinction between a ‘decision’ and a ‘remand’ in this context,” and concluding that “an order of the Appeals Council vacating an ALJ’s recommended decision and remanding for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision”).
discussed Cited as authority (rule) Iwachiw v. Massanari
2d Cir. · 2005 · confidence medium
Com’r, 230 F.3d 6, 7 (1st Cir.2000) (noting that Appeals Council’s order vacating ALJ’s decision and remanding for further proceedings is not an appealable “final decision”); accord Culbertson v. Shalala, 30 F.3d 934 , 937 n. 3 (8th Cir.1994); Duda v. Sec’y of Health and Human Servs., 834 F.2d 554, 555 (6th Cir.1987); see also Harper v. Bowen, 854 F.2d 678, 680 (4th Cir.1988) (remand orders in social security cases are generally not final, appealable orders).
Retrieving the full opinion text from the archive…
Kevin WEEKS, Plaintiff, Appellant,
v.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION COMMISSIONER, Defendant, Appellee
00-1356.
Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Oct 17, 2000.
230 F.3d 6
Francis M. Jackson and Jackson & Mac-Nichol on brief for appellant., Jay P. McCloskey, United States Attorney, Arthur J. Fried, General Counsel, Charlotte J. Hardnett, Principal Deputy General Counsel, John M. Sacchetti, Associate General Counsel for Litigation, and Etzion Brand, Supervisory Attorney, on brief for appellee., Before SELYA, Circuit Judge, CAMPBELL, Senior Circuit Judge, and BOUDIN, Circuit Judge.
Per Curiam.
Cited by 11 opinions  |  Published
Per Curiam.

Claimant Kevin Weeks applied for social security disability benefits and supplemental security income in March 1998, claiming to have become recently disabled. An administrative law judge (“ALJ”) ruled in his favor. The Appeals Council, acting on its own motion, vacated the recommended decision and remanded for further proceedings. See 20 C.F.R. § 404.977(a) (“The Appeals Council may ... remand a case in which additional evidence is needed or additional action by the [ALJ] is required.”). The remand order, explaining that the ALJ’s findings were not supported by substantial evidence, identified four issues that needed further development and enumerated six specific actions for the ALJ to undertake. Claimant sought judicial review, but the district court dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, finding that the remand order was not a “final decision of the Commissioner” within the meaning of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Claimant now challenges this ruling on appeal.

Claimant states that there is no case law on point. In fact, various courts have held that an Appeals Council order remanding a case to the ALJ for further proceedings is not an appealable final decision. See, e.g., Culbertson v. Shalala, 80 F.3d 934, 937 n. 3 (8th Cir.1994); Duda v. Secretary of Health & Human Servs., 834 F.2d 554, 555 (6th Cir.1987) (per curiam); Dawson v. Sullivan, 136 F.R.D. 621, 623 (S.D.Ohio 1991); accord 4 Social Security Law & Practice § 55:28 (Matthew J. Canavan et al. eds., Supp.1994); cf. Director, O.W.C.P. v. Bath Iron Works Corp., 853 F.2d 11, 12-16 (1st Cir.1998) (holding that order of Benefits Review Board remanding case to ALJ was not appealable “final order” under 33 U.S.C. § 921(c)).

Claimant provides no reason to reach a different result. Contrary to his assertion, the agency regulations draw a clear distinction between a “decision” and a “remand” in this context. See, e.g., 20 C.F.R. § 404.979 (“the Appeals Council will make a decision or remand the case to an [ALJ]”); id. § 404.901 (defining the two terms separately); accord Carolyn A. Ku-bitschek, Social Security Disability § 6:43, at 401-02 (1994) (“When the Appeals Council has granted review of a claim, it has several dispositional options. First, it may remand the claim to the ALJ for a new hearing or for further consideration .... The second option of the Appeals Council is to issue a final decision on the claim.”) (footnote omitted).

Nor does claimant derive any support from Forney v. Apfel, 524 U.S. 266, 118[*8] S.Ct. 1984, 141 L.Ed.2d 269 (1998). The issue there — whether a remand order entered by a district court is appealable under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 — implicates entirely separate concerns. Indeed, the Court cited Director, O.W.C.P. and related cases and, rather than casting doubt on their validity, distinguished them on the ground that they “arose in less closely analogous circumstances.” 524 U.S. at 272, 118 S.Ct. 1984. Forney is thus inapplicable.

For these reasons, which were set forth at greater length by the magistrate judge, we conclude that an order of the Appeals Council vacating an ALJ’s recommended decision and remanding for further proceedings is ordinarily not an appealable final decision. [1]

Appeal dismissed.

1

. Whether a different result might obtain where the Appeals Council’s action is challenged on constitutional or related procedural grounds, see Thomas v. Bowen, 693 F.Supp. 950, 953-54 (W.D.Wash.1988), or whether such a challenge might give rise to some other form of relief, see Pierce v. Heckler, 620 F.Supp. 320 (D.Ariz.1985), are matters that need not be determined here. Similarly, we need not decide whether other exceptions may exist (e.g., based on a showing of grave hardship). Cf. Director, O.W.C.P., 853 F.2d at 14.