Office of Central Operations

The Office of Central Operations (OCO) administers the establishment and maintenance of records needed to make Social Security Disability decisions. The Office of Central Operations maintains the earnings records and compiles and verifies a Social Security Disability claimant's earnings data. The OCO will also help determine eligibility and whether or not Social Security Disability payments should be stopped, continued, increased or decreased. The OCO also helps recover Social Security disability payments which have been incorrectly paid to Social Security Disability beneficiaries. If decided by both the Office of Disability Adjudication and the OCO, the OCO may also help process backlogged Social Security Disability hearing decisions for Administrative Law Judges. The major Office of Central Operations is located in Salinas, California; and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Additional data processing centers are also operated by the Office of Systems and are located in Baltimore, Maryland.