Evaluation of Work Activity by Self-Employed Persons – 2026 Spring National Conference – Track II (Presented by National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives)

Deondra Sexton, Esq., Attorney | Martin, Jones & Piemonte

Deondra Sexton is an attorney at Martin, Jones & Piemonte, licensed to practice law in the State of South Carolina. Before entering private practice, she spent over a decade with the Social Security Administration, where she held progressively responsible roles including Claims Representative, Technical Expert, and Operations Supervisor. As a Technical Expert, she provided authoritative interpretations of Social Security policy, law, and regulations to staff, and she created workflow systems that streamlined the processing and adjudication of claims across online, mail, and in-office channels. She is also notable for establishing the procedures for the first appeals unit in the Charlotte, NC field office. Her prior litigation experience spans criminal and civil matters, and she has volunteered as homeless court counsel for participants in the Rock Hill, South Carolina Homeless Court program.

• Education & Credentials

Deondra is a licensed attorney in the State of South Carolina whose credentials are distinguished by over a decade of institutional experience inside the Social Security Administration before her transition to private practice. Her roles as Claims Representative, Technical Expert, and Operations Supervisor gave her a practitioner’s command of Title II of the Social Security Act from the inside, an expertise that few disability attorneys can claim. Her Technical Expert designation within SSA required her to provide definitive, authoritative interpretations of Social Security policy, law, regulations, and administrative procedures, reflecting a depth of agency knowledge that directly benefits the clients she now represents.

• Recognition & Leadership

Deondra’s most distinctive professional achievement may be her creation and establishment of the procedures for the first appeals unit in the Charlotte, North Carolina SSA field office, a systemic innovation that reduced processing time and improved the handling of appeals for claimants across the region. Her advancement through multiple leadership roles at SSA, including Operations Supervisor and Technical Expert, reflects the institutional recognition she earned during her decade-plus of federal service. Her volunteer work as homeless court counsel in Rock Hill, South Carolina demonstrates a commitment to access to justice that extends beyond her paid practice and reflects the values that define her approach to legal representation.

• Professional Involvement

Deondra’s professional involvement spans disability law, criminal and civil litigation, community legal services, and SSA staff development. During her tenure at SSA, she supervised, mentored, and trained staff, managers, supervisors, and community partners in matters related to Title II, a training and mentorship role that gave her broad engagement with the full range of Social Security operational and adjudication issues. In her volunteer capacity, she has served as homeless court counsel in Rock Hill’s Homeless Court program, providing legal representation to some of the community’s most vulnerable individuals. At Martin, Jones & Piemonte, she brings that combined institutional expertise and community commitment to the representation of disability claimants.

• Experience

Deondra Sexton’s path to disability advocacy runs directly through the Social Security Administration, where she spent over a decade in roles that gave her an insider’s understanding of how SSA processes, adjudicates, and resolves claims. As a Claims Representative, Technical Expert, and Operations Supervisor, she worked at every level of the agency’s field operations, interpreting policy, designing workflows, training staff, and building specialty units, including the first appeals unit in the Charlotte, NC field office. That experience is rare and invaluable in a disability attorney: she knows the system not just from the claimant’s side of the table but from the institutional perspective of the agency itself. Combined with her licensed practice in South Carolina, her criminal and civil litigation background, and her volunteer homeless court advocacy, Deondra brings to Martin, Jones & Piemonte a depth and range of experience that is as distinctive as it is formidable.

I. Evaluation of Work Activity by Self-Employed Persons | 8:30am – 9:45am

This session will cover SSA’s evaluation of work activity for self-employed individuals for SGA purposes which consist of three tests or, when applicable, under the countable income test.