OPINION OF THE COURT
This сase presents a question of first impression in the Third Circuit and one that has divided our sister courts of appeals: what filing deadline under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure governs a petition for attorney fees under Section 406(b) of the Social Security Act when a case is remаnded under sentence four of Section 405(g) for a determination of benefits? The Fifth and Eleventh Circuits have held that Rule 54(d)(2)’s fourteen-day filing deadline applies,
see Bergen v. Taylor,
I.
The relevant facts of these two appeals are virtually identical. Attorney Zenford A. Mitchell (“Counsel”) filed Social Security appeals on behalf of two clients, Lawrence Walker (“Walker”) and Jeffrey Garris (“Garris”) under Title II of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 401-433. Both Walker and Garris were denied benefits by an Administrative Law Judge and were denied review by the Appeals Counsel. Both sought review in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Walker’s case was remanded by the District Court pursuant to sentence four of 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) оn May 1, 2002, while Garris’s case was remanded pursuant to the same statute on October 20, 2003. 1 In connection with each remand, Counsel sought and received a partial award of attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2412(d).
On administrative remand, both Walker and Garris were sucсessful in demonstrating that they were disabled within the meaning of the Social Security Act and therefore entitled to disability benefits. The Commissioner issued her Notice of Award finding Walker disabled on February 25, 2004, and finding Garris disabled on August 27, 2004. The Notices of Award contained both the valuation of past-due benеfits to the plaintiff as well as notification of the twenty-five percent of past-due benefits to be withheld pending approval of any attorney fees.
It is here the parties’ agreement on the facts ends. The Social Security Administration claims it sent Counsel a copy of the Notice of Award in Walker’s case on June 27, 2004. Counsel alleges he was not informed of Walker’s award until he received a phone call from a Social Security Administration representative on June 26, 2007. In the Garris case, the Social Security *277 Administration claims Counsel was sent a сopy of the Notice of Award on February 2, 2005. Again, Counsel contends he was notified of the award for the first time by phone on December 1, 2006.
Counsel filed a motion for attorney fees under § 406(b) of the Social Security Act in the District Court on February 7, 2007, in the Garris case and on October 17, 2007, in the Wаlker case. 2 The District Court sua sponte dismissed both motions as untimely on January 29, 2008. This timely appeal followed.
II.
The District Court had subject matter jurisdiction over the underlying Social Security actions pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) and jurisdiction over the attorney fees motions pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 406(b). We have jurisdiction to review the District Court’s order under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.
We apply an abuse of discretion standard when reviewing the District Court’s denial of a petition for fees.
See In re Rite Aid Corp. Sec. Litig.,
III.
The provision of the Social Security Act providing for attorney fees reads in relevant part:
Whenever a court renders a judgment favorable to a claimant ... who was represented before the court by an attorney, the court may determine and allow as part of its judgment a reasonable fee for such representatiоn, not in excess of 25 percent of the total of the past-due benefits to which the claimant is entitled by reason of such judgment.
42 U.S.C. § 406(b)(1)(A) (“Section 406(b)”). Section 406(b) does not contain any explicit time limit for requesting fees. 3
The Fifth and Eleventh Circuits have held that counsel seeking fees under § 406(b) must do so рursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(d)(2).
See Bergen v. Taylor,
In
Pierce,
the initial two § 406(b) fee petitions were filed twenty and thirty days after the remand, but before the claimants had been awarded benefits by the ALJ pursuant to the review required by the remand order.
In
Bergen,
the district court also dismissed a § 406(b) fee petition as untimely under Rule 54(d)(2). On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit reversed.
The Tenth Circuit endorsed a different approach in
McGraw v. Barnhart,
The confusion in the courts of appeals undoubtedly stems from the imperfect fit of either approach. The problem the courts faced in Pierce and Bergen is that a strict application of Rule 54(d)(2)’s fourteen-day filing deadline is impossible where a court remands under § 406(b) for administrative determination of benefits. By its terms, § 406(b) conditions the right to fees on the award of benefits and cаps those fees at twenty-five percent of the awarded benefits. Thus a court cannot determine whether a right to a fee award exists and what the value of that fee award should be until the administrative remand proceeding is complete and the amount of benefits is fixed. Hоwever, a remand under 42 U.S.C. § 405(g) would rarely, if ever, be completed within fourteen days of the remand order. 4 Therefore, a timely Rule 54(d)(2) motion for fees, filed within fourteen days of the remand order, is necessarily premature; and a similar motion filed after the administrative determination of benefits is most likely untimely.
*279
Although the Tenth Circuit’s approach rectifies the conflict between the Rule 54(d)(2) filing deadlines and the realities of administrative remand,
McGraw
finds little support in the law. The only authority
McGraw
cites for the application of a “reasonable time” standard to § 406(b) fee requests is the Seventh Circuit decision in
Smith v. Bowen,
McGraw
also conflicts in principle with Supreme Court jurisprudence that instructs that a pоst-judgment motion for attorney fees is not properly asserted as a motion to amend or alter judgment.
See White v. New Hampshire Dept. of Employment Sec.,
Rule 60(b), like Rule 59(e), is a mechanism for relief from judgment. Although the Rules contain different filing deadlines, they arе substantively interchangeable, and we have held that an untimely Rule 59(e) motion should be construed as a Rule 60(b) motion.
See, e.g., Ahmed v. Dragovich,
Left only with the application of Rule 54(d)(2), we must reconcile its requirements with the demands of § 406(b) so as to prevent the absurd outcome inherent in applying a deadline that cаnnot be met. The solution lies in the doctrine of equitable tolling. Although the procedural requirements established by Congress should not be lightly disregarded, we have held that the tolling of filing deadlines is appropriate where “principles of equity would make the rigid application of a limitation period unfair.”
Miller v. N.J. Dep’t of Corr.,
Accordingly, we will join the Fifth and Eleventh Circuits in holding that Rule 54(d)(2) is the appropriate avenue through which counsel can seek attorney fees following a § 406(b) administrative remand. We further hold that the applicаtion of the filing deadline is tolled until the notice of award is issued by the Commissioner and counsel is notified of that award. 6 Counsel will have fourteen days from notification of the notice of award to file a fee petition in the district court. This holding does not alter the authority of the district сourt to expand that filing deadline at the request of the parties. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(d)(2)(B) (providing for a fourteen-day period for filing for attorney fees “[ujnless otherwise provided by ... order of the court”).
Because the District Court dismissed Counsel’s motions sua sponte, the parties did not present and the Court did not consider evidence related to the date on which Counsel was notified of the award. Accordingly, we will vacate the District Court’s dismissal and remand for consideration of the appropriate date to which the Rule 54(d)(2) filing deadline should be tolled.
rv.
For the foregoing reasons, we will vacate the District Court’s dismissal of Counsel’s motiоns for attorney fees and remand to the District Court for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Notes
. The fourth sentence of § 405(g) reads, "The court shall have power to enter, upon the pleadings and transcript of the record, a judgment affirming, modifying, or reversing the decision of the Commissioner of Social Security, with or without remanding the cause for a rehearing.” 42 U.S.C. § 405(g). Remands issued under this authority are referred to as "sentence four” remands.
. Counsel originally sought $12,399.75 in fees for his representation of Walker, and $15,558.00 in fees for his representation of Garris. He received administrative approval for $7,000 in the Walker case on October 4, 2007, and represented at arguments that he was paid this amount. Counsel’s motion to the District Court therefore sought the balance—$5,399.75—in the Walker case. Counsel’s motion in the Garris case seeks the full fee of $15,558.00.
. The Commissioner "takes no position on what, if any, time period applies to the filing of a motion for fees under Section 406(b).” (Comm. Br. 21 n. 10). Therefore, we need not give deference to his interpretation of the filing requirements of the Social Security Act.
. The district court judgment ordering a sentence four remand is a final order for purposes of running filing deadlines.
See Shalala v. Schaefer,
. In so holding, we acknowledge that there are instances when attorney fees are awarded as part of the original judgment. In such cases, counsel may appropriately seek to modify them via Rule 60(b).
See, e.g., Flowers v. S. Reg'l Physician Servs., Inc.,
. The Commissioner conceded at arguments that no rule or procedure governs notification of counsel when a benefit award has been determined. In these cases, the Commissioner alleges that Counsel was notified four and five months after the date of the Notice of Award in the respective cases. Accordingly, a rule that tolls the filing deadline only to the award date, as opposed to the date of notification of counsel, would be similarly ineffective.