ARE YOU DISABLED?
Part of Social Security's definition of being "disabled" includes significant restrictions in the ability to perform work related activities. Social Security will look at the functional limitations imposed by your impairment(s) and will place you in one of 5 "exertional" categories of work.
(1) Sedentary work (2) light work (3) medium work (4) heavy work, or (5) very heavy work
In most cases, I have to prove that my client is not capable of even unskilled sedentary work. (If a claimant is capable of "very heavy work," then he or she is capable of performing all 4 of the categories below very heavy work).
You might think that it's fairly easy to prove that you cannot perform unskilled sedentary work. But it usually isn't. That is because there are so many types of unskilled sedentary work in the national economy and vast numbers of workers performing in each occupation.
A little vocational research reveals that there are 1,600 sedentary and light unskilled occupations in the national economy. Each occupation has thousands to hundreds of thousands of workers. These jobs can be classified in eight broad categories.And these are jobs that can be learned with just a short demonstration, or at least with 30 days or less of training; thus, no special education or training is necessary.
In a Social Security disability hearing, the Government will produce a vocational expert to testify concerning the types of jobs that may be available to the claimant. In order to prevail and win a claim, the claimant must demonstrate that there does not exist an adequate number of jobs that he or she can perform.
So the successful claimant must provide acceptable medical evidence to show a serious impairment AND acceptable vocational evidence to show that the impairment leaves him significantly restricted as to jobs available in the national, regional or local economy. Technically, at the 5th and final sequential step of a hearing, Social Security assumes some responsibility for proving that the claimant can work. However, if Social Security's witness offers evidence that the claimant can indeed perform some type of work, the claimant or his representative must be able to challenge that conclusion in order to win the case.
Most of the disability hearings that are lost, in my view, are lost at sequential steps 4 or 5. A vocational expert testifies that the claimant can perform some of his or her relevant past work (step 4), or that the claimant cannot perform relevant past work but can perform "other work" available in the national, regional or local economy (step 5).
We have only scratched the surface here - but I hope the reader gets some sense of why good representation, or at least good research, is vital to the successful outcome of a Social Security disability hearing.
(1) Sedentary work (2) light work (3) medium work (4) heavy work, or (5) very heavy work
In most cases, I have to prove that my client is not capable of even unskilled sedentary work. (If a claimant is capable of "very heavy work," then he or she is capable of performing all 4 of the categories below very heavy work).
You might think that it's fairly easy to prove that you cannot perform unskilled sedentary work. But it usually isn't. That is because there are so many types of unskilled sedentary work in the national economy and vast numbers of workers performing in each occupation.
A little vocational research reveals that there are 1,600 sedentary and light unskilled occupations in the national economy. Each occupation has thousands to hundreds of thousands of workers. These jobs can be classified in eight broad categories.And these are jobs that can be learned with just a short demonstration, or at least with 30 days or less of training; thus, no special education or training is necessary.
In a Social Security disability hearing, the Government will produce a vocational expert to testify concerning the types of jobs that may be available to the claimant. In order to prevail and win a claim, the claimant must demonstrate that there does not exist an adequate number of jobs that he or she can perform.
So the successful claimant must provide acceptable medical evidence to show a serious impairment AND acceptable vocational evidence to show that the impairment leaves him significantly restricted as to jobs available in the national, regional or local economy. Technically, at the 5th and final sequential step of a hearing, Social Security assumes some responsibility for proving that the claimant can work. However, if Social Security's witness offers evidence that the claimant can indeed perform some type of work, the claimant or his representative must be able to challenge that conclusion in order to win the case.
Most of the disability hearings that are lost, in my view, are lost at sequential steps 4 or 5. A vocational expert testifies that the claimant can perform some of his or her relevant past work (step 4), or that the claimant cannot perform relevant past work but can perform "other work" available in the national, regional or local economy (step 5).
We have only scratched the surface here - but I hope the reader gets some sense of why good representation, or at least good research, is vital to the successful outcome of a Social Security disability hearing.
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