DESCRIBE YOUR PAST WORK CAREFULLY!

When you apply for Social Security disability benefits you will be sent a form titled Work History Report.  This form details your past work during the 15 year period prior to your application.  Let me explain why this form must be completed carefully and why it will impact a decision on your application.

Before Social Security can award any disability benefit, it must determine that you are no longer able to perform any past relevant work.  To make that decision, Social Security must have an accurate description of your past work and they must classify the work properly.

Here are the important things to describe accurately in the Work History Report:
  • The title of each job (and be sure the title accurately reflects what you did.  If you were a janitor, don't list the job as "chief engineer of sanitation").
  • A brief description of your main duties.  Example, "I cleaned offices, emptied trash, cleaned windows and performed general janitorial duties."
  • How much were you on your feet (standing/walking) out of a typical 8-hour workday?  This will help determine whether you job was sedentary or light exertion level).
  • What is the typical weight you frequently lifted as a routine part of your job (multiple times daily)?
  • What is the heaviest (maximum) weight that you ever lifted on your job--even if it was only very occasionally?
Applicants tend to see the Work History Report as another nuisance, just a time wasting form.  It is not.  Skipping over the Work History Report quickly, filling it out inaccurately, or failing to complete it at all can have devastating consequences on your claim.  It can also continue to haunt you throughout the appeals process after you are denied.

 Basically, the more difficult your past jobs were, the less likely you are to be able to perform that kind of work now.  This will work in your favor in an SSDI claim, but only if you provide Social Security with the correct information.

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