Maine Social Security Disability Lawyer

Medium Exertional Work

A client recently retained me after receiving an inital denial of his Social Security disability claim. He over 55 years old, and can no longer do his past relevant work, partly due to knee and ankle problems resulting from an old injury.

I have reviewed the disability claim file, and he was denied disability because a doctor at DDS reviewed his medical records and assessed an RFC for medium work.

Now, this particular claimant has more functional limitations than just his exertional impairments. But since he is over the age of 55, the quickest route to victory at Reconsideration is to persuade Social Security that a medium exertional RFC is too much for this claimant. At the sedentary or the light exertional level, a claimant over the age of 55 grids "disabled" under medical-vocational rule 201.06 or 202.06.

What does medium work require? Medium work means lifting up to 25 pounds frequently (from 1/3 to 2/3 of the day) and up to 50 pounds occasionally (up to 1/3 of a day). See 20 C.F.R. 404.1567(c). Medium work means being on your feet for most of a workday. Also, the full range of medium work requires both frequent stooping and frequent crouching. See Social Security Ruling 83-14.

My new client cannot do these things. To win at Reconsideration, the medical evidence of record must demonstrate his fuctional limitations.

More on Social Security Denial Explanations

An error in the Explanation of Determination attached to your denial letter can present an opportunity for your Social Security disability attorney to practice some legal jujitsu. The error can be used to support an argument for reversal at the next stage of review. This argument is the most powerful when, but for the error in analysis, the claim should be granted.

For example, I have a new client who recently received his initial denial letter from Social Security. The explanation stated that the claimant cannot do his past work, but concluded that there is other work involving less strenuous lifting that the claimant could perform. That's standard step 5 language.

The problem with that analysis is that this claimant is almost 60 years old. Once you rule out past relevant work, if you limit a 60 year old claimant to jobs with no heavy lifting, that claimant must be found disabled (in the absence of transferable skills or education that leads to direct entry to skilled work) under Social Security's own Medical-Vocational Guidlelines.

This claim should be granted. A 60 year old claimant with an unskilled work background grids "disabled" even at the medium exertional level. {correction: actually, not quite. To grid "disabled" at the medium exertional level, a claimant must have an unskilled work background and a limited education or less. See Rule 203.02}

A recent article by Jericho, NY disability attorney Jeffrey Delott started me thinking more about this issue. Jeff wrote that he always highlights the defects in the explanation when he makes an on the record request at the hearing level.  Jeff's blog is always interesting reading, since most of his articles involve actual case stories. The blog also has a spiffy new design.

Sedentary exertional level

This query brought a visitor to my blog: What is the sedentary exertional level for SSA?

Social Security classifies the physical exertion requirements of jobs as sedentary, light, medium, heavy and very heavy. See 20 C.F.R. 404.1567. Social Security gives those terms the same meaning as they have in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

The sedentary exertional level involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at a time and occasionally lifting or carrying articles like files or other small items. Although a sedentary job is defined as one which involves sitting, a certain amount of walking and standing is often necessary. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally, and the other sedentary criteria are met.

Since being on one's feet is required "occasionally" at the sedentary level of exertion, periods of standing or walking should generally total no more than about 2 hours of an 8-hour workday, and sitting should generally total approximately 6 hours of an 8-hour workday. Further, most unskilled sedentary jobs require good use of the hands and fingers. Social Security Ruling 83-10.

Winning at Reconsideration

A client of mine just obtained a fully favorable decision at the Reconsideration level. 

In this particular case, Social Security assessed a residual functional capacity at the light exertional level. Since the claimant's past relevant work was also at the light exertional level, the claim was denied at step 4 of the sequential evaluation process. After receiving a denial notice, the claimant retained me. We appealed, and the claim went to Reconsideration.

I asked the claimant's doctor for her opinion on the claimant's limitations. The doctor completed a medical source statement, and assessed a sedentary RFC.

The doctor's medical source statement was adopted by the SSA. That sedentary RFC ruled out the claimant's past work at step 4. And since the claimant is over 50 and does not have transferable skills or education that provides for direct entry into skilled work, he grids "disabled" at step 5, under Rule 201.14 of the Medical-Vocational Guidelines. 

This is a fairly typical case story, and any Social Security disability lawyer worth his salt would obtain a medical source statement from the claimant's treating doctor. But why wait until the hearing? Why not do it soon after you get the case, so that you have a shot at winning at Reconsideration?

I treat Reconsideration like a hearing. I update medical records, get medical source statements when I can, and write a letter to the disability examiner explaining why the claim should be granted.

The Medical-Vocational Guidelines

The Medical-Vocational Guidelines are used by Social Security to determine disability due to exertional impairments at step 5 of the sequential evaluation process. The guidelines, or the "grids," consider a claimant's exertional level (that's the medical part) and the claimant's age, education and work history (the vocational factors). Depending upon these medical-vocational factors, the SSA determines that a person is either disabled or not disabled.

In general, the grids are not where you want to be as a claimant, because the grids direct a finding of "not disabled" in most situations. In fact, every claimant loses under the grids until age 50 (or age 45 if unable to communicate in English).

However, the grids are a two-edged sword. Once you reach the age of 50 (and have no transferable skills or education that allows direct entry to skilled work), the grids direct a finding of "disabled" at the sedentary exertional level. The SSA presumes that the transition to unskilled sedentary work is too difficult for these claimants. At age 55, that same claimant grids "disabled" at the light exertional level.

Let's look at an example to see how the grids operate.