At step 4 of Social Security's sequential evaluation, the SSA considers your ability to perform your past relevant work. This is a very important step in the process, because if the SSA determines that you retain the residual functional capacity to return to your past relevant work, your disability claim will be denied.
For
Every other Friday on this site you will find a selection of recent posts from the Social Security disability blogs. Also, here is a recent picture of baby Bridget.
The ability to lift and/or carry is one of the basic building blocks of a worker's Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). However, the focus is almost always on the lifting, and it shouldn't be.
I had a conversation recently with a client with leg problems due to neuropathy. I asked about lifting 20 pounds (required
The Saco, Maine Social Security field office is moving from the 5th Floor of the Saco "Island Point" building at 110 Main Street to newly renovated space on the 4th Floor of the same building. The office will be closed Thursday August 26 and Friday August 27 for the move. The office will reopen on
Social Security considers the age of the claimant at step 5 of the sequential evaluation. Age plays no role in steps 1 through 4.
Age is a vocational factor which dictates where you fall in the Medical-Vocational Guidelines, which are used to determine disability at step 5 for claimant’s who have physical impairments.
Every other Friday I link to recent posts of interest from the Social Security disability blogs. An archive of previous disability blog roundups is available in the sidebar.
The latest average processing time statistics for Social Security hearing offices around the country were distributed by NOSSCR in the July 2010 Social Security Forum, a newsletter for its members.
The average processing time for the Portland, Maine hearing office is now 352 days, just two weeks shy of one year.
Processing time runs
The latest statistics for average processing time have been released by the SSA and distributed by NOSSCR in its July 2010 newsletter. The Manchester, NH Social Security hearing office has an average wait time of 412 days, or about 14 months, for a decision.
Processing time runs from the day the hearing office receives your
Now that you are here, if you haven't found exactly what you are looking for, take a look at the "Important Topics" list on the sidebar.
If you don't see what you are looking for there, please search this blog. The search box is in the sidebar.
This site has 350 posts on various
Years ago I had a Seamanship instructor who used to say: prepare for the worst, and hope for the best. That phrase was repeated so many times that it became something of a mantra.
I still live by that phrase, because it aptly characterizes what one should do as a lawyer, and what I do to