The latest statistics regarding processing times at the Social Security hearing offices show a 377 day average processing time for claims at the Manchester, New Hampshire hearing office. Processing time runs from the day the hearing office receives a hearing request to the day a decision is issued.
GAF Score
Severe depression or anxiety is often a component of a Social Security disability claim. For claims involving mental health, the Global Assessment of Functioning score assessed by your mental health provider can provide a convenient benchmark for the administrative law judge.
The GAF scale is Axis V of the multiaxial assessment used by mental health clinicians. The GAF score offers a
What are Job Skills?
In the context of Social Security disability, the touchstone for job skills is Social Security Ruling 82-41. That Ruling states:
A skill is knowledge of a work activity which requires the exercise of significant judgment that goes beyond the carrying out of simple job duties and is acquired through performance of an occupation which
Judge Joseph Shortill coming to Portland, Maine
Judge Joseph Shortill is being transferred to the Portland Maine hearing office. His first day of hearings will be Easter Monday, April 13th.
Judge Shortill has been a Social Security administrative law judge in the Springfield, Massachusetts hearing office. I have had several hearings with him there, and in Worcester. He will be a terrific addition
Not all Past Work is Past Relevant Work
Social Security considers your Past Relevant Work (PRW) at step 4 of the sequential evaluation process. It is important to properly define your past relevant work, because it can only hurt you in a Social Security disability claim. If Social Security determines that you have the capacity to return to your PRW, your disability claim will
50 pounds
What weighs 50 pounds? This has been on my mind lately, because I have been working on a Social Security disability claim for a client who was given a medium exertional residual functional capacity by a physician at Disability Determination Services (DDS). A medium RFC requires (among other things) the ability to lift and carry 50 pounds for up to one-third of a workday.
I am often puzzled when I see a medium RFC, particularly for a claimant who is 55+ years old and has worked steadily for 35 years. Do they think that this person stopped work for no reason? Did they not look at the sterling work history? Do they understand that when someone complains repeatedly about back pain to the doctor, and has xrays and MRIs, that there is a genuine impairment? It is perplexing that a DDS physician or examiner would consider these things and still assess an RFC at the medium exertional level.
Happy Birthday FDR
Today is the birthday of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States, founder of the New Deal and the Social Security system.
As one who toils in the field that FDR made, I honor his memory today.
FDR was also a polio survivor. It is fitting that the Social Security system he created
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
Post Polio Sequelae and Social Security Disability
Post-polio sequelae (also called post polio syndrome or PPS) are often disabling symptoms that occur in many polio survivors much later in life, about 35 years after the poliovirus attack. The symptoms may include overwhelming fatigue, muscle weakness, chronic muscle and joint pain, sleep disorders, as well as difficulty swallowing and breathing.
You can learn more
Judge Frederick Harap Retires
Administrative law judge Fred Harap has retired. Judge Harap has been a fixture at the Manchester, New Hampshire Social Security hearing office for many, many years. He will certainly be missed.
There is no word yet whether Judge Harap will remain in New Hampshire in retirement, or move to Hawaii, where his son lives. As I