Sometimes workers in chronic pain reduce their hours from full-time to part-time to try to stay employed and manage their pain. If this part-time work is above the SGA level, it can cause a problem for an eventual Social Security disability claim.
Social Security considers whether or not you can return to your past…
I recently read a good practice tip from Mobile Alabama Social Security lawyer Gilbert Laden in the April Social Security Forum, which is a newsletter published by NOSSCR for its members. Mr. Laden’s article is entitled Preparing a Detailed Work Background for the ALJ. Here is an excerpt:
I order a “Detailed Earnings…
Sometimes a prior job is actually more than one job at the same time. You were both a RN and a nurse supervisor. You were both a receptionist and a filing clerk. You were both a carpenter and a construction supervisor. These are called composite jobs.
If your past relevant work included a composite job, it can cause problems with your Social Security disability claim. The SSA must determine, at step 4 of the 5-step sequential evaluation process, whether you have the residual functional capacity to perform your past relevant work. Not only does Social Security consider your ability to do your past work as you performed it, but also as generally performed. And this is where the composite job can cause problems with a claim.
Typically, in the short space available on the work history report, you only give the job title for part of your composite job. Then you describe what you had to do. Social Security may find that you can’t do the job as you describe it, buy can still do that job as generally performed. The problem is that the “generally performed” analysis does not consider the composite nature of the job. The SSA will just use the job title that you gave in your work history report to determine how the job is generally performed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). If that past job was a composite job, this approach is incorrect under Social Security’s own rules.…
At step 4 of Social Security's sequential evalution process, 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.…
This article is the last in a series regarding how your previous work can affect your Social Security disability claim. We complete the series with an opinion from the highest court in the land, because there is actually a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding "previous work" in a Social Security disability claim. The case is Barnhart…
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…
Social Security must consider the combination of your impairments when considering your eligibility for benefits. Even non-severe impairments must be considered in combination with your severe impairments. See 20 C.F.R. 404.1523.
This can be very important. Sometimes a seemingly minor impairment can rule out your past relevant work, and move your claim past step…
As discussed in the previous post, step 4 of Social Security’s sequential evaluation process is a determination of your ability to retun to your past relevant work. Your "past relevant work" is work you have performed in the past 15 years at the SGA level.
All Social Security does at this step is compare your…
