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.
I have a hearing today with one of the new judges in Manchester, New Hampshire for a claim involving work under special conditions.
Social Security’s regulations discuss work activity in 20 C.F.R. 404.1573, and work under “special conditions” is covered in 404.1573(c):
If your work is done under special conditions, we may find
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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 light exertional level involves lifting no more than 20 pounds at a time with frequent…
At step 5 of the sequential evaluation process, Social Security considers four factors to determine whether or not you are disabled: your residual functional capacity, your age, your education, and your work experience. 20 C.F.R. 404.1520(a)(4)(v).
Social Security defines several educational levels. See 20 C.F.R. 404.1564.
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An important aspect of your past relevant work is the skills you may have learned on the job. Social Security analyzes skills using the Specific Vocational Preparation (always referred to as SVP) criteria set forth in Appendix C of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.
The SSA recognizes three classifications of skill level: unskilled work, semi-skilled work and skilled work. Let's…
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 requires a medically determinable physical or mental impairment as the basis for a finding of disability. The "medically determinable" language is part of the definition of disability in the Social Security Act itself. See 42 U.S.C. 423(d)(1)(A).
A physical or mental impairment must be established by medical evidence consisting of signs, symptoms, and…
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…
Certain findings in a Social Security disability case are reserved to the Commissioner. Particularly, the determination of whether or not your are disabled is reserved to the Commissioner. See 20 C.F.R. 404.1527(e). Therefore, your doctor's opinion that you are disabled in given no special significance by the SSA.
Ruling 96-5p gives five examples of issues…
The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is a numeric scale (from 0 to 100) used by doctors and mental health clinicians to rate the social, occupational and psychological functioning of adults.
The scale is found in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders (DSM-IV), which is published by the American Psychiatric Association, and provides the diagnostic criteria…
