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.
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Vocational
Transferable Skills
By Gordon Gates on
Posted in Vocational
At step 5 of the sequential evaluation process, the SSA considers your vocational abilities in addition to your medical condition, age and education to determine whether or not you can perform other work.
Acquired job skills can affect the outcome at step 5 if those skills can readiliy transfer to other jobs. Vocational skills trump age in…
Judgment is not a Job Skill
By Gordon Gates on
Posted in Vocational
The Seventh Circuit recently decided that judgment is not a job skill for the purposes of a Social Security disability claim.
In Villano v. Astrue, __ F.3rd __, No. 08-2150 (7th Cir. Jan. 26, 2009) the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals stated:
In determining whether the claimant can perform jobs that exist in significant
…
What are Job Skills?
By Gordon Gates on
Posted in Vocational
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…
Not all Past Work is Past Relevant Work
By Gordon Gates on
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…
Sedentary exertional level
By Gordon Gates on
What is the sedentary exertional level for Social Security disability?
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…