While the vast majority of Social Security disability claimants will try to qualify under the normal Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Process, there are three exceptions that allow people who meet very specific criteria to also qualify as disabled and receive benefits. If you fit one of these three special medical-vocational profiles, your case may be evaluated outside of the Sequential Evaluation process.
Profile #1: Read More→
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has developed two sets of regulations to assess the numerous claims for Social Security disability benefits that it receives every year.
Listing of Impairments
One of the regulations the SSA has created is a Listing of Impairments, which is comprised of common physical and mental impairments. If the claimant meets the requirements of a listed impairment, he or she is said to “meet the Listing” and will qualify for Social Security disability benefits regardless of whether they can engaged in past relevant work.
However, if the claimant does not meet any of the Listings’ exact specifications, he or she can still be found disabled under the Listings if their Social Security disability attorney can successfully prove that their disability is as severe as a particular impairment in the Listing of Impairments. The claimant is then said to “equal the Listing.”
Medical-Vocational Guidelines
Another regulation created by the SSA is the Medical-Vocational Guidelines, which are used in cases where the claimant cannot be found disabled according to the standards of the Listing of Impairments but where the claimant’s Social Security disability attorney has successfully proven that the claimant cannot perform any past relevant work. The Medical-Vocational Guidelines only apply to disabling conditions.
You are not the only person who will testify at your disability hearing. A vocational expert will also testify. A vocational expert is someone with specialized knowledge about what it takes to do all types of jobs and how many of those jobs are in the local and national economy. After you testify, the judge and your lawyer will ask the vocational expert a series of hypothetical questions about how your physical and/or mental limitations would affect someone’s ability to do different types of jobs. Here are some of the issues that the vocational expert will consider: Read More→
If I cannot do my old job, will Social Security find that I am disabled?
I am asked this question a lot. The answer is: maybe! Social Security uses a two step process to determine if you are capable of returning to work. First, Social Security decision makers consider whether you are able to perform your “past relevant work.” If you are not, then they consider whether you are able to perform any other work.
Past Relevant Work
If you are capable of performing your past relevant work, you are not disabled. Your past relevant work is any work you did during the last 15 years that was substantial gainful activity (currently defined as earning $1010/month or more gross) and that you did for long enough to learn the job. To determine whether you are capable of performing past relevant work, Social Security decision makers will identify your easiest job from the past 15 years and compare your current residual functional capacity with the physical and mental demands of that job.
At this step, the Social Security Administration uses several rules that do not favor you. First, if you can do a past job as it is ordinarily done, then you will be found not disabled even though you are unable to do the past job as you actually performed it because it required greater effort. However, the converse of the rule is not applied in your favor. If the way you were required to do the job was easier than the way the job is ordinarily done, Social Security will use the requirements of your actual job to determine whether you can still do it.
In addition, it does not matter to Social Security whether there are any job openings for your former job, whether any employer would hire you to do it, or even whether the job still exists.
If you can perform your past relevant work, the only way you can qualify for disability benefits is to meet or medically equal one of the impairments in the Listing of Impairments talked about in my last blog post.
Other Work
At the final step, Social Security decision makers consider whether you are capable of adjusting to other work that exists in “significant numbers” in the national economy. Step 5 is the most complicated step in the sequential evaluation process.
At this step, Social Security decision makers consider your remaining work capacity, age, education and work experience. To assist with the decision, the Social Security Administration has developed Medical-Vocational Guidelines, also known as the “grids.” The grids incorporate the idea that the older and less well educated you are and the less skilled your former work, the harder it will be for you to adapt to a new job given your medical impairment.
As part of the evaluation of your disability claim, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will consider whether your medical findings and symptoms meet or “medically equal” findings and symptoms found in the Listing of Impairments. The Listing is a set of Social Security regulations organized by the systems of the body (e.g., musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive) and then by impairments (diseases) of those systems. For example, the Respiratory Listing covers impairments such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, lung transplant, and sleep related breathing disorders, to mention a few.
The Listing for a particular impairment provides specific medical findings and symptoms caused by that impairment. If you meet the Listing (i.e., your medical evidence shows that you have those medical findings and symptoms), you will be found disabled.
Even if your impairment does not meet the Listing of Impairments, you may be disabled if your impairment is medically equivalent to impairment in the Listing. For example, you may have multiple impairments, none of which meet a Listing, but cumulatively they are as severe as a Listing. Or you may have an impairment that is not included in the Listing, but is just as severe as a similar impairment that does appear in the Listing. An opinion from a medical expert hired by the SSA is necessary to determine if your impairment medically equals a listed impairment.
If your impairment does not meet or medically equal a Listing, you may still be found disabled if the SSA determines that you cannot do “past relevant work” and that you cannot adjust to other work because of your impairment.
For more information about Social Security disability claims, order a FREE copy of my book, Unofficial Guide to Social Security Disability Claims, and look through the rest of this website. If you need help with your disability claim, contact my office today at 410-823-8200.
To be eligible to receive disability benefits, you must have a mental or physical condition that is disabling and lasts, or is expected to last, for at least 12 continuous months – or is expected to result in death.
If you have a chronic condition that gets better and worse or has short remission periods, you may be concerned about this requirement. The duration requirement is not usually a problem in such cases as long as the active periods of your illness prevent you from engaging in substantial gainful activity on a sustained basis.
When a claim is denied for failure to meet the duration requirement, it’s usually because the impairment is the type that is likely to improve within 12 months. If you have not met the impairment requirement and have a type of impairment that may or may not improve, sometimes the decision on your case will be delayed to see if you meet the duration requirement. The duration requirement is often not a problem in cases that require a hearing because the 12 months usually pass by the time you actually attend a hearing.
If you satisfy the twelve-month duration requirement, but your condition then improves enough for you to work, you may be eligible for a closed period of disability. This means that you will ask for a limited amount of disability benefits instead of ongoing benefits.
These are just some of the requirements you must meet to qualify for Social Security disability benefits. If you haven’t already done so, please order a FREE copy of my book, Unofficial Guide to Social Security Disability Claims. I also invite you to visit the rest of this website for more information and resources regarding Social Security disabilty benefits.
If you need help with your disability claim, contact my office today at 410-823-8200.
To qualify for disability benefits, you must have a severe medically determinable impairment. The purpose of this requirement is to weed out frivolous cases in which the claimant has no medically determinable impairment or only a slight impairment.
The condition or conditions that keep you from working must be medically determinable. A medically determinable impairment requires medical signs and laboratory findings. Your symptoms alone, no matter how genuine, are not enough. For example, if you complain of symptoms that do not constitute a “medical condition,” the Social Security Administration (SSA) will deny your request for disability benefits. The SSA will consider the symptoms both separately and together in order to determine if a medically recognized condition exists.
If your treating doctor has provided a diagnosis for your medical condition, you will likely have enough evidence to convince the SSA that you have a medically determinable impairment. Even if your doctors disagree on the correct diagnosis, as long as your medical findings show an abnormality, the SSA will conclude that you have a medically determinable impairment. The next question is whether the impairment is severe.
According to the SSA, a “severe impairment” is one that is supported by medical evidence and has an impact on your “residual functional capacity.” Residual functional capacity is a measure of the work related tasks you are capable of, given your mental or physical impairment. For example, a back condition that prevents you from sitting or standing for long periods would have a large impact on your residual functional capacity.
SSA will also consider the effect of subjective symptoms, such as pain or dizziness, on your residual functional capacity as long as they arise from a medically determinable impairment.
A non-severe impairment is a condition that has no medical support or does not influence your ability to complete work duties.
These are just some of the requirements you must meet in order to qualify for Social Security disability benefits. I encourage you to order a FREE copy of my book, Unofficial Guide to Social Security Disability Claims, and invite you to visit the rest of this website. If you need help with your disability claim, contact my office today at 410-823-8200.
The last two steps of Social Security’s 5 step Sequential Evaluation Process examine your ability to work. At Step 4, Social Security decision makers consider whether you are able to perform your “past relevant work,” and at Step 5, they consider whether you are able to perform other work.
Step 4: Past Relevant Work
If you are capable of performing your past relevant work, you are not disabled. Your past relevant work is (1) any work you did during the last 15 years (2) that was substantial gainful activity and (3) that you did for long enough to learn the job.
To determine whether you are capable of performing past relevant work, Social Security decision makers will identify your easiest job from the past 15 years and compare your current residual functional capacity with the physical and mental demands of that job.
At this step, the Social Security Administration uses several rules that do not favor claimants. First, if you can do a past job as it is ordinarily done, then you will be found not disabled even though you are unable to do the past job as you actually performed it in the past, because it required greater effort. However, the converse of the rule is not applied in your favor. If the way you were required to do the job was easier than the way the job is ordinarily done, Social Security will use the requirements of your actual job to determine whether you can still do it.
In addition, it does not matter to Social Security whether there are any job openings for your former job, whether any employer would hire you to do it, or even whether the job still exists.
If you can perform your past relevant work, the only way you can qualify for disability benefits is to meet or medically equal one of the impairments in the Listing of Impairments at Step 3 of the sequential evaluation process.
Step 5: Other Work
At the final step, Social Security decision makers consider whether you are capable of adjusting to other work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy. Step 5 is the most complicated step in the sequential evaluation process.
At this step, Social Security decision makers consider your remaining work capacity (or RFC), age, education and work experience. To assist with the decision, the Social Security Administration has developed Medical-Vocational Guidelines, also known as the “grids.” The grids incorporate the idea that the older and less well educated you are and the less skilled your former work, the harder it will be for you to adapt to a new job given your medical impairment.
For more information about Social Security disability claims, order a FREE copy of my Unofficial Guide to Social Security Disability Claims by clicking on the image in the right column on this page.
At Step 3 of the Sequential Evaluation Process, the SSA will consider whether your medical findings and symptoms meet or are “medically equal” to findings and symptoms found in the Listing of Impairments.
The Listing is a set of Social Security regulations organized by the systems of the body (e.g., musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, digestive) and then by impairments of those systems. For example, the Respiratory Listing covers impairments such as asthma, cystic fibrosis, lung transplant, and sleep related breathing disorders, to mention a few.
The Listing for a particular impairment provides specific medical findings and symptoms caused by that impairment. If you meet the Listing (i.e., your medical evidence shows that you have those medical findings and symptoms), you will be found disabled.
Even if your impairment does not meet the Listing of Impairments, you may be disabled if your impairment is medically equivalent to an impairment in the Listing. For example, you may have multiple impairments, none of which meet a Listing, but cumulatively they are as severe as a Listing. Or you may have an impairment that is not included in the Listing, but is just as severe as a similar impairment that does appear in the Listing.
If your impairment does not meet or is not medically equal to a Listing, you may still be found disabled if at Step 4, the SSA determines that you cannot do “past relevant work” and at Step 5, the SSA determines that you cannot adjust to other work because of your impairment.
Watch for my next blog on Steps 4 and 5 of the Sequential Evaluation Process.
To be eligible to receive disability benefits, you must have a mental or physical condition that lasts, or is expected to last, for at least 12 continuous months or is expected to result in death.
If you have a chronic condition that gets better and worse or has short remission periods, you may be concerned about this requirement. The duration requirement is not usually a problem in such cases so long as the active periods of your illness prevent you from engaging in substantial gainful activity on a sustained basis. However, you may not string together unrelated severe impairments to meet the duration requirement.
When a claim is denied for failure to meet the duration requirement, it’s usually because the impairment is the type that is likely to improve within 12 months. The duration requirement is often not a problem in cases that require a hearing because the 12 months usually have passed by the time you actually attend a hearing.
If you satisfy the twelve-month duration requirement, but your condition then improves enough for you to work, you may ask for a finding of a closed period of disability during which you would potentially be eligible for benefits.
Watch for my next blog on Step 3 of the Sequential Evaluation Process.
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