Physical Exertion and Job Skills in Disability Claims

Physical Exertion and Job Skills in Disability Claims
By Pitt Dickey

This column will examine how the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluates a person’s physical job demands and work skills acquired from prior jobs in deciding if the person is qualified for monthly Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits. The applicant’s health problems are certainly the primary consideration in a disability claim but other factors are also considered by the SSA.

To determine the physical requirements of jobs, the SSA uses a government document called the Dictionary of Occupational Titles. This publication places jobs into categories dependent upon how much physical exertion is required in each job. There are five classifications for work which will be described below:

Physical Demands of Jobs

Sedentary work: This type of job involves lifting no more than 10 pounds at any time with occasional lifting and carrying of items like file folders, ledgers and small tools. Sedentary jobs generally require mostly sitting but some walking and standing can also be a part of a sedentary job. The regulations describe a job a sedentary if there is occasional walking and standing and the weight requirements are also met.

Light work: This type of job involves lifting not more than 20 pounds at a time and frequent carrying of objects weighing up to 10 pounds. The SSA will classify a job as light work even if there is very little weight lifting if there is a “good deal” of walking and standing. If the job requires sitting most of the time with some pushing or pulling of arm or leg controls it is classified as light work. The SSA defines a “full range of light work” as requiring a person to be able to do substantially all of these physical tasks at the levels described. If a person can do light work, then the SSA will presume that he can also do sedentary work.

Medium Work: This type of job involves lifting of no more than 50 pounds with frequently lifting or carrying of objects that weigh up to 25 pounds. A person who can do medium work is presumed to be able to do light and sedentary work.

Heavy work: This type of job involves lifting of not more than 100 pounds at a time with frequent carrying or lifting of objects that weigh up to 50 pounds. A person who can do heavy work is presumed to be able to do medium, light and sedentary work.

Very heavy Work: This type of job involves lifting items that weigh more than 100 pounds with frequent carrying or lifting of objects that weigh more than 50 pounds. A person who can do very heavy work is presumed to be able to do heavy work, medium work, light work and sedentary work.

Skill level of Jobs

The SSA uses Department of Labor guidelines to classify jobs upon the amount of skill that is required to perform these jobs. There are three classifications of job skills.

Unskilled work: This job needs little or no judgment to do simple duties that can be learned on the job in a short period of learning. The job does not necessarily require any particular level of strength. Examples of jobs the SSA considers to be unskilled are handling, feeding, and placing or removing objects from machines which are operated by another person. Unskilled jobs can usually be learned in 30 days or less and require a small amount of vocational training or judgment. An employee who is doing unskilled work is not considered to be gaining work skills by the SSA.

Semi-Skilled work: These jobs need some skills but do not require performing more complex job related duties. These skills do require alertness and attention to observing machine processes, or inspecting, testing or looking for irregularities in products. These jobs also can require “tending to or guarding equipment, property, materials or persons against loss.” A job will be considered semi-skilled “if the employee must have coordination and dexterity as when hands or feet must be moved quickly to do repetitive tasks.”

Skilled work: These jobs require a person to use judgment to determine which machine or manual operations are performed in order to make the material to be produced. These jobs can include “laying out work, estimating quality, determining the suitability and needed quantities of materials, making precise measurements, reading blue prints, or making necessary computations or mechanical adjustments” to perform the work. These jobs also can require dealing with other people, mathematics, or abstract ideas.

Transferability of Skills

The SSA has to determine if the applicant’s past work history in semi-skilled or skilled work has provided him with skills that are transferable from the type of work he used to do to other types of work. The more similar the past work skills are to a new type job, the more weight the SSA gives to the person’s skills being transferable. The SSA position is that job skills are most likely to be transferable between jobs that have the same or a lesser degree of skill; use the same tools or machines; and use similar raw materials, products or services. It is not necessary for the job skills to totally match the new type job to be considered transferable.

Older Applicants

A claimant who is 55 years old or older who has a severe health impairment that limits him to doing light or sedentary work will be determined by the SSA to be unable to adjust to other types work unless he has skills that are very transferable to other semi-skilled or skilled jobs. If the claimant who is 55 or older has a severe health impairment that limits him to only sedentary work, then in most cases the SSA will find that his skills are not transferable. A claimant who is between ages 60 - 64 who has a severe impairment who is limited to only light work will usually be found by the SSA to have no transferable skills except for extremely similar jobs.

The SSA then evaluates the physical exertion requirements and the skill requirements with a grid called the Medical Vocational Guidelines to make a decision regarding disability in some cases. If the claimant has a severe impairment and cannot do his past work due to his illness then the SSA can use the guidelines to make a decision to award disability benefits. These guidelines do not always fit every case, as personal circumstances can vary greatly between claimants. However it is important to know that the guidelines do exist and the claimant’s past work history and level of physical activity in his prior job are considered in making the disability decision by the Social Security Administration.

Pitt Dickey has practiced law in Fayetteville since 1978. He has handled SSA disability claims for over twenty years.