"BUT THOSE JOBS AREN'T ACCEPTABLE."

At your disability hearing, a vocational expert testified. And she found examples of 3 jobs that you would be able to perform in spite of your medical impairments. For example, the vocational witness testifies that you could still perform the work of

1. Ticket Taker

2. Food and Beverage Order Clerk, and

3. Toy Stuffer

You may be well educated and accustomed to earning a lot more money than those jobs pay. Can you object to those jobs on the grounds that......

• They only pay minimum wage?

• No one will hire you for those jobs?

• You don't want to work at any of those jobs?

• There are none of these jobs in or near your hometown?

Actually, none of these statements matter to Social Security. They are looking for jobs that you could perform and the only pertinent factors are: age, residual functional capacity, education and past work experience or skills.

It doesn't matter that these jobs pay poorly. Social Security doesn't even consider pay scale.

It doesn't matter that nobody will hire you. If you are able to perform the work and there are a significant number of these jobs in the national economy, you can be denied because you "are able to work."

It doesn't matter that you don't care to work at any of these jobs. In Social Security disability, you don't get to choose the jobs you like and the ones you don't. If there are jobs you can do, you are not considered disabled.

It doesn't matter that none of these jobs are available near your home. The vocational expert uses the number of jobs available "in the national economy." So, it doesn't matter where the jobs are located, as long as they are in the United States.

So, is there any way to protest the jobs proposed by the expert? Yes, but we must attack the claimant's ability to perform the work, not the jobs themselves. For example, I might ask the vocational witness such questions as:

1. If the hypothetical individual would be off task at least 20 percent of the workday because of pain and/or anxiety, would the job of TOY STUFFER still be available? (No).

2. Assume that the individual would be absent at least 3 days per month due to medical treatment or symptoms of degenerative disc disease, would the job of TICKET TAKER be available? (No).

3. If the individual were limited to only occasional bending and never reaching with the dominant right upper extremity, would the job of toy PARKING GARAGE ATTENDANT be available? (No).

In each question, I am using information from the claimant's medical record to indicate that being a toy-stuffer requires physical and/or mental functions that the claimant cannot perform on a "regular and continuing basis," meaning--8 hours per day, 5 days per week, or an equivalent schedule. This may cause the presiding judge to re-think the expert's testimony and decide the case in our favor.

It's all about knowing how to object to the vocational witness's testimony.