WHAT YOU MUST DO TO GET SOCIAL SECURITY DISABILITY

Social Security uses a five point process to determine whether you meet their definition of “disabled.” There could be many definitions of disability, but Social Security requires you to meet their definition.

First, you must not currently be working a substantial job. Your job is considered substantial in 2021 if it pays at least $1,310 per month in gross wages. If you are working at this level, the case is denied here without consideration of medical conditions or anything else.

Second, you must have a severe, medically determinable impairment that has lasted or will last for at least 12 straight months. Impairments lasting fewer than 12 months cannot be paid unless they are expected to end in death.

Third, Social Security will decide if your severe impairment meets one of their Listings. Most will not. The agency will then determine your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). This means the maximum level of work-like activity that you can still do. They will place you in one of 5 exertion levels: Sedentary, Light, Medium, Heavy or Very Heavy.

Note if you have a mental or non-exertional impairment, different work restrictions can apply—such as inability to remember, concentrate, get along with others, etc.

The fourth consideration is whether you can perform any of your past relevant work. Social Security will consider the jobs you have held in the 15-year period prior to your application. If they find that you can still perform one of the past relevant jobs, you will get a denial at this point. If they decide that you cannot perform any past relevant work, then you move on to the final phase.

In phase 5, one final questions remains: Are there any other jobs which exist in the US economy that you could perform, given your age, education, past work history and Residual Functional Capacity. These jobs can be radically different than the work you have done in the past and may pay a lot less.

In this final step (#5) Social Security will bring in a vocational expert (called the “vocational witness”) to testify about other jobs that may still be available to you. Claimants will usually object that: “I can’t find a job like that. I don’t want a job like that. Nobody will hire me for one of those jobs. [or] I can’t possibly live on the wages those jobs pay.” None of this matters to Social Security.

So, it’s important to knock those jobs out of consideration early in the process by proving that the claimant’s impairments are so severe that no full-time work is possible. That’s really the challenge in nearly all Social Security disability hearings. If there are any jobs “left on the table” at the end of the hearing, Social Security wins and the claimant loses. This is what makes SSDI one of the toughest cases to win. It isn’t based on “common sense.” It’s based on medical proof and convincing a judge that your working days are over. That’s my job every time I walk into a disability hearing with a client.