The Social Security Disability sequential evaluation uses a five step process to determine if an individual is disabled. In part 5 of our six-part blog series, we look at whether or not you are capable of performing past relevant work, which is Step 4 of the Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Process used by the Social Security Administration in determining eligibility for benefits under the Social Security Act.
Qualifying for Social Security Disability
To qualify at this step, your impairments must prevent you from doing past relevant work. If SSA cannot make a decision based on your current work activity on medical facts alone, and if you have severe impairment(s), SSA will then review your residual functional capacity and the physical and mental demands of the work you have done in the past. If you can still do this kind of work, SSA will then find that you are not disabled.
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Social Security Disability Past Relevant Work Criteria
When a judge determines whether you can perform past relevant work, you should normally only address work that meets the following criteria:
1) You performed the work in the prior 15 years;
2) The work lasted long enough for you to learn to do it; and
3) The work was substantial gainful activity.
You bear the burden of proof for the first four steps, while at the fifth step the burden shifts to the Commissioner to show that you can perform other work.
Past work experience must have lasted long enough for you to learn to do it, involved significant physical or mental activities, and is the kind of work usually done for profit. Work performed for a short period of time is not considered relevant. The judge does not consider work done more than 15 years ago, because it is not realistic to expect that skills and abilities acquired in a job done then continue to apply.
Social Security Disability Based on Residual Functional Capacity
In deciding whether you can do your past work, the judge must review the physical and mental requirements of your past jobs and your Residual Functional Capacity (RFC). The RFC is what the claimant can still do despite his or her physical or mental impairment.
At this step in the process, the judge can consider you capable of performing a job regardless of the fact that you no longer reside in the country where the past work was performed. However, at the fifth step of the sequential evaluation process the burden shifts to the Commissioner to determine whether work is available in the national economy that you can perform.
At steps Four and Five of the sequential evaluation, the judge will determine your RFC. Non-medical evidence may be ‘vital’ in assessing the functional limitations of a mental impairment.
In part 6, our last installment in the Social Security Disability series, we look at Step 5 of the Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Process – Ability to Perform Other Work. Until then, visit disabilitydenials.com to learn more about your legal options and contact one of our Social Security disability attorneys.
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