Can You Perform Other Work? The Sequential Process

Can You Perform Other Work?

Understanding Step Five of Social Security’s Five-Step Sequential Evaluation Process

Part Six of Powell & Denny’s Guide to Social Security Disability Benefits

“Social Security agrees I can’t go back to my old job. Doesn’t that mean I should receive disability benefits?” 

Not necessarily.

Many people are surprised to learn that proving you cannot return to your previous job does not automatically mean your disability claim will be approved.  Instead, Social Security asks one final question:

Can you perform any other work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy?

That question forms Step Five of the disability evaluation process.

For many claimants, it is the last—and often the most important—step before a final decision is made.

Recommended Reading: What if I Cannot Return to my Job?

Where We Are in the Disability Process

The Powell & Denny Guide to Social Security Disability

✓ Part One

How Social Security Decides Disability

✓ Part Two

Can You Work?

✓ Part Three

Severe Impairment

✓ Part Four

Do You Meet a Listing?

✓ Part Five

Residual Functional Capacity (RFC)

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► PART SIX

Can You Perform Other Work?

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Part Seven

Pain and Other Symptoms

Part Eight

Who Has the Burden of Proof?

Step Five Begins With Good News

If your claim reaches Step Five, one important question has already been answered; Social Security has determined that you cannot return to your past relevant work.

That is a significant milestone.

Unfortunately, the evaluation is not over.  The Administration must now determine whether there is other work you can still perform.

Notice what Social Security is not asking.  It is not asking whether anyone in your hometown is hiring.  It is not asking whether an employer would actually offer you a job.

It is asking whether jobs exist in significant numbers that someone with your limitations could perform.

Your Age Matters

The law recognizes that learning a new occupation may become more difficult as people grow older.  Someone who has spent thirty years performing heavy labor may not easily transition into an office job.

That is why Social Security considers age as one of several vocational factors.

Generally speaking, advancing age may make it easier for some claimants to qualify for disability benefits, particularly when combined with significant physical limitations and a history of demanding work.

Recommended Reading: How Age Affects You Claim for Disability Benefits

Your Education Matters Too

Education is another vocational factor Social Security considers.

This does not mean having a college degree automatically disqualifies you, nor does having little formal education automatically qualify you.  Instead, Social Security considers how your education affects your ability to adjust to other work.

For example, someone with limited education and a lifetime of heavy manual labor may face different vocational challenges than someone whose work history involved skilled office employment.

We’ll discuss education in much greater detail in a future article because it is often misunderstood.

Your Work History Matters

Not all jobs are created equal.  Some jobs teach skills that easily transfer to other occupations, others do not.

For example, bookkeeping, computer programming, or drafting may involve skills that transfer to different types of employment.  On the other hand, many physically demanding occupations involve skills that are not easily transferable to less demanding work.

Social Security considers those differences when evaluating whether other work is available.

Recommended Reading: How Transferability of Acquired Skills Affect Your Claim for Disability Benefits

Figure 1

Residual Functional Capacity

│

▼

Age • Education • Work Experience

│

▼

Can You Adjust to Other Work?

│

Yes──┴────► Not Disabled

│

No

▼

Disabled

What Is a Vocational Expert?

If you attend a disability hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, you will often see another person in the hearing room.  That individual is called a Vocational Expert, often referred to as a VE.

The Vocational Expert does not decide your case.  Instead, he or she provides testimony regarding the types of jobs a person with certain limitations might still be able to perform.

The Judge may ask questions such as: Assume a person of the claimant’s age, education, work experience, and residual functional capacity…

Could that individual perform the claimant’s past work?

Could that individual perform other work?

The answers to those questions frequently become important evidence at Step Five.

Recommended Reading: What is the Role of the Vocational Expert?

Why Hypothetical Questions Matter

During the hearing, the Judge may ask the Vocational Expert to consider different hypothetical situations.  For example:

• What if the person can stand only two hours each day?
• What if the person must alternate between sitting and standing?
• What if pain interferes with concentration?
• What if medication causes drowsiness?
• What if the person would miss work several days each month?

Sometimes changing just one limitation changes the answer completely.  That is why accurately documenting your functional limitations is so important.

Recommended Reading: Why Postural Limitations Are So Important

The Medical-Vocational Guidelines

You may hear someone mention the Grid Rules.  These are guidelines Social Security uses in certain cases to help determine whether a claimant should be found disabled based upon factors such as:

• age;
• education;
• work experience; and
• Residual Functional Capacity.

The Grid Rules can be extremely important, particularly for older workers whose medical conditions prevent them from returning to physically demanding occupations.

Recommended Reading: Understanding the Grid Rules

Why Step Five Is Different

One important thing changes when your claim reaches Step Five.

Up to this point, you have been responsible for proving your disability claim.  At Step Five, however, Social Security must identify other work that someone with your limitations can perform.  That change in responsibility is an important part of the disability process, and we’ll explain it in detail in our final article of this series.

The Bottom Line

Reaching Step Five is significant.  It means Social Security has already determined that you cannot return to your past work.

The remaining question is whether you can adjust to other work that exists in significant numbers.  To answer that question, Social Security considers your:

• Residual Functional Capacity;
• age;
• education;
• work experience; and
• transferable skills.

For many claimants, this final step determines whether disability benefits are awarded.

Recommended Reading: What is Past Relevant Work and Why Does it Matter?

Recommended Reading

Continue the Powell & Denny Guide to Social Security Disability

✓ Part Five
Residual Functional Capacity (RFC): Where Many Disability Claims Are Won or Lost

Coming Next…

Can Chronic Pain Qualify You for Social Security Disability Benefits?

For many disability applicants, pain is the single greatest obstacle to maintaining employment.

Yet pain cannot always be measured by an MRI, X-ray, or blood test.

Does that mean Social Security ignores it?

Absolutely not.

In our next article, we’ll explain how Social Security evaluates chronic pain and other symptoms, why objective testing is only part of the analysis, and how a claimant’s testimony can become critical evidence in a disability case.