What work activities you can do physically despite an injury or other medical impairment has a critical role in Social Security disability and workers comp law.
For example, your exertional (strength) abilities often determine:
The ORS gives job-related information about many factors, including the physical demands and cognitive and mental requirements for jobs in the national economy.
In addition, the ORS divides jobs into five strength levels: sedentary, light, medium, heavy, and very heavy. And these terms are used frequently in Social Security disability, workers compensation, and functional capacity evaluations (FCEs) with impairment ratings.
This article explains:
Effectively proving what you can and cannot do and negotiating return to work issues are necessary to getting and keeping disability and income replacement payments.
And I hope this information helps you and your family.
If you have a question or would like a free consultation, contact us today. We have helped thousands of people get results. And we want to put our skills to work for you.
You have probably heard the term sedentary before. And usually in a negative way.
For example, health care providers warn that a sedentary lifestyle – one characterized by spending too much time sitting or resting and too little time exercising or performing physical activities – increases your risk of disease.
But that is not what judges, doctors, and attorneys mean when referring to sedentary work in disability and workers comp claims. Instead, we use the term to define specific types of jobs.
Social Security Ruling (SSR) 83-10 explains the functional requirements of work performed at the sedentary exertional level.
The SSA defines sedentary work as jobs involving:
Suppose Disability Determination Services (DDS) or the administrative law judge holds you can perform sedentary work. In that case, it means they find your work capability is exertionally sufficient to allow performance of at least substantially all of the work activities at that level.
Next, Social Security will analyze whether you did any of your past relevant work (jobs performed at the substantial gainful activity (SGA) level in the past fifteen years) at the sedentary level. Or whether your past relevant work is sedentary as typically performed in the national economy.
If the answer to either question is yes, then Social Security will deny your claim unless you prove that you have non-exertional limitations that prevent you from doing those jobs.
If the answer to both questions is no, Social Security uses the Medical-Vocational Guidelines (the “Grid Rules”) to determine if you are disabled.
The Grid Rules contain three charts that answer whether you are disabled for different combinations of age, education, work experience, literacy, and maximum physical capacity remaining despite your medical impairments. If your profile matches one of the rules, that rule determines whether the SSA finds you disabled.
However, the match between your profile and a specific rule must be exact. If you cannot do a full range of sedentary work for any reason, including non-exertional limitations, the ALJ should call a vocational expert to testify. The Grid Rules may serve as a framework, but additional evidence is needed for the SSA to deny your claim.
Several sources provide job descriptions you can review to find sedentary work.
For example, Social Security uses the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (D.O.T.).
The problem with this source, however, is the U.S. Department of Labor has not updated it since the 1990s. And many jobs listed in the D.O.T. are performed much differently now or are obsolete due to technological advances.
Another widely recognized source of job descriptions is O*Net, the Occupational Information Network. O*Net is a database that describes the knowledge, skills, abilities, preparation, and task requirements for more than 1,000 occupations.
Last year (2021), the ORS found that less than thirty percent of U.S. Civilian Workers held jobs associated with the sedentary strength level.
Here is a list of some occupations often considered sedentary:
Some of you reading this article might need to prove that you cannot perform a full range of sedentary work to get or keep disability or workers comp benefits.
Proving that you cannot do a sit-down job seems impossible. But it is not.
To show that you cannot do a full range of sedentary work, I recommend developing and presenting evidence in one or more areas below addressing exertional and non-exertional job requirements.
Every additional limitation helps you eliminate other jobs in significant numbers in the national economy, increasing the likelihood of winning your claim.
Not exactly.
Generally, workers’ comp uses a definition of sedentary work similar to the one the Social Security Administration uses to decide SSDI and SSI claims.
However, your overall (general) work capacity does not determine if you get indemnity benefits (temporary total, temporary partial, or permanent partial disability).
Instead, workers comp examines if you can fully perform the duties of your pre-injury employment. And not just most of the responsibilities, but all.
Indeed, judicial precedent in Virginia states that a workers’ compensation claimant “is unable to return to pre-injury employment until she can perform all the tasks that were required or expected of her at the time of the accident.” And in determining whether the employee can return to pre-injury employment duties, the Commission does not look at how you could ideally perform the responsibilities but rather how you did them.
Therefore, the focus of your occupational injury claim should be showing why you cannot perform every task of your pre-injury job.
And I recommend obtaining a written description of your pre-injury job that includes all the physical and mental requirements, then asking your treating physician to comment on what specific tasks you cannot do because of the work injury.
This same strategy applies if the insurer asks you to perform a light-duty job that you believe is outside of your restrictions.
Or, if seeking compensation for permanent loss of use, you should focus on obtaining an impairment rating showing the percentage of functional loss suffered from the injury and resulting pain. Indeed, this benefit type does not depend on your work status.
In addition, a doctor’s opinion limiting you to sedentary work after you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI) for a work-related back injury, knee injury (torn ACL/meniscus), or ankle or foot injury will increase settlement value. For example, many of you in nursing, airline work, construction, and trucking will not be able to perform your pre-injury job if limited to sedentary work.
In this situation, the vocational counselor will likely need more time to find appropriate work that may pay significantly less. This scenario would increase your case’s value because you remain eligible for wage loss benefits.
The proper classification of your past work, current functional capacity, and other work the fact finder (SSA or workers comp claim adjuster) says you can do are critical to getting every dollar. An incorrect finding, or a lack of proof offered by you, may cost you tens of thousands of dollars.
You can take on experienced professionals alone.
Or you can focus on your recovery and let my firm get to work for you.
Contact us now for a free consultation. Let’s get started.