Your disability claim will be denied again if the vocational expert at your hearing agrees that, although you can't do your past work, there is other work you can still do. The best way to win this stage of your disability appeal hearing is to rule out the proposed jobs that the VE says you can do.
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Hello , i had my hearing a week ago today , the judge asked the ve if i could do my past work , ve said no med-heavy work and then he asked ve say someone same age education and several other limtations find work in the national economy, ve said yes 25-50k jobs in the national economy some store clerk light to sedintary work and then my ...
· But the attorney will not ask many questions to the VE is going to say there is work available. Simply because the VE says there is no work in a given situation, it doesn't mean you automatically won. There are cases where VE testimony will make or break a case, but it depends a lot on the case itself and the Judge involved.
If your disability claim is denied because Social Security says there is "other work" you can do (rather than your past work), you'll need to request an appeal hearing. Your disability claim will be denied again if the vocational expert at your hearing agrees that, although you can't do your past work, there is other work you can still do.
· Only if there is a med-voc rule that says you are disabled or if there are no jobs you can do will the judge end the decision by saying that you are granted disability benefits. (Read our article on how to prove there are no other jobs you can do.) Updated February 24, 2022
A vocational expert (VE) is an "expert witness" called by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to testify at your disability appeal hearing. A VE knows about job availability in the current labor market and the skills needed to perform certain jobs. A VE is present at about 85% of disability hearings.
Social Security Regulations on Transferability of Skillsmaking exact measurements.setting up and operating complex machinery.training or supervising others.reading blueprints.typing.filing documents, and.conducting inventory.
Vocational Consultants works with private individuals, lawyers, courts and public agencies to provide information about job potential, income potential, employment potential and loss of income, due to physical, emotional, educational or employment limitations.
§ 1382c(a)(3)(B) as the State of California, and 2,500 jobs in California constituted a significant number of jobs in the region.
Unskilled labor is a workforce with limited skills or minimal economic value for the work performed. Typically, unskilled laborers are used in daily production tasks that do not depend on technical abilities or skills.
Skilled labor refers to work that requires a certain amount of training or skills. This type of work is exemplified in electricians, administrative assistants, doctors, plumbers and more. Skilled labor workers are either blue-collar or white-color.
Past relevant work is work that you have done within the past 15 years, that was substantial gainful activity, and that lasted long enough for you to learn to do it. (See § 404.1565(a).) (2) Determining whether you can do your past relevant work. We will ask you for information about work you have done in the past.
Skills that can only be used in one area, such as cash-flow planning in accounting, are non-transferable skills. These hard skills can be thought of as job-specific skills instead of transferable skills.
Winning a disability claim generally gets easier for people as they become older. This is particularly true for people over the age of 60. However, some older folks choose to apply for early retirement at age 62 or 63 rather than applying for disability.
Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) is used to identify a job's skill level when Social Security examines Past Relevant Work (PRW) and other potential job titles using the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).
To avoid losing your hearing based on the VE's testimony, consider hiring an experienced disability lawyer to represent you in your appeal hearing.
At your hearing, the judge, and your attorney or nonattorney representative (if you are represented) will ask you questions about your disability and questions about your work history. The vocational expert will then classify each of your relevant prior jobs to determine whether you can do your past job, and if not, what transferable skills you have.
If the VE testifies that you can no longer do your past work, the ALJ and your representative will then ask the VE more hypotheticals to see if you can do any other jobs. A hypothetical for a person with severe spinal stenosis may look like this:
This is the most important part of the hearing: the cross-examination of the vocational expert. If you don't challenge the VE's opinion on what jobs you can do, you'll likely lose your hearing. Recent government statistics show that c laimants are approved for benefits less often when there is a VE at the hearing (80% as often as claimants without a VE at the hearing.)
If you are represented, your attorney will be allowed to ask the VE follow-up questions after the ALJ has finished asking questions. Your attorney will try to rule out the jobs that the VE stated someone with your limitations could do, often by including some limitations that the judge left out of the hypothetical. Your attorney's goal is to try to get the VE to say that there are no jobs available that you can do.
It really depends on the Judge, Often the ALJ just wants the VE to classify past relevant work so they know if you fit into certain rules. Sometimes they have already decided that you are either disabled or could do a broad range of activity. The attorney did the right thing by asking the VE all those questions in case of an appeal.
The smart attorney knows when to keep his or her mouth shut. You are responsible for showing that you cannot perform any of the work you have performed in the past 15 years. Once that happens, the burden shifts to SSA - here the judge - to prove what jobs, if any, you can do.
Since you stated you have an attorney you need to be asking them these questions.
The best way to win this stage of your disability appeal hearing is to rule out the proposed jobs that the VE says you can do. You can counter the VE's testimony by showing that you don't have the transferable skills from your prior jobs that the VE thinks you have.
If your disability claim is denied because Social Security says there is "other work" you can do (rather than your past work), you'll need to request an appeal hearing. Your disability claim will be denied again if the vocational expert at your hearing agrees that, although you can't do your past work, ...
You can counter the VE's testimony by showing that you don't have the transferable skills from your prior jobs that the VE thinks you have. It is important to make sure the VE understands the tasks you learned in your old job to ensure that the VE doesn't think you are qualified for certain other work when you are not.
If the VE or the ALJ is misled due to your job title, your attorney can question you at the hearing so that your testimony reflects the actual skills you learned at the job. This is important for several reasons. For one, if the VE classifies you with the wrong job title, he or she will assume you have skills you don't have.
Claimant's position was, in fact, as a sorter whose primary responsibility was to examine and discard non-conforming products from the packaging line. Based on claimant's testimony regarding her actual job duties, the VE determined that the claimant's past work was unskilled and that she had no transferable skills.
It is important to make sure the VE understands the tasks you learned in your old job to ensure that the VE doesn't think you are qualified for certain other work when you are not. For instance, if the VE thinks you worked at a semi-skilled job such as running a cash register at a supermarket, when in fact you worked the unskilled job of bagger at a supermarket, the VE is going to mistakenly think you have more skills and training than you actually have.
When you discuss your work history, don't use a job title for your past position in a way that suggests you had more responsibility than you did, and don't exaggerate your job functions. For example, only use the term "manager" if you supervised other employees. The reason this is important is because the more skilled your past work (managing employees is considered skilled), the easier it is for the VE to say there are jobs you are able to do. In other words, the more skills you have, the more difficult it can be to rule out other jobs. This is why it's important to be careful when you answer the judge's questions about your past jobs.
After you attend a disability appeal hearing and the administrative law judge (ALJ) has heard your case, the judge will send a written opinion (decision) to you. The decision will state whether you were approved or denied, ...
Another way a judge can make a partial approval is by approving you for a "closed period" of benefits. In this case, the judge believes that you were disabled when you applied, but are no longer disabled. The judge will approve you from your alleged onset date or a later onset date, to the date he or she believes your condition improved to the point where you weren't disabled. For more information, see our article on closed periods of disability benefits.
At the third step of the analysis, the written opinion will discuss whether your impairment meets or equals one of the medical conditions (called a listing) that qualify for automatic approval. If your condition does meet or equal a disability listing, the hearing decision will explain why your illness qualifies. For example, if you suffer from disabling asthma that has required repeated hospitalizations, the decision will review each hospitalization and the treatment you received, and explain why your condition meets the listing requirements for asthma. If your impairment does not meet or equal a listing, the ALJ will discuss why not, in detail, and continue to step four of the analysis.
This date is then called your established onset date. If the established onset date is later then the onset date you alleged on your application, the amount of back pay you will receive will be less (although it won't affect your future monthly payments). For more information on how your back payments will be affected, see our article on past due benefits.
A full approval means that the ALJ agrees with you as to the date you became disabled. If you win a full approval (called a fully favorable decision), you will be awarded benefits back to your alleged onset date.
If the ALJ denies your claim, you have 60 days to ask the Appeals Council (AC) to review your case. Your appeal must be in writing and, in order to be successful, must demonstrate that the ALJ's decision was not based on substantial evidence.
Lastly, the ALJ might deny your disability claim outright. If the ALJ denies your claim, you have 60 days to ask the Appeals Council (AC) to review your case. Your appeal must be in writing and, in order to be successful, must demonstrate that the ALJ's decision was not based on substantial evidence. New and material evidence, such as lab results the ALJ did not review, can also be grounds for an appeal. Although you can file an appeal with the AC on your own, you have a greater chance of success if you consult an attorney with experience in appealing disability denials. For more information, see our article on appealing a disability denial to the Appeals Council.
Denials. If your disability claim was denied, your file will usually be held at OHO (formerly known as ODAR) in case you appeal. You will be sent a notice of denial and instructions on how to appeal (see below).
If the Social Security representative at the district office doesn't find anything wrong with your eligibility, you will be sent a Notice of Award letter telling you whether the judge gave you a fully favorable or partially favorable decision.
The Notice of Award letter gives you the deadline for appealing an ALJ decision: 60 days after you receive the hearing notice.
If you were approved only for SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance), your file will then be sent to a payment processing center and you should start to receive payments within a month (assuming the judge agreed your onset date is more than five months before the approval date).
The representative will also ask about bank accounts and other government benefits (such as unemployment or workers' comp), to make sure that your resources are still below the limits for SSI eligibility. If you are still eligible for SSI, you should start to receive payments within a couple of months.
You can request an appeal by writing to the SSA and requesting an Appeals Council review or by completing Form HA–520 (Request for Review of Hearing Decision/Order).
After you've attended your disability hearing before an administrative law judge (ALJ), your disability file will remain at the hearings office (the Office of Hearings Operations, or OHO) until the ALJ makes his or her decision. Once the administrative law judge has made his or her decision, the decision is actually written by staff decision ...