Work Experience, Age and Education in Social Security Disability Claims
By Pitt Dickey

Illness or injury are not the only factors the Social Security Administration considers in determining if a person qualifies for disability benefits. The applicant’s health problems are certainly the primary consideration but not the only issue in a disability claim. This column will examine how the Social Security Administration (SSA) evaluates a person’s past work history, age and educational background in deciding if the person is qualified for monthly Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits.

The SSA makes a determination about what a person can be expected to do after it has evaluated his health problems impact on his ability to work. This evaluation is called the person’s residual functional capacity. This decision means what can the person do after the limitations imposed by his illness. The SSA compares the applicant’s residual functional capacity with the physical and mental job demands of the applicant’s past relevant work. Past relevant work essentially includes all of the jobs held by the person in the 15 years prior to his application for disability benefits.

Prior Work Experience

The first decision that the SSA makes is whether the applicant can still do any of his prior jobs. If the SSA decides that the applicant can still perform any of his former jobs, the SSA will deny his disability claim at that point. The SSA stops the decision process and will not reach the issues of the applicant’s age, education and work experience. If the SSA determines that the applicant can’t do any of his prior work, then it will decide if he can do any other type of work that exists in significant numbers in the national economy.

If the SSA decides the applicant can’t do his prior past relevant work, then the SSA will use the applicant’s residual functional capacity, age, education and work experience to decide if there are other types of work he can do other than his past jobs. The SSA categorizes jobs into levels of physical difficulty ranging from unskilled physical labor, heavy work, medium work, light work and sedentary work. For example the SSA will award disability benefits to a person who has done only difficult physical labor for at least 35 years, and who has a less than high school education which prevents him from doing his former job.

However if the person has continued to work despite having serious health problems that would otherwise have merited awarding him disability benefits the SSA will not automatically award benefits to the same person in the example given above. In other words, if the applicant continues to work despite terrible health problems which would have sidelined most other people, the SSA can deny his disability claim based on his determination to keep on working.

Age Considerations

The age of the applicant is also an important consideration for the SSA in determining eligibility for Social Security disability insurance benefits. The younger a person is, the more difficult it is for him to be determined to be disabled based upon age alone. The SSA has divided up the population into specific age groups which are set out below. The SSA does not mechanically follow the age groups in determining disability; if a person is within a few months of reaching an age which would allow the SSA to award disability benefits to a person in the next older age bracket, the SSA can award benefits despite the person not meeting the precise age level.

People under the age of 50 are classified as “younger persons”. The SSA does not generally consider the age of people under 50 to be an obstacle to learning to do other types of work. However persons in the 45- 49 age group in some cases can be considered by the SSA to have an age obstacle in performing other work. The next age group are those between the ages of 50-54 who are classified as a “person closely approaching advanced age.” The SSA considers that people in this age group may very well have age as an obstacle in performing other types of work. The next age group is for people between the ages of 55 and 60 who are classified as a “person of advanced age.” The SSA considers people above 55 to 60 to be significantly affected by their age in being able to perform other types of work. The last age category of the SSA is for people who are between the ages of 60 to 64 who are classified as “closely approaching retirement age.” The SSA considers people in this age group to have the most difficulty in performing other jobs due to their age.

Educational Background

The SSA uses the person’s educational background as a guide in determining disability. Generally the more education a person has the more likely the SSA will deny his disability application on the theory that a person with a graduate degree has more job opportunities than a person with a high school education. Educational backgrounds are classified as follows:

Illiteracy: This is a person who cannot read or write although the person may be able to sign their name.

Marginal Education: This person will have some ability in reasoning, arithmetic, and language skills to the extent he can do simple unskilled types of jobs. Persons who have a sixth grade education or less are considered to have a marginal education.

Limited Education: This person has some reasoning, arithmetic and language skills that allow him to do most of the job skills of semi-skilled or skilled jobs. Persons who have a 7th grade to 11th grade education are considered to have a limited education.

High school education and above: These persons are generally considered to be able to do semi-skilled through skilled jobs.

Inability to communicate in English: As English is the language of America the SSA will consider an inability to speak English to be a factor in evaluating what type of work that person can do.

These factors all go into the mix of the SSA’s decision making process in each disability claim. The person’s health problems are obviously very important but are not the only considerations used by the SSA in evaluating disability applications.

Pitt Dickey has practiced law in Fayetteville since 1978. He has handled SSA disability claims for over twenty years. He practices with the firm of Smith Dickey Dempster & Carpenter, P.A. at 555 Executive Place, Fayetteville, N.C. He can be reached at 485-8020 or at www.smithdickey.com.