HOW SOCIAL SECURITY WILL EVALUATE YOUR SSDI CLAIM

The law sets out a mandatory five-step sequential process that Social Security must follow to determine if you qualify for benefits.

Understanding this five-step process can greatly help you prepare your claim.

Remember, the process is sequential--so each step must be decided in order.  Step 1 is first and Step 5 is last.

STEP 1:  Is the claimant now working at substantial gainful activity?  If so, the claim dies at step 1 and is denied.  In 2018, if the claimant is working and has wages of at least $1,180 per month (gross), the claim is automatically denied at Step 1.

STEP 2:  Does the claimant have a severe and medically determinable impairment that has (a) lasted for 12 consecutive months, (b) is expected to last for 12 consecutive months, OR (c) is expected to end in death?  If not, the claim dies at Step 2 and a denial is issued.

STEP 3:  Does the claimant have an impairment that medically equals a Listing?  If so, the claim is approved at Step 3.  If not, it proceeds to Step 4.  Before going to Step 4, however, Social Security must determine the claimant's Residual Function Capacity (RFC).  This is defined as the most the claimant can do in terms of work-like activity, in spite of his or her medical impairment.  Generally, it must be determined which of the following represents the most that the claimant can do:

• very heavy work
• heavy work
• medium work
• light work
• sedentary work

STEP 4:  Is the claimant able to perform any of his or her past relevant work?  If so, the claim dies at Step 4 and a denial is issued.  What is past relevant work?

• It is work that the claimant has performed within the 15-year period immediately before filing a disability claim.  Social Security only looks back 15 years for past relevant work. So, you cannot be denied because they think you could still perform work that you did 25 years ago.  It is very important that all jobs the claimant performed within the 15-year relevant period be examined carefully as to the kind of work, the demands of the work, lifting/carrying requirements of each job and the amount of standing/walking that was required for each job in the 15-year period.

STEP 5:  If the claimant survives Step 4, we come to the final step, which especially applies to claimants who were under age 50 at the time they claim to have become disabled.

Step 5's question is:  Is this claimant able to perform any job that exists in the national economy? 

This is where most younger claimants are denied.  Step 5 is the great Eliminator or Disqualifier.  Let's say that a claimant is found unable to perform even one of his past relevant jobs.  However, a vocational expert testifies that he retains the ability to work at an unskilled, minimum wage job that can be performed at the sedentary (sit-down) exertion level.  For instance, the claimant could be a surveillance systems monitor, a ticket taker or a parking garage attendant.  The claim will be denied at Step 5.

Obviously, for a claimant under the age of 50, great care must be taken to prove that even unskilled sedentary work cannot be performed.

This is a very great burden of proof and one that the average claimant simply cannot meet.

SOME THINGS THAT SOCIAL SECURITY CANNOT CONSIDER AT STEP 5:

1. I can't find even a minimum wage job.
2. No one will hire me.
3. I couldn't possibly live on minimum wage.
4. I would have to move to find even one of these low-paying jobs.

It is the ability to work, not the ability to find work, that Social Security must judge.  All these other arguments will have no impact on their decision.