When you apply for Social Security Disability, one of the many pieces of information the Social Security Administration will ask you about your past work history.
This is a form where you’ll be asked about the titles of jobs you’ve had in the last 15 years, your typical daily duties, how much you lifted in that job, and how much time you spent on your feet while working.
Unfortunately, far too many claimants disregard these forms, thinking that their disability claim will be judged solely on their medical conditions.
If you’re under the age of 50, you have to show SSA that there are no jobs in the national economy that you can perform. This can be an especially high burden for many cases.
But once you’re over the age of 50, if you’re limited to what’s called unskilled sedentary work, and you haven’t done a job of this kind in the last 15 years, you’re automatically disabled under Social Security’s rules.
This is one aspect of the disability process that gets especially technical. Sometimes, in analyzing an application, Social Security will find that skills from a past job transfer to a similar sedentary job. Or, a poorly filled out work history form could result in a job being classified as unskilled and sedentary when it really wasn’t performed that way.
Luckily, these are issues that can be hashed out a the hearing level, and often cases are awarded there when past work history is better classified, but submitting a good work history report at the beginning of the process could result in receiving a favorable decision much more quickly.
