After you complete an application for Social Security disability benefits, you will be asked to fill out several forms and other paperwork. This includes forms such as the work history report. Although it may be easy to rush through filling out these forms, filling out the work history report completely and properly is very important in many cases. Once the work history report is filled out, it may be reviewed by the Social Security Administration, Administrative Law Judge, and Vocational Expert. To begin, the work history report is reviewed by the Social Security Administration examiners at the initial and reconsideration levels. If you are denied disability at initial and reconsideration levels, then your work history report will be reviewed by the administrative law judge as well as the vocational expert assigned to your case at the hearing level.
The Social Security Administration indicates that the information they ask for on the work history report helps them better understand how your illnesses, injuries, or medical conditions might affect your ability to do work you performed in the past or work you are qualified to perform. Overall, a work history report will have you to list all jobs you have done in the past 15 years before you stopped working. After listing the jobs, you will then be required to be more specific about each individual job. You will need to list each specific job title, rate of pay, how many days a week you worked, and how many hours you worked each shift on average. Additionally, this form will ask you to describe the physical requirements of each job such as time spent sitting, standing, and walking in an 8-hour day. You will also be asked how much weight you were required to lift on the job. It is important to be very detailed and list all things you were required to lift even if it was not on a repetitive daily basis. For example, as a cashier at a gas station, you may have had to take out the garbage or stock shelves with inventory. While proving disability involves a variety of specific factors, it is important to be extremely thorough and detailed on your work report because it will be used to support your disability case. If you have questions or concerns about how to fill out your work history report or how it may affect your case, reach out to an experienced attorney to learn more.
