We recently heard rumors about changes to Social Security rules that you should be aware of. According to several sources, the Social Security Agency has been discussing plans to revise the grid rules that many people over the age of 50 have relied on since 1980. Keep in mind that these rule changes have not gone into effect yet. These grid rules help people who are over 50 get disability benefits.
If you are 50 years old or older, you have to first show that you are unable to do your past work. This past work now includes work that you did over the past 5 years. If there are also no skills you gained through that job that would transfer to other jobs, then you only need to show that you were limited to the sedentary level. This means even if Social Security determined you could do jobs which required sitting for 6 hours total in an 8 hour workday and standing for a combined 2 hours of 8, then they would have to find you to be disabled.
If you are 55 years old or older, you only have to show that you are limited to light work, are unable to do your past work, and have no transferable skills to other jobs. Light work includes work that involves standing and walking 6 hours a day and lifting up to 20 pounds on an occasional basis.
If Social Security got rid of the grid rules, it would require you to show that you cannot do any work at all. That includes sedentary unskilled work. An example of these jobs that I usually hear cited over and over again as sedentary unskilled work include: Document Preparer, Final Assembler (of eyeglasses), Inspector, etc. I would expect that Social Security would be able to find jobs that people over 50 could perform in the national economy.
In order to show that you cannot perform any work, you must have vocational limitations that rule out all work. For example, most vocational experts would agree that if you have to miss more than 3 days of work per month on a regular basis then you would be unable to work. Also, if you are off task more than 15% of the working day due to concentration issues or needing breaks outside of the ordinary scheduled breaks. I believe getting rid of the grid rules would leave it more up to the ALJ’s discretion.
So for example, a judge who is more willing to approve disability cases could write a residual functional capacity that rules out all work in the national economy and thus reaches a finding of disability. Another judge who is less willing to award disability cases, could find that a person over 50 could perform some sedentary unskilled jobs in the national economy. I believe eliminating the grid rules would lead to lower approval rates overall at both the initial level, reconsideration level and hearing level.
I think it will also lead to more hearings in front of a judge because the Social Security state agency would no longer be able to award a case based on meeting the grids. Because the grid rules currently allow for approval without the judge or Social Security having to determine you can’t do any work, there will be cases where the vocational expert and judge will now find that there are jobs that are available. However, it could also reduce the ALJ’s ability to limit backpay to a certain age.
We are often asked as attorneys if our client wants to amend their onset date to their 50th or 55th birthday. It is possible that this may lead to more back pay for the claimant if the ALJ has to find them disabled as of a certain date due to medical evidence as opposed to the fact that they meet the grid rules. I also feel that if the Social Security agency gets rid of the grid rules, it will require the attorneys and/or claimants to get statements and questionnaires from as many doctors as possible explaining that the claimant is disabled from all work. In that case, the claimant is better served having an attorney that understands Social Security law and knows what evidence needs to be gathered to support a finding that the person cannot perform any work in the national economy.
If you have questions about your current status or how these proposed changes may affect your situation, contact our office today.
Pati Law Firm
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