On June 22, 2024, the Social Security Administration (SSA) substantially changed how work history is evaluated when determining an applicant’s eligibility for Social Security disability benefits. Instead of defining “past relevant work” as work the client performed in the last fifteen (15) years, SSA now considers a disability applicant’s past five (5) years of work history. This can make all the difference for an applicant. If you are applying for benefits, here’s what it means for you.
Why Does Past Relevant Work (PRW) Matter?
At Step 4 of the sequential disability analysis, an adjudicator determines whether an individual can return to doing the work they used to do (their prior work). At Step 5, the adjudicator determines if an individual can adjust to “other work” given the experience and skills they obtained when doing their prior work.
Individuals under age 50 not only need to prove that they are unable to do the work they used to, or other work that their skills will transfer to, but they also must prove that there are no jobs that exist in significant numbers in the national economy that they can perform. This means that individuals under the age of 50 are required to show they can’t even do easy, sit-down jobs where they can sit and stand as much as they need to, and don’t have to be around other people.
This is not so for claimants over age 50. If someone over 50 is physically limited, the key issue is whether they can do their prior work, or whether they have skills that would transfer to other work that is not physically demanding.
50+ folks are now at more of an advantage than ever. The way to think about it is like this – SSA uses a person’s prior work to deny individuals benefits. SSA may agree a person’s back problem or other physical impairment is severe and would keep them from lifting more than 10+ pounds or being on their feet very long. However, if that individual already had a less physical job, such as light housekeeping, or worked in a call center, SSA might say they could go back to doing that work (unless there was some other reason they couldn’t do it, like they couldn’t focus, needed sit and stand at will, take extra breaks/miss too much work or because they couldn’t interact with people in the same ways that they used to, etc.). SSA may also determine that someone who can no longer do housekeeping or customer service might have skills that would transfer to a similar job that wasn’t as physically or mentally demanding.
Now that past relevant work is defined as work that the person performed in the last five years, instead of fifteen, there are fewer jobs and prior skills that can be used to deny someone 50 years of age or older.
Additionally, SSA will no longer consider PRW as past work that started and stopped in fewer than 30 calendar days. The assumption is that the person did not perform the job long enough for it to be considered something they have experience in. This is helpful because we have seen many unfortunate situations in which a person was denied because of prior work that they only did for a very short period of time and was very different from the work they did the majority of their career. For example, if a client had a career doing heavy work like that of a tree trimmer and hurt their back, they would have normally been allowed benefits. However, it is possible that someone in that situation might try out a less physical job after an injury like that. In the past, if a person tried out a job like pumping gas for 2 or 3 weeks, and left the job for reasons unrelated to their disability, SSA’s vocational experts would often give testimony that a job pumping gas could be learned in less than 30 days, and that it should be considered part of the person’s prior work because they did it long enough to learn it. SSA would then find the person could go back to their prior work pumping gas and deny them benefits. Fortunately, those types of short work experiences can no longer be used to deny people benefits.
SSA also issued an emergency message indicating that new applications that call for the readjudication of previously determined periods would not be barred based on the legal theory of res judicata (meaning the issue had already been decided) when the reason the person was previously denied was related to the person’s ability to do their prior work. This is helpful because now we aren’t stuck with the unfavorable findings made by prior adjudicators under the old rules.
Another benefit of the new prior work rules is that it will be much easier to complete SSA’s work history forms. It should also reduce the stress associated with hearings for clients, who often struggle to remember things that happened 10 or 15 years ago. Even if the rules have made things easier, we still highly recommend that any of our clients age 50, or close to age 50, contact us once they get their work history forms so that we can review them together. There are still a lot of other complicated rules out there that relate to prior work and we want them to understand what SSA is really getting at when they ask questions on those forms.
Kerr Robichaux & Carroll applauds SSA and Commissioner Martin O’Malley for the work that was done that led to the adoption of these commonsense rules. They will certainly provide fairer results for disability applicants. We hope to see more favorable regulations in the future. Particularly, we are hopeful that new reforms will pass to modernize the resource allowances for individuals seeking SSI benefits. We encourage folks to reach out to their representatives in support of such reform.
Trusted Social Security Disability Lawyers
When you’ve become disabled and can no longer work, your security and stability may be in jeopardy. During this challenging time, you need an experienced Social Security attorney and a dedicated advocate determined to secure your future. At Kerr Robichaux & Carroll, our compassionate disability attorneys will guide you through the SSDI claims process from application to appeals and approval. You pay nothing upfront as we work on your case and help secure the life-changing benefits you may be entitled to by law.
Contact us today by submitting a form online or calling our office at 503-255-9092 for a free case evaluation.