Does Social Security Rely on Inaccurate Vocational Statistics?

 Posted on March 15, 2016 in Social Security Disability Medical Conditions

Even in the Internet age, government officials often rely on outdated and inaccurate information when assessing a claim for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. A common problem in disability cases is deciding what jobs an applicant might be able to perform despite their medical impairments. Social Security relies on “vocational expert” testimony to make such determinations. But as federal courts in Illinois have pointed out time and again, much of this testimony is based on a flawed methodology.

Social Security Improperly Rejects “Less Disabled” Applicant's Claim

The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has repeatedly criticized Social Security on this subject. The court's most recent attack came in a February 17 decision ordering the agency to reconsider a disability applicant's case. The applicant had a “long history of disabilities,” according to the court, dating as far back as 1998. Yet even after three knee surgeries and continued complaints about “severe pain,” a Social Security administrative law judge (ALJ) ruled the applicant was not eligible for disability benefits.

On appeal, the Seventh Circuit held the ALJ “did not deal adequately with the evidence” in this case. Specifically, the court said that all of the evidence pointed to a conclusion that the applicant was physically unable to hold down a full-time job. Yet the ALJ, incorrectly, seemed to think the applicant was fine to work merely because he “was less disabled than he had been four years ago.”

The Seventh Circuit also rejected the ALJ's reliance on vocational expert testimony. The expert claimed the applicant, in spite of his severe physical impairments, could still somehow “work full time as a sedentary unskilled production worker, a sedentary unskilled information clerk, or a sedentary unskilled cashier.” The expert further claimed to know the number of such jobs available where the applicant lived. But as the appeals court explained, these figures were “suspiciously round numbers of 1000, 1000, and 2000,” and therefore almost certainly “guesses.”

The appeals court said Social Security vocational experts often calculate the number of available jobs by relying on federal Census data “rather than data on the number of jobs within the much narrower categories of jobs that the applicant for benefits could actually perform.” And Social Security ALJs are often disinterested in the subject altogether. Indeed, the court noted in this case that the ALJ blindly accepted the vocational expert's finding the applicant could perform “unskilled” work as a cashier, even though the Seventh Circuit noted that is now considered a “semi-skilled” position.

Get Help from a Chicago Disability Lawyer

Even with this latest ruling, Social Security is unlikely to completely abandon their outdated methods for assessing a disability applicant's employment prospects. That is why you should not try to deal with Social Security on your own. An experienced Chicago Social Security Disability attorney can assist you at all stages of dealing with the system. Contact the attorneys at Pearson Disability Law, LLC, if you need to speak with someone about your case right away.

Source:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17993126710259296323&hl=en&as_sdt=6,47