The Grid: Part 1

 Posted on August 13, 2011 in Social Security Disability

"The Grid, a digital frontier...I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see."-Tron Legacy 2010

Kevin Flynn uttered those words in the opening scene of the movie Tron Legacy in 2010. The original digital Grid was introduced in the first Tron movie in 1982. If you have not seen either of the movies already, I would strongly encourage you to do so. Coincidentally, it was only a few years earlier that the Social Security Administration changed everything by coming up with their own version of The Grid, a different kind of standardized system used to determine whether people are entitled to Social Security disability benefits.

The Grid, also known as the Medical-Vocational Guidelines, is a system containing three charts, each for a different Residual Functional Capacity. Those three charts are vocational factors and are: 1. Age, 2. Education, and 3. Work Experience. When an individual's information is matched with The Grid, a judge will be able to come up with a conclusive finding of either "disabled" or "not disabled."

The first vocational factor is Age. The Grid divides age into four categories: Younger Individual (18-49); Approaching Advanced Age (50-54); Advanced Age (55-59); and Closely Approaching Retirement Age (60-64). Age is a key factor when applying for Social Security disability benefits. The Social Security Administration assumes that an older individual will have a more difficult time adjusting to competitive work environments. As you move up the different age categories, the Administration makes it slightly easier to get disability benefits.

The second vocational factor is Education. The Social Security Administration breaks up education into two primary categories: Limited (7-11 years) and High School or more (12 or more years). Typically, the more education someone has the more potential jobs he or she will be able to do. Thus, the more education an individual has the more difficult it can be to obtain Social Security disability benefits. It should also be noted that the Administration recognizes a third less common category for individuals with marginal education (0-6 years).

The final vocational factor in The Grid is Work Experience. Work experience under The Grid is divided into three categories: unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled. Unskilled work is a job that can be learned in less than 30 days. An example of unskilled work that the Social Security Administration routinely quotes in court is a "hand packer" and "circuit board assembler." Semi-skilled jobs by definition take more than 30 days to learn, but some of these jobs are only slightly more than unskilled. An example of a semi-skilled job is an administrative assistant. Skilled jobs are complex and require more time to acquire. They can require more education and job training. An example of a skilled job would be an attorney. Each of these job categories are given a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) number. An SVP of 1 or 2 is unskilled, 3-4 is semi-skilled, and 5-9 is considered skilled work. The SVP for different jobs in the economy is listed in the Dictionary of Titles.

Age, education, and work experience combine with Residual Functional Capacity to determine whether someone meets The Grid and can be adjudicated as disabled. Next in Part 2 of The Grid, Residual Functional Capacity will be discussed in greater detail, stay tuned.