One of the requirements that your Social Security Disability lawyer will have to prove in order for you to be approved for Social Security Disability (SSDI) payments is the fact that you are unable to do your current work.
Or, to put it another way, your health issue must be serious enough to limit your ability to perform job-related tasks. The Social Security Administration (SSA) will take other types of employment into account even if you are unable to perform your current job.
The SSA considers your previous job’s skill level while making this determination to determine what alternative occupations you might be able to perform given your current medical condition. Keep reading to learn more and then contact PLBH at (800) 435-7542 if you have questions.
The value of providing correct information
It’s crucial to completely describe your job responsibilities when applying for SSDI benefits since the SSA will use this information to categorize your employment. Your Social Security Disability attorney can help you create a description of the work-related duties you undertook and the period of time it took you to become proficient in them.
Three major skill levels exist
The SSA employs three main skill levels to conduct this assessment. Depending on how long it takes to understand a job’s requirements and its specifics, they are categorized into groups. The categories are as follows:
Unskilled work entails finishing very simple tasks and requiring little to no judgment. It often takes less than a month to learn this kind of labor, which requires a lot of strength. It’s not always possible to obtain specialized work skills through unskilled labor.
While semi-skilled work does not require complex job duties, it does require some job skills including coordination, manual dexterity, and attention to detail. Jobs classified as semi-skilled require employees to regularly carry out repetitive tasks. It typically takes three to six months to learn these occupations.
Skilled work requires considerable judgment in addition to a practical knowledge of manual and mechanical tasks. This knowledge is frequently used to either deliver a service or produce a good. Semi-skilled labor includes jobs that need a person to work closely with other employees or to deal with concepts, facts, or numbers.
The Specific Vocational Preparation, or SVP, grading system used by the SSA is based on the quantity of training an employee has received. A month or less of training is needed for unskilled employment, a month to six months for semi-skilled professions, and more than six months for skilled jobs.
The SSA will assess if there is any alternative work that you can do that is either at the same skill level or lower, given your medical condition, using the SVP for your prior job or occupations. As a result, receiving benefits could be more challenging the higher your ability level as determined by the SSA.
Call PLBH at (800) 435-7542 if you need assistance obtaining the SSDI benefits you are entitled to or if you merely need legal counsel