Proving You Can’t Work Because You Lack Transferable Skills

If the Social Security Administration (SSA) denies your initial disability claim based on the reasoning that although you can no longer perform your previous job, you can acquire new work skills for alternative employment, your next step is to request a hearing before an administrative law judge.

During this hearing, you or your representative will have the chance to cross-examine a vocational expert. This allows you to present your case, demonstrating that any skills you may have acquired are not transferable to other types of work. 

By challenging the vocational expert's testimony, you can strengthen your argument for the necessity of disability benefits, and ultimately your goal is eliminating various jobs until the vocational expert says no transferable skills.

How Vocational Experts Determine Transferable Skills

The reason why when the vocational expert says no transferable skills is such good news is because these experts play a key role in determining job skills during the hearing. 

Vocational experts are frequently called upon to provide the administrative law judge with valuable insights into the duties and skill levels associated with various occupations. This process relies on the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT), a tool that outlines the specific job skills required for different job descriptions.

Utilizing the DOT description and considering your testimony, the expert can assess whether your past work can be categorized as skilled, semi-skilled, or unskilled. The determination of skill levels is pivotal in the disability evaluation process.

If the vocational expert suggests that you have acquired transferable skills from your past jobs, implying that you can perform alternative work, it could impact Social Security's finding of disability. However, you have the opportunity to challenge the expert’s testimony and strengthen your case by demonstrating that you lack the transferable skills suggested by the expert. This involves countering their classification of your past work and presenting evidence that highlights the specific limitations or challenges you face in adapting to different types of employment.

Why Accurately Describing Your Past Work Matters

When describing your past work during a disability hearing, precision is paramount, and understanding the intricacies of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) becomes crucial. Each job in the DOT is assigned a specific 9-digit code, known as a DOT code, which corresponds to the Transferable Skills level of that particular job as it is generally performed. Obtaining the correct DOT code for your past work is essential, as jobs with similar titles might have different DOT codes, potentially leading to misconceptions about the skill level involved.

One key factor in determining the Transferable Skills level is the Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) number. This number reflects the average time it takes for an employee to learn how to perform a specific job. The higher the SVP number, the more likely the job is considered skilled. 

Unskilled jobs typically have an SVP of 1 or 2, semi-skilled jobs have an SVP of 3 or 4, and skilled jobs have an SVP of 5 or higher.

For instance, consider the job title "cashier." The VE may have various DOT codes to choose from, each with a different SVP and skill level:

For instance, the title "cashier" encompasses a diverse range of work settings, job duties, and skill levels, as illustrated by the examples above. To prevent misclassification by the VE, providing detailed information about the specific environment, tasks performed, and skill requirements of your past work is crucial. This thoroughness ensures an accurate understanding of the complexity and skill levels associated with your prior employment.

However, you shouldn’t play up your past work and suggest you had more responsibilities than you did. For instance, if you never supervised other employees, don’t claim you were a manager. Some job titles look amazing on your resume but don’t provide a realistic representation of your duties. 

How Can You Challenge A Vocational Expert’s Testimony?

Since you want to receive an outcome where a vocational expert says no transferable skills, you might have to challenge the vocational expert. Putting the expert’s testimony about your job skills in question is a critical aspect of the disability hearing process. 

Unlike claims examiners who review your work history in earlier stages of the determination process, the vocational has the opportunity to ask you detailed questions about your past jobs during the hearing. This direct interaction allows for a more accurate classification of the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) codes associated with your work.

Even if your past work was properly classified, it's essential to scrutinize whether you performed all tasks of the job as generally required or if you had insufficient time to fully learn the skill set. This is particularly important when assessing the transferability of skills to other potential jobs.

Here’s an example:

John filed for disability and described his past work as a "quality assurance specialist" at a factory. At John's hearing, the judge asked the vocational expert to classify his past work. The expert responded that, based on his work history report, John was employed as a bench inspector, DOT code 609.684-010, which was a semi-skilled position. The judge asked if John obtained any transferable skills as a bench inspector. The expert said yes and identified several other jobs that John could do with his skill set.

John's attorney questioned him further about his job and determined that John didn't design or implement any inspection techniques, didn't review production data, and didn't write any reports about inspection data. 

The attorney then asked the vocational expert if the bench inspector DOT code was still accurate. Based on John's responses, the expert said no and stated that because John's primary responsibility was to examine and discard non-conforming products from a packaging line, his job was better described as a sorter, DOT code 922.687-018, which was unskilled.

Because John's past work was unskilled, he didn't have any skills to transfer, and the other jobs the expert identified were ruled out.

In this example, John was ultimately found to be disabled when the judge considered factors such as his age, education, and job skills. How your prior work and job skills are classified is a key factor when determining whether you're disabled under the medical-vocational grids.

In Conclusion

Hiring a disability attorney during the cross-examination of a vocational expert is not only helpful but often essential. A legal professional can bring legal expertise to the table, knowledge of disability law, effective questioning techniques, and a strategic approach to the process, ensuring that your case is presented in the best manner possible. 

Note: 

The information in this blog post is for reference only and not legal advice. As such, you should not make legal decisions based on the information in this blog post. Moreover, there is no lawyer-client relationship resulting from this blog post, nor should any such relationship be implied. If you need legal counsel, please consult a lawyer licensed to practice in your jurisdiction.