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DESCRIBING PAST RELEVANT WORK - WHY IT IS CRITICAL

When you apply for Social Security disability, the Disability Determination Service (DDS) will mail you some additional forms to complete and return.

One of those forms will be a Work History Report.  This report will ask for a history of your past work over the last 15 years.  Frankly, this form is one of the most complicated and confusing that you will encounter.

There is an entire page devoted to each one of your past jobs.  You will be asked to describe what you did in the job.  You will be asked to estimate how much you lifted frequently and as a maximum.  You will estimate how much you sat, stood, walked, reached, handled, crouched, stooped, crawled, handled, etc.  These functions are to be estimated by the number of hours you performed each function.

Why in the world does Social Security need this level of detail?  Why can't you just ignore this form, or skip over the details?  Here's why:

Social Security is trying to determine if you are still able to perform the functions required of each past job.  In other words, can you still do the sitting, standing, bending, kneeling, crouching, crawling, reaching, handling, etc. that each job requires?  If you can, you are not disabled under their rules.  If you cannot, you may be disabled.

The Work History Report is, honestly, frighteningly detailed.  It asks you to think about your work in a way you've never thought about it before.  I mean, who remembers if they reached overhead 2.4 hours a day?  Or, you knows if they spend 0.5 hours a day stooping?  But you must give this a fair an honest estimate.  If you don't, you may get the initial claim denied and also jeopardize your chances of a successful appeal--because the Work History Report follows you all the way through the appeal process.

I have actually seen cases won (and lost) because the Work History Report was accurately and completely filled out by the claimant or his representative.  It's probably the one form in the entire process that I think is worth having a professional assist you with--to be sure it is done right!


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