Social Security Administration: Fair Benefit Approval
In a press release dated June 24, 2024*, the Social Security Administration has announced plans to eliminate a large number of outdated occupations that have been used in the past to support finding a person can do work. This change is, admittedly, late in the game given the entity that created the Dictionary of Occupational Titles – the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) – abandoned its use in favor of an updated and searchable website called O*Net in the 1990’s**.
In order to qualify for Social Security benefits, applicants (especially those under the age of 55) must show they are unable to do ANY work based on their age, education, physical and/or mental limitations. At hearing, a vocational expert is there to testify about what jobs an applicant CAN do. More often than not this results in finding that applicant is not entitled to benefits. Unfortunately, some of the data the expert bases their opinion on has not been updated since 1977.
So you finally get before the Judge. And now the vocational expert testifies you can do jobs you have never heard of before. You can be a canary breeder. A radiotelegraph operator. A motion-picture projectionist. Even a reptile farmer. That expert will even go so far as to testify that there are hundreds or thousands of these positions available in the national labor force.
Instead of providing answers, this testimony replaces one question with many – what qualifies me to be a reptile farmer or a canary breeder? What do those jobs involve? What even is a radiotelegraph operator? Its 2024: is there really a person still sitting in that little window at the top of a movie theater manually running a projector?
This plan for abandonment of obsolete jobs by the Social Security Administration is significant and great news for current and potential social security applicants, as they will not be used as support to deny benefits.
CG Law Group, P.A. handles Social Security Disability (SSD/SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) appeals. If you or someone you know has been denied benefits, contact CG Law Group, P.A. today at 601-948-8005, or on our website at www.cglawms.com. We are here to help you navigate the process, but the time to appeal a social security benefits denial is sixty (60) days so DON’T WAIT! Contact us today!
Author
Caroline Boyd | Social Security Disability Attorney
Caroline handles CG Law Group, P. A., an affiliated firm of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. that was formed by the founding members of Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. to meet the growing needs of the firm’s clients without compromising the attorney’s abilities to focus on a particular area of law. Chhabra & Gibbs, P.A. is able to give top rate competent service to people who have been injured, while the affiliated CG Law Group, P.A. is able to meet the other legal needs of injured people like estate and chancery work, social security disability, and discrimination cases. Together, we strive to assure that our client’s rights are upheld and that their best interests are served. You can find out more about CG Law Group, P.A. by going to our CG Law Group section of our website.