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99 Free Articles,
All new articles are Social Security
Disability NEW Alternate Sitting and Standing Questions for the VE Attacking the Vocational Expert’s Testimony on the Number of Jobs Classifying a Claimant’s Previous Work Experience as Past Relevant Work Cross-Examination on U.S. Publishing Data Cross-Examination of Vocational Expert on Census Data Dealing with Drug Addiction or Alcoholism in Social Security Disability Claims Framework of the Medical-Vocational Guidelines Hearing Questions on Physical Residual Functional Capacity Information Required to Perform a Step-Four Analysis
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Initial Hearing
Questions for Claimant Maximum Residual Functional Capacity Possible for Disability Finding
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Protect Attorney’s Fees From
Being Taken to Pay Client’s Debts Pushing Back the Date the Claimant Became Disabled NEW Residual Functional Capacity in Musculoskeletal Impairments Social Security Disability Benefits: Answers to Common Questions Transferability of Skills: Principles and Cross Examination Using the Occupational Outlook Handbook in your Cross Examination Civil Litigation Breach of Contract Defense Interrogatories Deposing the Corporate Designee in Health Insurance Denial Case NEW Essential Objections Checklist Fraud and Misrepresentation Interrogatories Interrogatories: Breach of Contract NEW Interrogatories: Interference with Business Relations Interrogatories for Proving Plaintiff’s Cause of Action in an Auto Accident Case Preparing to Take or Defend a Liability Deposition Summarizing Personal Injury Damages Wrongful Death Interrogatories California Civil Litigation NEW Elements with Complaint: Breach of Contract for Failure to Perform NEW Elements: Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing NEW Objecting to Expert Testimony Criminal Law and
Practice Challenging Written Statements Cross-Examination of Eyewitnesses Federal Criminal Practice Pretrial Release on Conditions Drunk Driving
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4 DUI Jury
Instructions You Need to Argue Attacking Field Sobriety Tests Attacking Widmark Calculations Cross Examination in Drunk Driving Cases
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DUI Trial Tips Pattern Openings for DUI Attorneys Selecting a Favorable DUI Jury Voir Dire Questions for DUI Lawyers
Informal Request for Discovery from Prosecution Motions to Exclude Chemical Test
Tipsters and Employment Defending Plaintiff's Deposition NEW Deposing the HR Manager in RIF Cases Deposing the Supervisor/Harasser NEW Document Requests in Sexual Harassment
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Fair Labor
Standards Act Jury Instructions Fee Arrangements, with Clauses Shaping the Unripe Employment Cases NEW Supervisor Deposition Questions for Harassment, Retaliation, and ADA Estate Planning
and Advantages and Disadvantages of QTIP Trusts Client Intake, with Retainer Agreement Drafting for Incapacity, with 4 Clauses Intentionally Defective Grantor Trust, with Provision International Asset Protection Trust IRS Reporting and International Asset Protection Trusts Protecting Beneficiaries with Spendthrift Clauses Risks and Abuses with Foreign Trusts Shifting Trusts and Disclaimers, with Four Sample Clauses Family Personal Injury NEW 3 Motions in Limine to Exclude Junk Accident Reconstruction Science Cross-Examining the Defense Orthopedic Surgeon Debunking Claims of Exaggeration and Malingering Deposing and Examining the Economist Deposing the DME in Spine Injuries Deposing the Store Manager in a Slip and Fall Case
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Using the Occupational
Outlook Handbook SSA regulations create an opportunity for social security attorneys. by David F. Traver Excerpted from Social Security Disability Advocate’s Handbook
While the Social Security Administration has
rejected the O*NET, the Commissioner’s Regulations adopting the
Occupational Outlook Handbook are still in place, and they open the
door to a wide and very-useful variety of the O*NET data. See 20
C.F.R. §404.1566 (d)(2006).1 The Occupational Outlook Handbook is easy to take
to a hearing. If you wish, you can easily equip your laptop for a new high-speed
wireless data service in many cities and have the Occupational Outlook
Handbook and all the O*NET at your fingertips by taking your laptop to the
hearing. No wireless in your area? A CD-ROM of the Occupational
Outlook Handbook is available for $22.00 from the Department of Labor.2 You
can also buy a paper copy, and take that to the hearing if your ALJ does not
allow the use of computers, or if you are not computer literate. Assume for this hypothetical testimony, that the claimant
is a 45-year old high-school dropout with a limitation to sedentary work.
Additionally, the claimant has a prior history of illegal drug use, has a severe
bipolar disorder, and receives regular psychiatric care. Assume too that you
happen to have a copy of the Occupational Outlook Handbook. The ALJ gives
a traditional RFC for simple, unskilled, repetitive, low-stress work, sedentary
work, with limited public contact.
Attorney Are you aware that the Social
Security Administration’s Regulations explain “we will take administrative
notice of reliable job information available from various governmental and other
publications? For example, we will take notice of the Occupational Outlook
Handbook, published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” VE
Yes. Attorney Your Honor, for the record, the
citation to that Regulation is 20 C.F.R. §404.1566 (d)(2006). Attorney Do you agree with the Social
Security Administration that the Occupational Outlook Handbook, published
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is a reliable source of vocational
information? VE
Yes. Attorney Are you aware there is an
Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2004-2005 Edition? VE
Yes I am. Attorney In response to the ALJ’s
hypothetical questions, you testified that the hypothetical claimant could
perform work as SURVEILLANCE-SYSTEM MONITOR, DOT code 379.367-010, and that this
is a sedentary job with an SVP of 2, which makes it unskilled. You also
testified there are 3,400 of these jobs in the VE
True. Attorney I would like you to assume the
hypothetical to which you gave that answer, and add that the hypothetical
claimant is a 45-year-old high-school dropout. Additionally, the claimant has a
prior history of arrests for illegal drug use, has a severe bipolar disorder,
and receives regular psychiatric care for that disorder. VE
Okay. Attorney Would that make any difference
to your answer to the ALJ’s hypothetical? VE
It would not. Attorney Would you then agree with this
from the 2004-2005 edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook, that for
security guards “Rigorous hiring and screening programs consisting of
background, criminal record, and fingerprint checks are becoming the norm in the
occupation. Applicants are expected to have good character references, no
serious police record, and good health. They should be mentally alert,
emotionally stable, and physically fit in order to cope with emergencies. Guards
who have frequent contact with the public should communicate well.” VE
Yes. Attorney Would that have any impact on
the number of jobs you gave for the hypothetical claimant for this occupation? VE
Yes, it would eliminate all of those jobs.
David F. Traver has represented hundreds of claimants at SSA and over 200 claimants in U.S. District Courts. He has bachelor and master degrees in vocational rehabilitation, and is the author of Social Security Disability Advocate’s Handbook, from which this article is excerpted. |
Updated 11/10/09